Read Out of the Blue for Free Online Page B

button. I’m sorry,” I apologized again.
    Jake faced me and I received the full force of his glare. I turned and placed my bag on the ground near the kitchen counter and bent down, pretending there was something in my bag I needed.
    “Kris?” I could hear the unspoken question in his tone.
    “Yes, he’s new at the station and suggested we have a beer after shift. I didn’t notice how late it was after we got caught up talking. I didn’t hear my phone.”
    “How long has he been at the station?”
    “A little while. Why?”
    Jake looked as though he was weighing my response, but didn’t answer me. I had no idea what he thought.
    As I stood and flicked through the mail on the counter, I could feel Jake’s eyes on me. “Have you eaten?” I asked.
    “Yes.” There was no elaboration as I looked through the papers with more enthusiasm than I felt.
    We were silent for a long minute and the tension between us thickened. My skin prickled as he marched past me, closing our bedroom door behind him.
    My chest leaden, I walked to the window and looked out over the bay. I didn’t know what Jake saw when he was standing here, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t the lights of the city below. My guilt over the whole situation threatened to engulf me. I was helpless to stop this downward spiral that was tearing us apart, a ticking time bomb that waited for the detonation.
    I knew I needed to give him some space before I went to bed, so I stayed at the window as I watched the play of lights over the water and wondered what to do.
    The answer never came.

Chapter Four
     
     
    Jake
     
    I was pissed at Cam, but I couldn’t pin down the exact reason why I was so angry. I didn’t apologize to him for being an ass about last night. He didn’t deserve one. He should have called or texted me, at the least. Not hitting the Send button was plausible, and I never thought he’d lie to me, but it didn’t alleviate my suspicions.
    The next day, I was trying to concentrate on a company audit for a new client. Companies came to us to conduct audits of their accounting systems. Some small companies came to us to make sure they claimed everything they could for tax purposes, but the larger ones came to us if they suspected fraudulent activity. That was what I did. If there was an anomaly, I’d find it. Most of the time it was a simple coding error, but every now and then I’d find a transaction or a code that wasn’t legitimate and report it to the partners.
    I suspected my current client had something going on, but I hadn’t been able to prove it as I worked my way through their depreciation schedule. My phone rang and I smiled as I saw Caroline’s face light up the screen.
    “My sweet. How goes thee on this fine day?”
    “Again with the sweet,” Caroline replied. “You got time for lunch today?”
    As she worked in the same building, we had lunch often. Since I’d moved from Chicago to San Francisco, we had never strayed too far from each other.
    “Sure.”
    “I need to get out of this mindless company for a bit and I need a distraction.”
    “So you’re using me, then, great. In that case, you’re buying,” I quipped.
    We met in the lobby and walked to the cafe across the street. As we grabbed a table, Caroline started with the questions about Cam.
    I groaned. “I thought we came here to talk about your mindless job, not my ongoing issues.”
    “I need a distraction from my ‘mindless job’”—she made air quotes—“and despite your jovial tone on the phone, I can tell something’s up.” She raised an eyebrow, daring me to deny it.
    I sighed. “Yes, you’re right. I was pissed as hell last night when he finally came home.”
    “What do you mean ‘finally?’”
    I explained that Cam went to a bar with one of his colleagues and never answered his phone, coming through the door late at night.
    “Okay, it’s not like he hasn’t gone out for drinks after work before, so you tell me why you’re so pissed.