Wide Open by Shelly Crane Page B

and went to the sink with them. She scraped them and filled the sink with water. I looked and saw no dishwasher. I heard a cleared throat and saw Will giving me a look. He ticked his head toward his sister and mouthed, 'Go on.'
    I smiled, caught. 'Thanks,' I mouthed back.
    "Thanks for dinner, creep!" he called before shuffling out of the room to somewhere into the dark hallway.
    I heard his door close. She didn't turn, just kept washing. I grabbed the dishtowel and scooted beside her, taking the plate from her when she would have put it in the sink. She watched my hands as I rinsed the plate. She did that for a few heavy seconds before beginning her washing again.
    It took us all of ten minutes to do them all. I dried my last plate and stuck it in the cupboard before laying the towel across the sink edge. Her eyes, so full of sadness and responsibility that didn't belong there, searched me. I let her, not saying a word until her eyes met mine.
    She licked her lips. "You're still here."
    "Yep."
    "You don't want to run screaming from the basket case?"
    "I don't see a basket case." I inched toward her, back to not knowing my place or boundaries. "I see a girl who has a lot of things to take care of. A girl with a lot on her mind. A girl who's struggling to see how this strange guy fits in her life."
    "You would fit," she corrected and made a fist with her fingers. "I just don't know how to…" Her lip quivered, and I knew my heart was about to take a hit. "I don't how to let you in and keep you out at the same time."
    Breathe, man. "Why do you have to keep me out?"
    Her face was tight, like the cry-face was about to make an appearance. "Because you can't come in. I don't want you there." She sniffed. "There are certain things in my life I don't want you to know, that I don't want you to ask about."
    I took a deep breath. It seemed as if my body had forgotten how. She was cutting us off before we could even get started. "You don't have to do this, Maya. We can take things slow. Really slow."
    "A snail would be too fast, Milo."
    "I won't ever ask about that part of you. If you want to talk about it, okay, but I won't push you. I told you that. You said where the line was, and I stopped. I'll always stop."
    "I can't. I have so much going on right now. I can barely think straight with what's already on my plate."
    She turned, but not before I saw her face crumple. Her shoulders shook once. "Just go, okay? I'll talk to you later."
    I couldn't stop myself. I knew she was sending me away because she was scared. She wouldn’t be so upset if she didn't want me to stay. I put my hands on her arms and pressed my lips to the back of her neck. She sighed, but that was it. She didn't cave, and I knew I'd lost her. At least for the night. "I wish you could find me in the depths and pull me out, but you can't," she whispered. "I'm too far away."
    When she said for me to chase her, she meant it. I could see it now. She knew this day would come. The day when the wrong question was asked and she'd shut down, unable to do anything but. But I knew it in my gut that she wanted me to chase her to the depths and pull her free.
    "I'm gonna go, but not forever." I kissed the cool skin on the back of her neck. "I told you I'd chase you, and I intend to." She tensed and shuddered. "Bye, sweetheart. For now."
    I turned to go and heard her sob, but I didn't stop. She needed to do this. It hurt to hear that and not snatch her up and hold her, but I knew if I didn't leave now, I really would lose her forever.
    She needed the chase. She needed me to show her that I wasn't going to leave her for good, that I wanted to save her, and I wasn't afraid of the demons that followed a person. I had my own.
    Just as I was about to pull into my driveway, I got a call. It was pretty late, so I answered cautiously. The preacher said the boiler had stopped working at the shelter and wanted to see if my mechanical hands could try to fix it.
    I headed to the church feeling