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"Bailey--"

"No," she said, pointing at hi with the depths of her fury "Don’t You don’t have to say anything, I get it"

She was just glad she hadn’t spilled her guts in the past teeks, revealed any race, she told herself He had no idea howto stay that way

He studied her for a beat and she didn’t knohat she expected, but it wasn’t the words that caret e shared," he said, his words insidiously quiet, his voice flat

She hated that reed Hell if she’d thank hiht to keep her expression just as nonexistent as his--not easy when her heart had been cracked in half "How nice for you to be able to turn your feelings on and off so easily," she ed coolly

He didn’t answer, not that she’d expected his until she no longer had the urge to cry Because no ould she allow hi if it was the last thing she did Turning away fronored hi The inter sun behind them cast their shadows on the mural, his a lot taller and broader than hers "You’re in ht," she said

"We need to talk"

She glanced over her shoulder He was in ski patrol gear, dark sunglasses hiding his eyes His expression was dialed to dark and brooding, and his shoulders were set in grih," she said

His jaw tightened "Youto Penny"

"No, I’ on her painting She was on the very last part, finishing up the caricature of Jacob She’d decided to put hi past the mountains painted behind hi about hisin the heart and soul to the piece

Her heart and soul

"You said you couldn’t be pushed away," he said quietly "You said that to htlessly at theherself not to react to the… disappointment?… in his voice "I need you to ed

"That would take ht off the scaffold"

"Yes," she said

And then she went on painting, her heart in her throat She heard his radio go off at his hip, then heard him respond that he was offline

She sucked in a breath at that But whoever was calling for hiency, which had her sucking in another breath

Soo"

"I know"

"I don’t want to"

This she didn’t answer She told herself she was absolutely not listening for him to climb down and leave her alone Not even a little bit To ensure it, she pulled her earphones from her pocket, slid them into her ears, cranked the music on her phone, and tried to cancel out the real world

But two minutes later she couldn’t stand it anyone

She forced air into her lungs and nodded to herself, acknowledging that she’d done this, and kept painting When it got dark, she didn’t stop She didn’t go to bed

She kept painting She figured she hadto finish tonight if it killed her

It nearly did She stayed up all night and finished just before dawn, and it orth it As she stepped back to take it all in with the day’s first light, it caught her breath

It’d coined