Harley and I smiled at each other through our tears.

“It’s tearing me apart, baby,” she said as she sobbed. “Knowing you’re flying out to face this danger, because of me. Because of something I’d done … and you know that if something happened to you out there tonight, I … I would never … never forgive …”

“Nothing’s gonna happen, honey,” I said quickly, and then gave her a quick kiss. “But if something does happen to me, you’ve gotta make it, baby. I wouldn’t rest in peace if …”

I saw sheer panic overcome her and I mentally kicked myself. Try harder, Aerin!

I broke off from that negative line of thinking. “But we don’t have to think that way, right?”

She was still panicked. I glanced quickly at the bedside alarm. It blinked “7:05 am.”

“This will work out, honey,” I continued in the most confident voice I had and tried to shift her to one side so that I could roll out of bed. “And I would love to stay in bed with you, but I do have to get ready and head to LAX in about 20-to-30 minutes. My flight’s at …”

“Fine. I’ll take you,” she cut in, but her eyes had shut. I gave her a moment to collect herself. She squeezed her eyes tightly together before she opened them, blinking back her tears. She was struggling for self-control.

I gave her a small smile.

“C’mon. Let’s shower and get ready,” she said after she blew a breath out. “Along the way I can tell you about what I plan to do, to keep Annie at bay, while you sort things out for me in Vegas.” Her voice was all business now.

That’s my girl.

“Remind me to never test your cool, baby,” I joked as I rolled out of bed, striving for a light tone.

“Ohh … I am ice, Aerin, when it comes to planning and executing a strategy,” she said as she took hold of my hand to lead me to the shower stall of the master bathroom.

She selected a setting for the shower and then twisted the knobs so that both a rain-shower and a body shower jetted out of the shower heads surrounding us in the shower stall. Her whole demeanor was tense. I stood next to her uncertainly, as I started to work the water through my hair.