Page 50 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

“A little after three in the—‍” Aaron’s phone interrupted him. “Who the hell is calling?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Oh.” He stood and walked out of the room.

Anna glanced at Peter, confused.

“My guess would be Wilhelm. I believe he gets notified if someone uses the house codes.” Peter looked pointedly at her. “He gets notifications about a lot of things around here.”

“So, he knows I’m here?”

Peter shrugged. “I would guess so. I would also guess that he likes to see receipts from credit cards to know what his family members are purchasing. I think he would be able to know what they are doing by the things that they buy.”

Anna stared at Peter. “You mean by using the cards, I can tell Wilhelm what I’m doing and that I’m okay?”

Peter shrugged again, but his expression said yes.

“You’re not allowed to tell me?”

“No.”

So she could send coded messages to Wilhelm through her purchases? And Devin wouldn’t know? “Maybe I should buy more ribbons for my pointe shoes.” Since she was one of the Ribbon Dancers for Nutcracker, he might understand.

Peter grinned. “I think it would be a good idea.”

She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t my idea.” He looked up as Aaron walked back in. “Everything okay?”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, there was a call from the alarm company about unusual activity here at the house.”

“Anna thinks she needs to buy new ribbons for her pointe shoes.”

Aaron grinned. “Appropriate.”

Anna yawned again and Peter stood and pulled the covers back from the bed. “We’ll stay here tonight, if that’s okay?”

She nodded and was pleased when the two men got on either side of her in bed. Snuggled between their comforting presence, she was asleep within minutes.

The next morning, Anna gave Peter a tour of the house. Surprisingly, she was no longer depressed. Visiting the house had been an unexpected healing balm to her raw emotions, and she could smile and be thankful instead of just feeling her heart ache.

They ended up in the living room, and Peter studied the pictures on the wall. “This is a really nice house, Anna. Are you sure you don’t want to live here?”

Anna shook her head. “No, not without Alex.”

Peter nodded. “I hardly recognize that it’s you in those pictures.”

Anna grimaced. “It was a different time. Nearly three years ago.”

Peter turned to her and took her hand. “I hope I can see you that happy again someday.”

Anna shook her head. “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be that happy without Alex. But I do think it might be possible to find some semblance of peace.”

While Peter took Aaron home in his two-seater car, Anna gathered up some things that she wanted to take back to the apartment, including some clothes, her memory box, and a picture of her and Alex on their wedding day.

Peter returned a while later. “Ready?”

She looked around the entryway again and then nodded. “I’m ready.”

They walked outside and Anna locked the door.

“If you want to come back at any time, just ask me, okay?” Peter held his hand out to her. “You don’t need to sneak out.”

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