Page 37 of All Yours

“Oh, I don’t doubt that.” He grabbed his shirt from the chair and dropped it over his head, covering his nice body. “But you know something that someone wants to find out, and the question is who.”

“That’s not…no.”

“Jonah, stop it, please,” I said. “That’s enough.”

His gaze dropped to me, and I was relieved to see it soften. He didn’t get mad very often, but when he did, he wasn’t one to sugarcoat his opinion.

“We’re not done here,” he said, dropping his voice to a gentler tone. I hoped he meant that we’d continue where we left off when Eden interrupted us, but I doubted it.

“What’s up?” I asked Eden. “I assume you stopped in for a reason.”

“I came in to say that I’m moving out,” she said, glancing over at Jonah.

“Wait… Why?” I asked, jumping up and following Eden into the living room. “Why are you moving out?”

Eden sighed and turned around. “Because it’s time. You took me in and let me live here rent free, and it was only supposed to be until I got back on my feet. And I have.”

“But you haven’t been able to start your photography business back.” Jonah came up behind me.

“I can’t keep mooching off you.”

“You could pay rent,” I offered.

“Well, here’s the thing…” Eden started.

“What?” I asked, wishing Jonah wasn’t behind me. It was probably the reason for her hesitance.

“I’m worried that people will discover who you are with this book out by Sebastian. And what if I get photographed here?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jonah blurted out.

“Now, now,” I said, turning and pushing Jonah back into the bedroom. “Don’t get all mad again.”

“Why not? You took her in, and now she’s running when things might get hard?”

“Honey, you accused her of bringing trouble to me. If she leaves and it continues, there’s our answer.”

He stopped and appeared to consider this. “Then don’t offer her to stay and pay rent. Let her go.”

“I don’t want her to go. I kinda like having a friend out here.”

“Lot of good it did you last night.”

“What was she supposed to do about it?” I asked. He wasn’t usually unreasonable.

Jonah looked around and rubbed the back of his neck. His dark hair matted from sleep. “You’re right,” he said. “But you need to let her go… Just in case.”

My stomach sank. “If you feel you need to.”

“I think it’s for the best,” Eden said, voice tinged with regret.

“I agree,” Jonah said.

“Don’t you need to get ready for work?” I asked, needing to talk to Eden without Jonah there.

“Yeah, I’ll stop in and check on things. But I need to get a replacement door, too. Do you want to go pick out a new door?”

“How many doors could there possibly be?”

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