Page 53 of What Comes After

Never. Not once.

It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part, though. Theo had requested my presence several times over the years. More than once, he’d asked me to come for a visit. I’d been invited to go to awards shows as his guest on more occasions than I could count.

I never went.

I never went, because as much as it wasn’t my scene, I knew I’d never want to leave if I got a taste of what it was like to be in his life again. If I took a few days to visit him and managed to forget about all the bills and worries I had here in Iris—something I technically couldn’t afford to do—I’d be so disappointed when I had to come back.

Theo never said so, but I had a feeling he was frustrated. I was supposed to be his best friend, and from his perspective, I never gave him my full support and celebrated some truly great moments in his career with him.

Now that I was standing here inside this house that he seemed to have bought on a whim, I was blown away. Was this the kind of life he’d been living all these years? My entire apartment could have fit inside the main entrance to his house.

“This is… gosh, Theo, this place is huge,” I declared.

When I finally managed to tear my eyes away from all that was surrounding us and focus them on Theo, I saw him staring at me with a strange look on his face. I was instantly concerned that he was insulted by what I’d said.

“It’s beautiful,” I assured him. “I’ve just never seen something so tremendous in all my life.”

I wanted to ask him what he planned to do with a place this big, but I thought I’d be stepping into dangerous territory if I did.

“Let me give you a tour, so you know your way around the place,” he urged.

For the first few minutes, Theo led me through his massive estate, showing me a couple of rooms that were completely devoid of any furniture, a kitchen large enough to feed twenty-five families, and a great room that had a couch and what could only be described as the world’s largest television hanging on the wall.

When I looked up at Theo, I said, “You’ve got the important things covered.”

His lips twitched. “It was the best I could do with such limited time. The couch is just temporary, too. I needed to make sure something was here for us, so we could sit and relax, but I’ll ultimately want to change it out for something else.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “It probably won’t go with the rest of the house once I order furniture for it.”

I guess that made sense. Considering he’d spent nearly every minute with me at the hospital, I was surprised he’d gotten this much done.

“Well, you should have the time now,” I reasoned.

Nodding, he agreed, “Yeah. Plus, I have someone who’s got great taste here, too. I was hoping you’d be interested in helping me turn this house into a home.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you crazy?”

“No. I know how good you are at this kind of thing. I’ll never forget how quickly and easily you just rattled off the things we’d need inside the treehouse my dad and I built when we were kids,” he shared.

I swept my hand out in front of me and noted, “That was a treehouse, Theo. It’s completely different than a real house.”

He shot me a look of indifference in return. “It feels like the same thing to me. Either way, I’d like your mark on this place. I know you’ll make it feel like a home in here.”

My feet moved, slowly turning my body in a circle as I looked around the room. All of the furniture I had in my apartment would have fit into this one room alone, and there’d still be space left for more.

When I made no move to speak, Theo decided to reveal more surprises.

“There is one room here that is fully furnished,” he started as he took me by the hand again and led me out of the great room. “It doesn’t have to stay the way that it is, but I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed to make you comfortable.”

We began climbing the stairs, and it became clear before we even got there what room he’d had fully furnished.

When we walked into one of the bedrooms, I learned I was right.

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