Page 54 of What Comes After

“I hope this is okay for you. I didn’t want to take liberties with what you might like, but I thought it was more important for you to have what you needed here to feel at home,” he said.

I hadn’t meant to blurt it out the way I did, but I immediately replied, “Theo, nothing about this feels like home.”

He was instantly prepared to fix it. “How can I change that? What can I do?”

Tearing my eyes away from what had to be the most luxurious bed I’d ever seen, I turned my attention to him. “It’s not about what you have here, or what you could buy to change it. I’m talking about this whole place. This doesn’t feel like home, because I live in a one-bedroom apartment, an apartment you should probably take me back to.”

“Why would I do that?” he asked.

It surprised me that his tone was genuinely curious. He really didn’t see what the problem was here.

Not wanting to hurt his feelings, especially considering all that he’d done, I reasoned, “Well, for starters, all of my clothes are there.”

“I already took care of that,” he said, moving away from me. He opened a closet door and revealed it was fully stocked with clothing. “This is all brand-new. I had my mom run out while you were still in the hospital to pick up a few things for you. I thought you might just want some comfortable clothing while you recuperated, which she did pick up for you, but she also picked up dresses and jeans and tops.”

My lips parted. “Your mom bought all those clothes for me?”

“Well, she did the actual shopping, but I paid for them,” he explained. “I don’t think my mom has ever had so much fun. She was sending me all sorts of text messages and pictures while she was out.”

My eyes shifted between Theo and the clothes in the closet. I didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay if you don’t like any of it. There’s some comfortable clothing here for you to wear for tonight, and tomorrow I can either take you back to your place to grab whatever you want from there, or we can just order some things you like and have them shipped here.”

He thought I didn’t like the clothing.

Was he crazy?

I was certain my body might have an allergic reaction from the shock of having such magnificent pieces touching it.

“It’s not that.”

“I don’t understand the look on your face, then.”

“And I don’t understand what’s going on,” I told him.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“All of this? Why am I here? Why did you buy this place? And why has the bedroom you intend to have me sleep in been fully furnished and stocked with clothing?” I questioned him.

Theo walked away from the closet, moved toward me, and stopped when our bodies were just inches apart. He lifted his hand to the side of my head, ran his fingers gently down a lock of my hair, and said, “Weeks ago, I got the scariest phone call of my life. My mom told me they didn’t know if you were going to survive what happened to you, and I was terrified I wasn’t going to make it back here before the worst happened. You mean the world to me, Devyn. I want to take care of you. Please let me do that.”

I swallowed hard. I knew things couldn’t have been good for him or his parents when they’d learned what happened to me, but I hadn’t known all the details of how it had gone for them.

For a moment, I put myself in his shoes.

If I’d gotten a call that something had happened to him that was so bad he might not survive, I’d probably have gone over the top to do whatever I could to make sure he recovered.

Once I did that, I realized there was no point in arguing.

He wanted to help, and I was likely going to need it for a few days anyway.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. I’d known Theo my whole life.

How hard could it be?

TWELVE

Devyn

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