Page 55 of What Comes After

“Well, I hope you feel better.”

“Thank you. And, again, I’ll call you soon to get everything rescheduled.”

“That sounds great, Devyn. We’ll talk then.”

With that, I said goodbye and disconnected the call. Then I dropped my head back against the pillow and let out a sigh.

I was exhausted.

It had been a few hours since Theo and I left the hospital. He’d given me the opportunity to have some time alone, so I could shower and relax in the bedroom for a bit.

I’d taken the shower, which felt glorious, but I hadn’t really done much relaxing. Per the doctor’s orders, I was supposed to be resting not only my body but also my mind.

As it turned out, I wasn’t very good at following doctor’s orders. Because as soon as I’d gotten out of the shower and put on fresh clothing Mary had gone out to purchase for me using Theo’s money—something I still hadn’t wrapped my head around—I decided to pull out my phone and contact some of my clients.

My goals had been ambitious. I thought I’d be able to reach out to all of them and fill them in on my current predicament, but I was wrong.

Four.

I’d managed to call four total clients before I felt like I needed to take a nap.

Even if I’d hoped to be able to get back to work sooner rather than later, there was no question recovery was going to take some time. If I couldn’t tackle a list of phone calls without feeling the need to close my eyes for a few minutes afterward, there wasn’t a chance I’d be able to tackle cleaning anyone’s house, not even for a light cleaning.

The only bright spot in all of it was the response. Of the four clients I’d contacted, they’d all been incredibly understanding. While I hadn’t revealed the full extent of what had happened to me, I had explained I’d needed to undergo emergency surgery, and I was under doctor’s orders to take time off while I recuperated.

As grateful as I’d been for their understanding—everyone I’d spoken to so far had been fine with waiting for my follow-up phone call to get them back on the schedule—I couldn’t say it didn’t have me worried. I was desperate to heal as quickly as possible, so I could get back to work. Even though nobody had indicated yet that they wouldn’t be able to wait for me to return, I didn’t want to risk losing any clients as a result of this.

It would be just one more thing Roy would have taken from me.

And that was my other problem.

My doctor wanted me to rest my mind. It seemed impossible to do, because if I wasn’t worried about my clients or my financial situation, I had several other things consuming my thoughts.

For starters, there was everything that had happened to me in that parking lot I had to contend with, the physical pain and visible injuries a reminder of such a horrific event.

But that wasn’t all.

There was me learning Roy had cheated, learning Roy had died, worrying about the hospital bill I was going to receive, and possibly the biggest challenge of all, living with Theo.

That shouldn’t have been a worry.

I should have been feeling grateful.

I was, and I technically wasn’t worried about my physical safety by being here with him.

But even if I could appreciate all that he was doing for me, it didn’t mean I wasn’t concerned about how successful this whole living arrangement was going to be. Theo and I might have been best friends, and I might have known I could count on him to do whatever he could to help me in this situation, but I couldn’t miss the overwhelming sense of tension lingering between us.

There was more happening in this for the both of us, and I wondered if it would be like it always was. Would the two of us continue to pretend that everything was fine when it really wasn’t?

As an actor, it would probably be easy for Theo.

I, on the other hand, didn’t think I’d survive more than a few days.

Because, best friends or not, there was no question that our relationship with one another had changed drastically over the years. It wasn’t anything like it had been before he left to pursue his career.

Glancing at the time on my phone, it was just after four o’clock. Before he’d left me to my devices here in the bedroom he’d had set up especially for me, Theo had shared that after he went and took his own shower, he’d be downstairs, taking care of a few things.

I didn’t know exactly what those few things were, and it didn’t really matter to me, but there was something in his tone that indicated he wanted me to join him again when I was ready, before the night was over.

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