Page 59 of What Comes After

Devyn

Days had passed since I’d been released from the hospital and Theo had brought me to his brand-new house to stay and recuperate.

Things were much better between us after what happened that first day. It seemed the both of us had decided to tread a bit more cautiously with one another.

I didn’t think it was the result of us being afraid of sharing our feelings. Rather, I believed we’d managed to come to an understanding that we were in a different place with one another—a place we’d never been before—and getting used to this new arrangement was going to take some time and a bit of patience.

Granted, I realized some tough conversations were on the horizon. I had quite a few things I’d wanted to ask Theo about, but figuring out the way to do that without him feeling as though I was insulting him was a challenge.

Or, perhaps I was wrong.

Maybe Theo wouldn’t care what I asked. Maybe he’d answer all my questions without hesitation, and it was me who was simply fearing the worst.

Because it quickly became clear to me that he had asked an innocent question, and I’d immediately gone on the defensive.

I didn’t know.

For now, I was merely grateful I didn’t feel the tension lingering or building between us. If anything, it was almost as though it had all started to dissipate. And I knew that was all thanks to Theo.

After our first evening together, when he’d showed me more grace than I probably deserved, his entire focus seemed to be on doing what he could to aid in my recovery. There had been a brief moment initially when I thought maybe he was pushing so hard for it because he wanted me out of his house. But that thought lasted all of a few seconds before I felt a wave of disappointment move through me, and I scolded myself for having the audacity to think such a thing.

That was not who Theo was, and I felt horrible for even having considered it as a possibility.

I reminded myself how much I’d missed him over the years, how grateful I was for all that he was doing now, and how lucky I was that he’d been by my side since the moment he’d learned about what happened to me.

Aside from the emotional turmoil I’d been trying to work through, there was the still the physical trauma I was attempting to heal from. Though it had been a couple of days since I’d left the hospital, I was still trying to make it through a single day without needing to take a nap.

And every time I got exhausted like that and made the attempt to force myself to stay awake, Theo would stop me. He frequently urged me to rest, and if he noticed I couldn’t manage to get myself to relax, he’d find a way to make it happen.

With everything he’d been doing for me, it was impossible for me to not notice how concerned he was about me. All of it reminded me of the reasons I’d fallen in love with him so many years ago. He’d had such a caring and protective nature toward me right from the very start.

Only now, it came with something else. Now, I got several home-cooked meals a day from him. And every single one of them made me smile, because I’d never envisioned him to be such a domesticated man.

“I’m going to be in your debt forever,” I said, just as I pushed my breakfast plate back.

He hadn’t been lying that first day here when he told me he was exceptional at breakfast. His eggs were perfection, regardless of how I asked to have them. The toast was never burnt, and I loved that he cut up fruit for me into perfect bite-sized pieces. He even did it with a banana.

After setting his coffee mug down, Theo’s lips twitched. “What could you possibly believe you owe me for?”

I waved my hand out in front of me. “This. You’ve made me so many meals and healthy snacks since we left the hospital, I’ve lost count.”

“Well, I’m glad for that, because you don’t need to keep track,” he insisted. “I’m not doing any of this with the thought in my mind that you’ll be indebted to me. I’m doing it because I care about you.”

“I know. I wasn’t being serious. Or, well, I wasn’t being totally serious. Between you and your parents, I’m feeling overwhelmed with appreciation.”

He reached his hand out to mine, which had been resting on the table, and offered a gentle squeeze. “I don’t want you thinking about anything that any of us has done as something you can’t repay us for or that you’d need to repay us for. It’s not necessary. Besides, I’d like to think that if the roles were reversed and something happened to me, you’d stop at nothing to take care of me.”

He wasn’t wrong about that, but the thought of him being near death sent an unwelcome shiver along my spine. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to see you through,” I replied, a slight rasp in my voice.

Just as he parted his lips to say something, his phone began buzzing from over on the kitchen countertop. Theo gave my hand one final squeeze before he stood, moved in that direction, and glanced down at his phone. Lifting it in his hand, he returned his attention to me and said, “Speaking of my parents, this is my dad.”

I smiled and gave him a nod in response as he answered the call.

“Hey, Dad.” There was a brief pause as he listened to his father’s response before he smiled and said, “She’s doing great. Every day is getting better. We actually just had breakfast together.”

My heart melted.

While Theo’s parents hadn’t spent every waking moment with me, there was no question how much they loved me. Scott acted just as I had suspected my father would have if this had happened when he was still alive.

---