Page 66 of What Comes After

“You’re welcome, Ms. Jade. I hope this news brings you a bit of comfort. Have a good night.”

“And the same to you.”

I pulled the phone from my ear, disconnected the call, and leaned my forearms on the railing. Then I took several deep breaths.

Maybe it was sighs of relief.

It could have been something else altogether.

In so many ways, it felt as though there was too much happening in a single day for me to keep up with. And in other ways, the days dragged on.

I heard the door open behind me and felt Theo make his approach. “Is everything okay?” he asked when he came to stand beside me.

Keeping my eyes focused on the view in front of me, I countered, “Do you know how ridiculously beautiful this is going to be once fall hits?”

The silence stretched between us for a long time before he eventually shared, “It’s one of the reasons I bought it.”

Even if I still hadn’t gotten over Theo purchasing this home, I couldn’t deny that he’d done an incredible job when choosing it. Ever since I’d left the hospital, I felt as though I’d been living in the lap of luxury by being here.

Of course, that was partly due to the living arrangements and partly the result of how Theo treated me.

And while there wasn’t any part of Theo’s home that wasn’t beautiful, this was my favorite. “I’ve decided this is my favorite thing about your house,” I told him.

“The balcony?” he asked.

I nodded. “The view is breathtaking. I can’t wait to see the fall colors when the leaves change. I mean, there’s nothing more beautiful than the Smoky Mountains in October, am I right?”

“When it comes to good views, then I’ve got to agree.”

I tried to ignore what his response implied. On the surface, it seemed he was agreeing with me, but I couldn’t miss the other implication. Could he only appreciate the views here?

Theo had traveled to so many different locations over the years, and he frequently sent me photos of those spots. There was no question they were beautiful. Maybe on some level, he believed this view was comparable, but that was all. Maybe he thought it was all Tennessee, or more specifically, Iris, had to offer.

It was that realization that had me wondering how long it would be before he left again.

“That was the Iris Police Department on the phone,” I finally revealed, deciding to switch topics. “They wanted to let me know they apprehended the last two men.”

“That’s excellent news. I assume the information you gave them helped, then?”

I nodded. “Yeah. They said once I told them about how the men had mentioned Roy was communicating with their girlfriends through their social media accounts, they were able to do a bit of digging and figure them out from there.”

“Do they need you to go in to identify them?” he asked.

Shaking my head, I replied, “No. At least, not yet. Apparently, between the footage they had from the parking lot, the private messages through social media, and the admission from both men once they were picked up, me going there would just be redundant. That might change, but for now, they told me to just focus on recuperating.”

I hadn’t realized Theo was holding onto any tension, but after I’d answered his question, I saw his body visibly relax.

The concern he had for me was so endearing. It always had been. And that was just another thing I had to try to ignore in this whole mess.

To say things were becoming difficult for me would have been an understatement. Obviously, being here with Theo, he made it so I didn’t technically have to worry about anything from one day to the next. But that didn’t mean my mind wasn’t struggling with so many things.

The situation with the men who’d attacked Roy and me was finally resolved, which brought me some comfort. Even if I wasn’t necessarily afraid of them—they genuinely had not a clue who I was—I still didn’t like the idea of anyone who could do what they’d done to us to be walking around freely. Roy did what he did to me, and even if I hated him for that, he didn’t need to die for it.

Beyond that, if I allowed myself to think about it, my financial situation stressed me out. I wasn’t working, I didn’t know how soon I’d be able to start again, and I worried my clients wouldn’t wait around for me for much longer. It terrified me to think they might have already moved on.

It was easy to ignore all of it when I was here, being distracted by him and all the reminders of all the things I’d fallen in love with years ago. It warmed my heart to see how so many years away hadn’t changed the man he was deep down inside, and I was constantly feeling grateful he hadn’t wound up in Hollywood and changed into someone I didn’t recognize.

That was part of the reason I was having such a hard time now. Getting what I was getting from Theo—the care, concern, conversations, and the wonderful night out—I found myself wondering how to hold back. How could I stop myself from falling harder than I had years ago? And if I couldn’t do it, how soon would it be before I wound up brokenhearted again?

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