Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Esther
Itried to quell the jitters brought on by walking into the tiny Spruce Hill police station and almost succeeded, thanks to Theo’s warm hand wrapped around mine. He seemed more worried about the prank calls than I was, which in turn increased my own anxiety.
Rose Hanson, however, put my mind at ease just as quickly. She was matter-of-fact, sharp as a tack, and beautifully competent. “Hey, Theo. Hand it over and go fetch me a Coke from the break room fridge, would you? Want anything, Esther?”
Laughing, I shook my head and sat down in the chair across from Rose’s computer.
Before I was even fully seated, her attention toggled between the phone and her computer screen.
Theo returned a few minutes later, slid the can across the desk to Rose’s waiting hand, and lowered himself into the chair beside me.
“The email came from the same phone as the calls,” she said eventually.
I frowned. “Is that good or bad?”
Rose waved her hand from side to side. “Both. It means the number blocker they used for the phone calls doesn’t matter, because we’ve got the source from the email.
They didn’t block that, either because they didn’t know how or because they didn’t realize it would show up like that.
The bad news is that it’s a prepaid cell phone like you can get at most convenience stores, so it’ll be harder to track down who bought it. ”
“Harder, but not impossible?” Theo asked.
“Are you doubting my skills?”
He held up both hands. “Of course not.”
Rose glared at him for a second before typing a few more things into her computer, then she passed the phone back to me. “I want to know if you get anything else, okay? I’ll keep working on this in the meantime and will let you know if I find any answers.”
We both thanked her before heading back out into the cold. Flurries were in the forecast, though it was always a toss-up whether any snow would stick to the ground at this time of year. I leaned into Theo when he wrapped his arm around my waist.
“You’re like a furnace,” I told him, snuggling close.
He waggled his eyebrows dramatically. “I’ll warm you up any time, sweetness.”
Just before we pulled into the driveway, Theo’s phone started playing an oldies song. I burst out laughing as his cheeks grew pink, but he winked at me before answering the call.
“Oliver, sir, how can I help you?”
The conversation ended quickly. I knew it involved some kind of invitation, even hearing only one side of it, and was formulating my excuse when Theo ended the call.
He must have seen in my face that I wasn’t ready for another outing, because he leaned over and pressed a reassuring kiss to my lips before he spoke.
“They asked if we’d come to dinner at their apartment tonight. Julian’s cooking. We don’t have to go, Esther,” he said gently.
“Please don’t take this to mean I want to get rid of you, because I don’t, but I think you should go on your own. You guys have been friends for a long time, and just because I’m an unrepentant introvert who can’t handle so many outings in a short time doesn’t mean you should suffer for it.”
Theo huffed a little at that. “Yes, because spending my evenings with you is such a hardship.”
I set my hand on his knee and said, “I’ll still be there when you get home, Theo.
We can’t live in each other’s pockets for the next however many weeks, anyway.
While I’m absolutely willing to be your excuse to not see people you don’t want to spend time with, I thought Ollie and Julian were the two you’d want to see more of before you go home. ”
“You’re right,” he conceded with a sigh. “I’ll tell them I’ll be there. What are the chances of coming home to find you naked in my bed?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Slim to none, but you can swing by the guest house and offer your best pickup line. If it’s good enough, I’ll come home with you.”
He cupped one hand around the back of my neck and leaned in to kiss me, the kind of deep, thorough exploration I’d come to expect from him. When he finally drew back, he grinned at me.
“I suppose we’ve got all afternoon, huh?”
By the time he left for dinner with Oliver and Julian, I felt like every inch of his body was imprinted on mine. He leaned down to kiss me goodbye and I barely had the energy to respond.
“How am I supposed to make pleasant conversation when all I can picture is you all sexy and naked here alone?” he growled against my throat.
“Sexy? I have become a puddle of womanly goo,” I complained.
Theo laughed. “The sexiest puddle I’ve ever seen. Text me if you need me to come back and service you again.”
Determined not to let him have the last laugh, I shot him a mournful expression. “Your stamina is something to behold. I guess you must get it from your father.”
His face froze in a mask of horror as he pulled away. “Why would you know that?”
“I walked in on your parents here once, before I moved in. They were banging on your mother’s desk, it was over there,” I said, pointing to the corner where my dresser now stood. “I didn’t see much but if your mom’s commentary was an indication…”
Theo groaned and dropped back onto the bed, burying his face against my belly.
When he shook his head back and forth, mumbling a stream of what I took to be simply the word no over and over again, his hair tickled my skin and I tried valiantly not to knee him in the face as I contorted.
Apparently, he realized what was happening, shot me a devilish grin, and set about tickling me in earnest.
I shrieked and shoved at him. “You have to go! They’re waiting for you!”
With one final nip to my hip bone, he stood up again. “That was a low blow, Malek,” he said grumpily. “I don’t want to think about my parents having sex. Ever. I scrubbed every flat surface in the house when I first got here, you know.”
A laugh burst from my lips, but he was still shaking his head despondently.
It took another three minutes to shoo him out of the guest house before silence finally fell around me once more.
For a while, I stayed there in my puddly state, listening to the quiet that had been my companion for so many years.
It felt different now.
Instead of the peace I usually drew from the silence here, it now seemed oppressive and unsettling. I rolled my head on the pillow to check that my phone was still on the nightstand, then curled up on my side and closed my eyes.
If I was honest with myself, everything felt different now that Theo had come hurtling into my tidy little world.
What would happen when he was gone again?
The question brought on a curious ache in my midsection, right below the spot where he’d pressed his face moments ago.
I could scold myself for the next few weeks, remind myself that I knew all along this was a limited interlude, but by this point I was fully aware it wouldn’t stop the feelings from growing.
Even if it shattered me into a thousand pieces, this would still be far from the worst mistake I’d made. Trusting Steve Pautler was solidly in first place, as far as mistakes went. On the contrary, this thing with Theo had brought me back to life after a long hibernation.
I’d already gathered all the broken pieces of myself and glued them back together; I could do it again if I had to.
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered aloud, flopping onto my back. I was certainly not going to spend an evening by myself wallowing in the misery of Theo’s eventual departure.
Once I finally regained enough energy to move, I ran a bubble bath, poured a glass of wine, lit a few candles, and put my e-reader in a zip-top bag.
I had plenty of reading to catch up on during my slow season, along with a Netflix queue I’d probably never manage to get all the way through even if I never worked another day in my life.
A night on my own should've been a welcome break from having someone else around all the time lately.
After my bath, I put on my comfiest pajamas, threw together some dinner, and settled myself under a blanket on the loveseat to watch a rom-com I had been saving for just such an occasion. I’d been enjoying life as a single woman for years. A handsome, talented lover wasn’t going to change that.
And if the occasional texts Theo sent throughout the evening to check in made my insides flutter a little ridiculously, I blamed it on the wine.