33. Lottie
Lottie
T he number pad beeps, unlocking the deadbolt on Noah and Lilly’s front door. The clicking of little furry paws greets me as I walk inside.
“Hello, little munchkins,” I baby-talk to the cats.
They’re the cutest little furballs I’ve ever seen.
Well, except for Teddy’s kitten, Loki. Each one is a different shade of grey, and their names match their personalities.
Smoky is the darkest and is a little more aloof than the others.
Stormy’s a little hellion who likes to pounce on you when you’re not looking.
Then, there’s Dusty. He’s the laziest of all three, and the cuddliest of them too.
Noah and Lilly’s family trip to New York couldn’t have come at a better time.
Teddy flew up to meet Jackson and his team yesterday.
I’ve been doing everything possible to ignore how much I miss him, so house-sitting is the perfect distraction.
I thought about bringing Loki over to meet these guys, but I don’t want anyone to get into a fight.
Cats can be little assholes when they want to be.
I carry my suitcase down the hallway and drop it off in the guest bedroom.
It’s been a while since I spent the night here.
I used to babysit for Noah and Lilly when Mirabelle was a baby.
Now that the girls are older, Noah and Lilly can leave them alone while they go out for date nights.
Nellie has always been more responsible than a lot of kids her age.
She’d never let anything happen to her sister.
I send a text to Noah and Lilly, letting them know I’m at their house and that the kitties are fine.
Noah sends back a picture of Nellie holding Mirabelle in Times Square.
Nellie has on her purple headphones, and her smile is wider than I’ve ever seen.
Mirabelle has her head thrown back in laughter.
I respond to Noah, telling him I wish I was there to hear her giggles.
As I’m walking through the living room, an old box catches my attention. I gently unlatch the metal clasp, the hinges groaning as I lift the lid. Inside are folded pieces of paper that are yellowed with age.
Knowing Noah and Lilly would never put anything personal out in the middle of the room for people to see, I have no issue opening the letters to find out what they are.
12 September 1865
My Darling,
When my eyes close and the world around me grows dark, the nightmares join forces to render me useless. I had hoped returning from battle would end the torment, but the chains around my neck have only tightened further.
Your love is the key to loosening those chains, my darling.
Each day, the space between us grows larger. How can I continue to live this life without you by my side? I could no longer survive without you as I could without air.
You are the sun that rises in the east every morning. If you stopped rising, my world would remain in darkness.
–Your heart
My eyes blur with tears. The outpouring of love is overwhelming. I’ve never read anything this beautiful. No wonder Noah and Lilly left these out in the living room. They deserve to be seen. I wonder who these people were.
I text Noah to see if he knows, and he responds, saying they never got around to searching. Since the letters don’t include names, they never looked into it any further.
An idea hits me. I yank my phone from my pocket and open a group video chat. Carson and Ryan answer first, and then Michael and Gia join. Ginny’s the only one who doesn’t answer. I hate that it doesn’t surprise me.
“Guys! I just found our next mystery.”
“Our what?” Carson asks, a bemused smile on his face.
“Gia, Ginny, and I were talking the other day about needing to get the Scooby-Doo Gang together again, and I found a mystery for us to investigate.” I hold up the box.
“What’s in the box?” Carson cries out, à la Brad Pitt in Seven.
“Letters from 1865. Love letters, to be specific. They’re beautiful. And I want to know who wrote them.”
“Uh, pretty sure letters normally have names on them,” Michael points out .
I give him a flat look. “I might’ve grown up with technology, but I still know how to write a letter. All of them have either pet names or nicknames on them. Nothing specific.”
“No wonder your spidey senses are tingling,” Gia teases.
“Come on, guys. Please?” I whine. Since our talk with Ginny, I’ve been hunting for something to bring us back together as a group. All six of us have drifted apart as we’ve gotten older. This is my chance to bring us back together.
“Sounds fun to me. I could use the distraction,” Carson says.
“I’m in.” Ryan shrugs.
“You already know I’m down,” Gia says.
The four of us look at Michael. His cheeks puff out with an exhale. “Someone has to make sure the four of you don’t get yourselves killed.”
“Yes!” I fist-pump the air.
“Gia, you’re on Ginny duty. Get her to come home and help.”
“On it.”
I’m lying in bed, watching a movie on my laptop, when it starts ringing with an incoming video call. A grin stretches across my face when a gorgeous man fills the screen.
“Hey, how was your first full day?”
Teddy’s midnight-blue eyes soften as he takes me in. “You’re so fucking gorgeous.”
My cheeks heat. “Right back atcha.”
“What are you doing?”
“Watching a movie. What about you?” I don’t miss that he never responded to my first question. Either it was uneventful, or he’s overthinking and isn’t ready to share .
“Lying down in the bunk room. I never thought I’d be sleeping in one of these again.”
“Do you miss your bed?”
“I miss you being in my bed.” He smirks.
“Same. I had no idea I could become obsessed with sleeping next to someone.”
“You better mean me, Sparkles. Not just anyone.”
“Well, I haven’t tested out the theory.”
“Lottie,” Teddy growls. I love it when he makes that noise.
“I’m joking. Of course, I meant you. You’re the only man I’ve ever slept with or want to sleep with.”
“That’s right.”
“What did your day look like?”
“Started early with a run. Well, I watched the guys run. I stayed with Jackson at the base. The guys train most of the morning. They have a huge gym set up in a barn, so I was able to work out with them. Their afternoons are spent researching client proposals or whatever else the team needs. Jackson took me on a tour yesterday after I arrived. Today, he left me to shadow one of his guys. They’ve got quite the setup going here. ”
“Does it make you wish you were a part of it?”
Teddy shrugs. “Not really. I thought it would. When I got here, I had a flashback to living on base. The odd part was that I immediately felt relieved that I didn’t have to stay.”
I keep my expression neutral, but I’m dancing on the inside.
He’s gotten more open with me about his emotions.
I’ve made sure not to push him too hard.
When he opens up to me, it’s like fireworks exploding in my belly.
I worried that we weren’t going to get there, but with every conversation like this one, my hope grows more.
“What has Jackson told you about being a PI?”
“It’s all pretty standard. Nightfall will assign me clients in the area. If a client reaches out to me first, I’m to send them through Nightfall. I’m glad that’s their policy. It protects me, the client, and Nightfall simultaneously.”
“What kind of cases will you handle?”
“Anything that comes my way. I can share my preferences as I get a feel for the job.”
“Sounds like the perfect gig.”
“I think it might be. It’s hard to believe it just landed in my lap.”
I scoff. “Your reputation is what got you this job. I have no doubt your superiors wanted you to thrive outside of your unit. That’s the only reason they’d recommend you.”
Teddy looks down at his lap. A pleased smile ticks up the side of his mouth. Could he be any cuter?
“When are you coming home?” I demand.
His confident demeanor comes back in full force. “Miss me?”
“You know I do.”
“Good. I miss you, too. I fly out tomorrow evening.”
“That’s fast. I thought you had to stay for two more days.”
“I did too, but Jackson took one look at me and said, ‘Yeah, you’ll be fine.’”
I laugh. “He just wanted to meet you in person?”
“Pretty much. While he accepts recommendations, he told me he’d never hire someone until he could look them in the eye. I also met his wife, Thia. She’s a spitfire, just like you. I have no doubt the two of you would gang up on us.”
“I hope I get to meet her one day.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Teddy tells me more about his day with the team. If he hadn’t told me he wanted to come home, I’d be afraid he would stay. It sounds like he really likes them. It reminds me that he needs friends here to support him. While my friends have welcomed him with open arms, he needs people of his own .
He did have lunch with Noah without any prompting from me. While Noah is closer to us in age, he’s more like a young uncle than anything else. I could see him and Teddy becoming friends, which would make me inordinately happy.
Could our future really be coming together this easily?
I refuse to question it. All that path leads to is worry and heartbreak.