Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Someone pounding on the door had me jolting up in bed. Theo’s strong arm lay protectively over top of me, causing him to jerk awake too.
“What is it?” he demanded.
The knocking started again, saving me from having to answer. Then came the unmistakable sound of the front door opening. I was having flashbacks to a month ago when I’d first arrived, sure I’d be murdered.
The sun wasn’t even out yet.
“Theo, you have a visitor.” Lori’s voice rang out, all singsongy and cheery. Like she’d been up for hours, which in all honesty, she probably had.
“Who—what—” I couldn’t quite form complete sentences having been so unceremoniously woken up.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs as I scrambled to get up.
Thankfully I was wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants, and fuzzy socks.
Last night had been freezing even with Theo’s ungodly amount of body heat constantly warming our shared bed.
He wore sweats but no shirt as we both got to the door and opened it in time to see Lori walking up the stairs with an unfamiliar man in tow.
My eyebrows scrunched, but Theo broke into the largest grin I’d ever seen on him. “Matteo? What the hell are you doing here?”
Matteo, apparently, laughed jovially and gave him a hug, smacking him on the back.
“Had to escort you back to the other side, brother.”
“How’d you get through so early?”
“I was on standby, waiting for it to open. It was a little draining to pass through so early, but I figured it was worth it. I haven’t been to this realm save for a couple of hours ten years ago.” He looked around at the house. “It’s more charming than you described it.”
I winced, forgetting Theo’s historical disdain for this realm.
“And the house was easy enough to find,” Matteo continued, eyes finally finding mine as I stood half covered by Theo. “And who is this?” he asked, one eyebrow arched high into his full, dirty-blond hairline.
“Oh, uh.” Theo stepped slightly aside, but still maintained his protective stance in front of me. “Matteo, this is Josie.”
“Josie, huh?” He grinned and stretched out a hand. I placed mine in his, and instead of shaking it, he brought it up to his mouth and placed a soft kiss. “Charmed to meet you.”
“Uh, you too.” I gently slipped my hand out of his grasp.
Lori smirked from behind him. “Imagine my surprise when this lovely young lad came knocking at my door this morning. Thankfully, it was past five so I was already up. Gave me quite the start, though.”
“I’m sorry, Loretta, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Matteo slipped an arm around my grandmother, who, to no one’s surprise, already looked completely enchanted by him.
“Matteo is the friend I was telling you about,” Theo said. “The one I live with back…back home.”
He mumbled the word “home” so softly I barely heard him.
“Oh,” I managed to say.
This wasn’t what I expected from Theo’s only friend. I expected someone soft spoken and bookish. But Matteo hadn’t dropped the smile since he’d arrived, and there seemed to be a permanent twinkle in his eye. I highly doubted he’d ever had a quiet moment in his life.
“I thought if I got here early enough, you could show me around town before we had to get back,” Matteo said.
Theo scratched the back of his head, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Uh, yeah. Of course.”
“Fantastic.” Lori clapped. “We can give you a hearty breakfast. The kind that’ll stick to your bones. Have you ever had a bacon, egg, and cheese?”
Matteo smiled. “I have not, but I’m delighted to try one.” He winked at us both. “I’ll let you two freshen up.”
With that they disappeared down the stairs and it was just Theo and me again.
His gaze drifted in and out of focus. I couldn’t quite get a read on him. He was clearly excited to see his friend—I hadn’t seen a smile like that on him since we met. But there was something else brewing underneath the surface.
“Everything okay?” I asked, as I slipped my sweats off and pulled on the jeans I’d left discarded on the floor from the night before.
His eyes drifted to mine. “Oh, uh, yeah. Just surprised.”
I could still see his eyes calculating something.
“Didn’t expect the welcome wagon, huh?” I joked, pulling a gray sweater over my head.
“This is a very Matteo thing to do. I just…I guess I was hoping to talk to you more.”
My chest cracked open. “We’ll still be together all day, or whenever it is you have to leave,” I added.
“Not until tonight,” he said. “The portal gets harder to pass through as the day goes on. It takes more energy, but it’ll be easy to recover as long as we leave before midnight.” He gnawed on his bottom lip. “Well, ten really if we don’t want to risk it.”
Please risk it, I wanted to beg. Miss the portal opening and stay here. Forever.
My pulse quickened. As our time dwindled from days to hours, that intrusive thought kept getting louder and louder in my mind.
It wasn’t so much my fear of rejection that kept me from sharing it.
I mostly just didn’t want Theo to feel any sort of guilt or obligation toward me.
Some inconsequential human he’d had a short-lived relationship with.
I’d put on a brave face, give him a hug, and see him off. With any luck we’d both remember this time fondly for the rest of our lives. We’d look back when we hit old age and remember that charming person from the other realm.
Except I had the sneaking suspicion his memory would weigh me down until it nearly crushed me.
“Ready to go?” I asked brightly.
He still stood there, blankly. He hadn’t even put a shirt on. I loved how quiet he was, but watching him now, a million thoughts clearly racing through his head that I wasn’t privy to, made me want to reach out and shake him.
What are you thinking?
“I’m ready.” He grabbed a sweatshirt from his side of the bed and covered himself.
I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready to lose him.
I wasn’t ready to miss him.
And I certainly wasn’t ready to act like our time together wasn’t earth shattering.
But instead of saying any of that I forced a smile and said, “Let’s go, then.”