Chapter 36
Adam
We spent the weekend busy together—visiting with her step-nephews and nieces on Saturday for a birthday party up at the Saint Family Ranch a ways up the canyon, and Sunday, we had a quiet start reading on the back porch in the cool of the morning and sipping coffee before we visited Dorian.
Jo stayed in the car since I knew Dorian wouldn’t be ready for new people even though he’d met her before, but I was nervous to see the state of things and didn’t want to upset Jo or Stone.
Turned out, he was baking. Blueberry-lemon muffins. In an apron. And I couldn’t have been happier or more surprised, though he’d looked at me like his baking habit wasn’t news and I let him be. He even had plans with Kenny later, so how could I complain? His time with Dr. Corrigan had certainly been paying off.
It was Tuesday afternoon, a day before the release party, when Jess popped into my office with Ethan close behind.
“Wilder said you wanted to talk to me?” she asked, not fully entering the office.
“Actually, Jo did.”
She seemed perplexed. “I’ll see her tomorrow for setup before the release party.” Her face lit with a giant smile. “Oh my gosh, we’re all going to die with glee when Josie Wade walks in. Ah!”
I’d never heard the woman screech. She really wasn’t like that around us, though it made some sense knowing she’d come out of a deeply male-dominated profession.
I grinned, something niggling at me. Probably the general concern over the event and wondering if it’d draw the stalker out. We would be securing All Booked Up better than any star-studded billionaire-attended event in town, that was for sure.
“Maybe drop by and see her tonight. She’s closing this afternoon and getting the print copies organized after she locks up.” Her dad would be there, and I’d go pick her up and take her to dinner before we got a good sleep to prepare for the big event.
Separately. We’d get a good sleep in separate beds. No matter how much I would like to share one with her. Yes, in every way, but just to hold her again—I hadn’t savored it the way I should’ve that one and only time over a week ago.
Curse me for having a guest bedroom.
“I’ll do it. I just have to finish up the AAR I didn’t wrap on the plane, and then I’ll head over.”
“Sounds good.”
She bid Ethan goodbye, and he sauntered in after her looking like roadkill.
“Whoa, buddy. You need a week-long nap.”
He slumped into the chair across from me. “You’re telling me. I cannot sleep. I’m not even working that hard—I just can’t sleep. You’re looking at a bona fide insomniac.” He dipped his head in a faint bow.
“Worrying? Are you more stressed than usual?” Maybe that was a stupid question knowing he was a new business owner only slightly past the one-year mark.
He scrubbed at his eyes. “Maybe? I don’t know. I just can’t stop my mind running at night. But it doesn’t seem to matter when I go to bed. And I own a coffee shop, but I’ve cut out caffeine just in case.”
My brother loved coffee like some people love chocolate, so this was huge. “That’s probably wise. What about exercise? Hydration?”
We ran through the list of things that might be stressing him, but I suspected it was mental more than physical. Most times I’d seen insomnia, it’d come from mental stress or anxiety far more so than physical causes. When we’d exhausted all the avenues, we came back to stress.
“I just don’t feel that stressed. I don’t get why that would keep me up at night. Joe’s been in the black for ages. It’s not like my partners are pressuring me for more results—they’re both happy with the way things are going. And the community seems to like it. I feel settled here and I’m glad you’ve found someone you care about.” His throat bobbed.
I heard it. The hint. “But you want that. You’ve wanted that as long as you’ve known it was a thing.”
His gaze fell to his hands. “I have. I do. But that’s not keeping me up.”
I wanted to push him on it because he’d always been a little anxious, and it made sense he might’ve adopted more worries now than when he was in the full throes of setting things up last year. But I also knew he’d shut down if I did much more now. So I offered him the one tool I could think of for now.
“Take this. Just in case. I know a lot of people who’ve found her to be very kind and helpful.”
Ethan took the business card for Dr. Corrigan and eyed it. “Therapy?”
I shrugged. “It’s rare to be an adult in this world and not need it at some point. I haven’t talked to her, but I did a lot of work with one as I transitioned out last year. I have friends here who’ve worked with her and would vouch for her—I can ask my friend about talking with you if you want.” I couldn’t exactly lay out her client list, but I suspected Wilder would vouch for her, as would Kenny or Dorian.
He nodded and stood. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
I pulled him into a hug, and he shoved me away eventually once it became unbearably tight—our stupid childhood tradition hadn’t died off completely.
“You’re an idiot,” he said, shaking his head but smiling lightly now.
“Yeah? You, too.” I winked as obnoxiously as I could, and he rolled his eyes. “You up for a hike this weekend?”
His brows raised. “Yeah. Of course.”
“Why do you look so shocked I asked?”
“You usually go alone or with your work people. But yeah, I’m there. Let me know when and where.”
With one more little wave, he left and I sat with his statement for a minute. Had I really not asked him? He often took weekend shifts at Joe when his employees had to call out or during shoulder seasons when their staff was running on a skeleton crew. I hadn’t ever meant to stop asking, but I had. And these last few weeks, I’d been so absorbed with Jo, I hadn’t made much time for anyone else.
Basically the opposite of every other relationship I’ve ever had.What a thought.
Historically, my problem was not prioritizing the person I was with, but lately, I’d been so focused on Jo, I’d hardly bothered with anyone but occasional checkups on Dorian. Well, and the occasional check-in with Kenny. But overall, I’d been consumed with Jo.
Easy enough to see why. The stalker had created a pressurized version of our relationship, where not only was my protective instinct activated but my professional training was, too, and all of it was directed at her.
In normal circumstances, she wouldn’t be living with me and we wouldn’t be so close. We wouldn’t be having meals together and waking up to stare out at the sunrise or read next to each other.
I would be able to think about anything other than her. Right? I would. And chances were good that when all of this wrapped up, when normal life returned, my usual pattern of putting work and friends first would, too.
Wouldn’t it?
“Excuse me.” Jess’s voice cut through, a slice of frustration issued from the hallway.
A grunt followed—classic Beast response, especially to her.
I rubbed my temples, wishing I could solve that problem but knowing it wasn’t up to me. Or really anyone. Some differences between people just couldn’t be solved.
Seconds later, Jess appeared in my office door again. “Heading over to see your woman. Any messages for her?”
Your woman.It was probably wrong how much I liked the sound of it.
“You can say hey for me, of course. Get over there and talk to your friend.”
I didn’t think Jess would be mad at Jo for not telling her about Josie Wade, but I knew for a fact Jo would be relieved when all of her friends knew. The lingering concern over Elizabeth and her mother wouldn’t disappear instantly or anything, but I hoped letting more people in her life celebrate her success and even enjoy it with her would encourage her.
“Roger. See you, Doc.”
When Jess left, the revolving door of visitors stopped, and I focused on a few tasks in my queue. When Jess wandered by my door twenty minutes later, I grinned, expecting to find her floating on the high of finding out her dear friend was also her favorite author.
Instead, she had no excitement to speak of. She seemed startled to find my office empty of anyone but me.
“Pop, did you find Jo?”
“I thought maybe she’d come here while I went there. She wasn’t there.”
Jess’s response took a minute to register in my mind, but once it did, I sat up straight, fully alert. “She should’ve been. I dropped her off. She was having lunch with her dad and Jane, and now that the store’s closed, she was going to work on organizing the books so you guys had less to do tomorrow…”
“I didn’t see her,” she said, the gravity of her words hooking into both of us.
My stomach dropped. “Could she have been in the back? What about Cookie—he didn’t see her? ”
“Cookie was at the door, but I thought maybe she’d gone out the back, though now that I say it, it makes no sense. I called her cell but no answer.”
The moment snapped and we were both running, both of our phones already to our ears.