Chapter 35 #2
Will nodded as he blew out a breath. “Okay. Here goes.” He found a number in his phone and selected it.
“Richard. Thank God. Yeah, I’m freaking out, man.
I just got a call from one of our volunteers at Monroe House.
The pipe under the sink in the main warehouse burst.” Will met Ty’s eyes as he paced back and forth.
“I’m going to head up that way now, but it sounds like it’s an absolute mess.
There are two or three inches of water on the floor.
A bunch of shit is ruined. I need to call the insurance guy. Christ, this is a disaster.”
Ty nodded his approval as Will paced another round. The guy was a hell of an actor.
“I don’t know,” Will continued. “I’ll try to have stuff cleaned up, but they’re still trying to get the water shut off…”
Ty wrote Lock it up. Tell him about the storage unit.
“But I know I owe you,” Will continued. “You’ve helped me out a lot, and I want to come through on my end. My family has a storage unit that we keep for our holiday overflow.”
Ty wrote Coolidge Storage. Off Second St. Climate-controlled. Unit 1333.
“Yeah, I know it’s not ideal… I understand that this isn’t what we agreed to, but it’s a better option for the time being.
It’s a climate-controlled unit. At Coolidge Storage off Second Street.
” His eyes widened as he continued his pacing.
“Yeah, I’ll be there waiting. At two thirty.
It’s unit 1333. Thank you again for giving me a hand.
I’m really sorry for the inconvenience. Okay. Bye.”
Ty nodded again as Will hung up. “Nice work.”
Will still paced as his hands shook. “Holy fuck, Ty.”
“You sold it, man.”
Will nodded. “He wasn’t happy, but it sounded like he bought it.” Then Will stopped. “But I can’t meet him there. If I meet him, I’m an accessory.”
Ty shook his head. “You’re going to be right here at the compound at two thirty a.m. We’re renting an Audi that looks like yours, and they have an agent—tall, physically fit, with dark-brown hair—who will be waiting at the storage unit.
We’ll use the dark to our advantage, and hopefully, they can end all of this before they realize that our guy isn’t you. ”
Will dropped into his chair as he nodded. “So, what do we do now?”
Ty shook his head as he shrugged. “Wait. Let the agents do their thing.” He grabbed his phone again, finding Mason’s number.
“Yeah,” Mason said.
“Everything’s all set. Russo’s expecting to meet my guy at the storage unit at two thirty.”
“Sounds good. I’m sending a couple of people over there to keep an eye on things.”
Because they both knew Russo would be doing the same thing—scouting things out to make sure they weren’t walking into a trap. “Okay.”
“I’ll keep you updated as the day goes on,” Mason said. “At this point, everything looks good.”
“I appreciate this, man. I truly do. Call if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
Ty put his phone back on the coffee table. “I imagine you and I could both use a few hours of sleep.”
Will shook his head. “I need to eat more.”
Ty nodded, even though his appetite wasn’t great. “I could eat.”
“What if we go grab some breakfast? We can also grab your stuff and you can stay here tonight.”
He nodded again because it made sense to have his stuff here.
He and Will would be spending the rest of the day together until this situation was wrapped up.
Then he was going back to DC. “Sure. Sounds good.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
“Do you have a plumber who handles things at Monroe House?”
Will shrugged. “Yeah, I’m sure we do.”
“Let’s give him a call and have him meet us up at the warehouse.”
Will frowned. “But there’s nothing wrong at the warehouse.”
Ty shrugged. “So, we’ll back up the toilets or clog a drain. If Russo or any of his buddies do a drive-by, seeing a plumber’s truck in the parking lot will only add to the authenticity of our story.”
Will nodded. “Good thinking. Let me grab my keys. They’re upstairs.”
“Sure,” he said as he looked out the window, staring at the pool house on the perfect summer day. It was still sinking in that Lydia wasn’t there anymore.
Picking up his phone, he hesitated before he started typing.
Will mentioned that you’re back in Virginia. Please talk to me, Lyd.
He sat up straight, holding his breath when three dots appeared on his screen. “Holy shit,” he whispered.
Let’s just leave things the way that we left them. We can always say that we knew each other one summer.
He clenched his jaw as he swallowed, absorbing the painful blow to his heart as he read between the lines easily enough—Lyd’s gentle way of telling him to fuck off. She was officially done with him.
Will came back with his key fob and his phone in his hand, still dressed in his crappy T-shirt and shorts. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” he said as he stood, trying to grasp that the best part of his life was truly gone.
Lydia lay curled under a pile of blankets in her cozy living room, blinking her groggy eyes in the bright morning sunshine.
During the final three hours of her endless drive home, she’d craved nothing but her bed.
When she finally walked through her front door and went upstairs, she’d smelled Ty’s aftershave in the air, so she’d settled on the couch instead.
It felt odd to be there—at the place that had always been her absolute favorite. But for the first time since she bought her dream home, something felt like it was missing.
Exhaling a shaky breath, she blinked back her tears as she pressed her hand to her achy heart, unable to deny what it was.
It was still sinking in that she would most likely never see Ty again. He’d been a vital part of her life for weeks. They’d been together nearly every moment. And now he was simply gone.
She’d known Ty for a mere month and a half, yet she knew in her depths that nothing would ever be quite the same again.
When Andy had left for Europe, she’d been sad but never devastated. Watching Ty walk away had destroyed her heart. And yet she could only blame herself for falling for him.
Their days together had been numbered from the beginning. Their entire relationship had been contrived. He’d told her that he had feelings for her, and she’d let herself believe it.
Ty lived in a world of half-truths and make-believe. She imagined that he did feel something for her, but he certainly wasn’t desperately in love. His bosses had told him to end things between them, and that’s exactly what he’d done.
Her phone alerted her to a text. She stared at it on the coffee table, hesitating before she picked it up, wanting to be available to Mac if she needed her.
She sighed as she shook her head, reading Ty’s message.
Will mentioned that you’re back in Virginia. Please talk to me, Lyd.
It was tempting to do just that, but what would be the point? He lived in DC or wherever his job would take him next, and she had a life in a sweet little town that no longer included him.
Let’s just leave things the way that we left them. We can always say that we knew each other one summer.
Closing her eyes, she let her tears fall as she sent it. “It’s better this way,” she whispered, knowing that it was true.
She and Ty wanted entirely different things. He had told her himself that he didn’t have room in his life for a partner and children, and that’s exactly what she planned to have. Ty was a man who loved his career, not her.
Wiping at her cheeks, she put her phone down, knowing that stewing in regrets never did her any good. She needed to do what she’d done after her family had passed. After Andy had left. She needed to pick up the pieces and keep going.
It was time to get back to what she’d been building for herself—the great life she’d had all along. She’d been happy—thriving, even—all on her own.
There was a patio to plan for and gardens to plant in her backyard. There was a classroom to ready and lesson plans to create for a brand-new school year. She had friends who would be happy to have her call and a book club that she wanted to enjoy again.
When she could make herself get off the couch, it would all be hers for the taking. Yet she stayed where she was, staring out the window, not quite ready to move on.