ReidingRainbow: He just seemed way too polished, if I’m being honest. The type to bully on social media, sure, but to sneak into her courtyard and steal a cat? I can’t picture it.
Armchair_Detective: We can’t rule anyone out. Same with the ex-boyfriend.
ReidingRainbow: I don’t know. Vermont was nowhere in sight, plus his floors were different than the pictures.
WhiteKnight31: Ugh we have to be missing something! No way this amateur can show us up.
ReidingRainbow: We’re amateurs too.
WhiteKnight31: We solved a case.
ReidingRainbow: One with a ton of information that was clearly botched by law enforcement.
WhiteKnight31: So? A solve is a solve. We’ve got to figure this one out.
ReidingRainbow: I still want to look into the neighbor, I just haven’t quite figured out how to do it yet. I was thinking Hazel and I could stop by her apartment and see if we see anything.
Armchair_Detective: Look at you, suggesting a stakeout.
ReidingRainbow: It’s not a stakeout if Hazel lives there.
WhiteKnight31: How’s she holding up? Every time my cat curls up in my lap, I think about how hard this must be for her.
ReidingRainbow: She’s alright. Hanging in there. I feel bad I can’t do more.
WhiteKnight31: Oh…I’m sure you could do more. ;)
ReidingRainbow: Enough.
WhiteKnight31: So sensitive on the Hazel topic.
Armchair_Detective: There’s got to be something there.
ReidingRainbow: Drop it.
WhiteKnight31: He isn’t denying it! That’s basically an admission.
I shook my head,smiling as I pulled off my oversized headphones and closed out of the group chat.
They were right, therewassomething. But I wasn’t about to air out my personal life for them to examine. Especially when I hadn’t quite figured out what was going on yet. Hazel hadn’t brought up the kiss from the other night, which kind of surprised me. I thought for sure I’d wake up to her confronting me in the kitchen—at least a note or something. But nothing. Everything had been very cordial since then. Borderline awkward.
Part of me worried she wasn’t interested.
But the way her cheeks flushed every time I walked into a room seemed to tell a different story. Maybe inviting her to family dinner was rushing things, but I wanted them to meet her. I wanted to open the door wider and let her into more of my world.
As for the kiss…we'd figure that out. We could talk about it tonight, on the way home. I just hoped she didn’t think I was some jerk for kissing her when she was vulnerable. That was never my intention.
In reality, I had thought about kissing Hazel quite a bit. I liked who I was around her. She made me looser, messier. I felt more carefree just having her around.
My family would say that I was notoriously picky when it came to women. When I’d first met Meghan, it had taken me months to decide we should be in a relationship. And since the divorce, I’d had a hard time committing to anything serious. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have a relationship again, it was that I overanalyzed every woman I even considered bringing into my life. How would they fit? Would we mesh well together long term?
Then Hazel came barreling in, someone I would’ve sworn had no place in my world. But she’d slipped in somehow, effortlessly weaving herself into my days and taking up every spare thought I had. She made me want to throw out the rulebook I'd clung to for so long. Made me want to rewrite it with her in mind.
There was something about being with her that stirred up this strange kind of nostalgia. I didn’t even know if that made sense. It was like the way you look back on a memory and romanticize it, glossing over any pain points. She did that—except not for my past, but mypresent.Even the mundane things—making dinner, folding laundry, just sitting together on the couch—felt electric when she was around. And lately, the thought of her leaving had started to settle in like an ache in my chest.
I rolled my chair back and stood up, stretching before leaving my office and heading into the living room. A quick glance at my stove clock told me Hazel should be home by now. I hadn’t meant to keep track of her schedule; it was quite difficult, given the fact that she could schedule clients at any time of day. But I always made it a point to ask her what her day looked like, either in person or via text. I liked knowing.
A thump came from the other end of the hallway. I approached with caution, arriving at her closed door and giving it a soft knock.
