I was the one who applied for her, but I won’t give Theo the information. He doesn’t deserve to know anything else about my sister. It’s hard to stay mad at him, though. There’s a genuine sound in his voice, as if he really cares.
Dammit.
“Huh.” I shake my head, exhaling harshly. “You know, you make it hard to fight with you when you’re just… taking it like this. Are you really that beat up?”
I’ve never known Theo to act like this. I’ve been introduced to a few of his dates, usually people I don’t see much after the fact, but I’ve never seen him go through a real breakup. Evie, on the other hand, had a broken heart more than once when she was still a teenager.
No matter how sad my friend is, I have to take care of her. I’ll always put her first.
“Yes,” he says. “I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
THEO
One phone call with Everett makes it obvious that he wants me to stay away from Evie. That won’t be hard. She hasn’t texted me, and I’m not in the business of bothering people who want nothing to do with me, no matter how much I miss her.
Everett is right. I’m the problem. I should have changed something as soon as I started falling for Evie. I could have found her another job, but I wanted to keep her close. It’s easier to admit now that she’s gone. Even her being in the next room over would be better than this. She’s alone, and she’s as hurt as I am.
I can’t be the one to comfort her, no matter how much I want to be.
Going into the woods is the only thing that brings me peace these days. The fresh, cool air and being surrounded by other people I care about grounds me, even if I know the hard feelings will return once I’m alone.
Nothing makes me happier than kneeling on the earth. I’m checking on a specific tree—the one we planted together—and it seems to be doing well, unlike Evie and me.
“Where is she?” someone asks.
I jump. It’s like someone read my mind—and the person in question is Heino, the forester we’ve been working with from the start. He’s a man of very few words. We speak about our work, about the forest, but it never goes further than that.
If he’s talking to me, it should be about the trees, but I know it’s not.
“Who?” I chuckle, pretending I don’t already know who he’s asking about. “Christine?”
“No.” He shakes his head and lowers his hand, likely indicating Evie’s smaller stature. “The one you’re always with, with the light hair.”
“Ah…” I nod, pressing my lips into a tight line. “Evie had to go home early.”
“Without you?”
“Um… yes.”
Out of everyone who should have suspicions about our relationship, this man is ridiculously low on the list. He doesn’t know either of us. He doesn’t even know Evie’s name. He’s also the only one who may not have strong feelings about the relationship, but I still look around, worried someone else will hear.
“I miss her presence,” he says. “She didn’t always come, but she was like sunlight when she did.”
I guess I’m not the only one who looks at her that way. Huh. I never considered that other people could feel her warmth—it always felt like it was for me.
Tears prick at my eyes, but I smile through the pain. “I miss it too.”
“Then you should go get her.” His eyes sharpen. “Why are you still here?”
“What?” I startle, taking a step back. “She doesn’t want me to.”
“How do you know?”
“How doyouknow?” I throw the question back at him, laughing—equally bitter and confused. Why is this man, someone I’ve only ever talked to about forestry, prying into my private life? He shouldn’t know what Evie means to me…
Christine shouldn’t have known, but it only took her a few days to realize what was happening. I guess we really are that obvious.
