“Yes. Him gone.”
Rose looks from Tessa to me, then back to Tessa, clearly confused as well. “Zane? Are you sure? Honey, Zane is the one who brought you here.”
“I understand.” Tessa refuses to look at me. “But yes, I’m sure that I want him gone, and I don’t want him to come back.” Her voice breaks, and her bottom lip quivers, but she maintains the statement.
Rose turns to me, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Zane, but?—”
“I get it.” Reaching down, I grab my Bible and head toward the door. I pause before leaving, though, and turn to face Tessa, who is still refusing to look at me. “They know how to get a hold of me if you need me, Tessa.”
“I don’t. I never did.” She closes her eyes, and a tear slips free. “Leave, Zane.”
Even though it kills me, I do as she asks and leave the room. Rose closes the door behind me.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” I say. There’s no point in trying to hide it. Rose has been a family friend for as long as I can remember. She’d been there when my world fell apart after Tessa disappeared. “I know you can’t tell me much, but will you make sure she stays safe? She’s acting like someone might be coming after her.”
“Of course, sweetie. She’s safe here. I’ll make the call to Leopold.”
“Thanks.”
She squeezes my arm. “Keep your head up, Zane. We don’t know where she’s been or what she’s been through. Give her some time to open up.”
“Yeah.”
“I walked away from you because I decided that we weren’t a good fit.”
Tessa’s words echo in my mind, but they are mismatched to the woman I knew before. Our relationship may not have been perfect, but there was never a doubt in my mind that we were meant for each other.
I was hers, and she was mine. Always and forever—that’s what had been before us.
Honestly, I don’t even believe what she’s saying now. Rose is absolutely right—there is more to this story. But if Tessa isn’t willing to see me, how will I ever find out?
“That ought to do it,” I say with a half-hearted smile as I finish placing the final book on the new bookshelf I built for my mom. It covers an entire wall in the living room of her single-bedroom duplex and is already completely full. “But I think you need another shelf.”
She laughs as she carries two coffee mugs over and offers me one. “I think it looks perfect.”
“Have you actually read all of these?” I question as I take a seat on her couch.
“Most of them.” She sits down in her favorite armchair.
The duplex is much smaller than the home I grew up in, but seven years ago, she sold it and downsized. Doing so gave her the chance to pay cash for this place, then rent the other side out for profit. She’d also insisted on giving my sister, Anastasia, and me the rest of the money to split. I hadn’t needed it, so I used my half to invest in Anastasia’s coffee shop.
While there are plenty of days I miss standing in the same living room my dad once did, I know that Mom was happy to have a fresh start. The two-story, four-bedroom house was just too big for her once my sister and I moved out.
“What’s on your mind?” she questions, pulling my thoughts back to the present.
“Huh?”
“You’re a million miles away.”
“What makes you think that?”
My mom’s hazel gaze narrows on my face. “Because you get the same look your father did when something was weighing on him. What is it?”
How much do I tell her?
She’d grieved Tessa, too, and telling either her or Anastasia that Tessa bailed on me is just not something I want to do right now. Not when I haven’t even finished processing it yet. Though, even with Leopold keeping Tessa’s name out of any official reports, it’s only a matter of time before word gets around.
