The kitchen lights flicked on, and all the heat drained away from Audrey in one fell swoop.
It happened so suddenly, she felt sick. She stopped breathing.
Because they weren’t alone.
All the color immediately evaporated from Theo’s face. His whole body began to shake when he was flushed with adrenaline, and he set her down quickly as he spun furiously on his heel and lunged for the kitchen, wild-eyed and intent on finding whatever intruder had dared enter his house and interrupt them.
“Theodore.”
The intruder spoke.
He froze in his tracks when they both saw her at the same time, the tiny, well-dressed woman making her way around the counter.
Her dark hair was streaked liberally with gray and twisted into a complicated knot at the back of her head. She wore an expensive-looking, expertly tailored navy pantsuit, and she was so small that her high heels did little to boost her to an average height. It didn’t matter, though, because she carried herself like a queen: her back was ramrod straight and she wore an expression as hard and cold as iron. But that expression didn’t carry all the way up to her eyes. They were wide and lined with a deep, heart-wrenching sadness.
Audrey had seen those eyes before. She saw them every time she looked into Theo’s.
He was staring straight into them now.
“Mom?”
Fourteen
“Get out ofmy house.”
Theo’s eyes darkened as he stared down at his mother, all shock leaching away from his body and leaving nothing but rage behind.
“I’m so sorry,” his mom said calmly, holding her hands up as if she were trying to soothe a wild animal. “I had no idea you were seeing someone.”
“That’s because we’re not currentlyspeaking,” he spat through gritted teeth.
“I know.” His mom’s eyes searched his face and she rolled her lips together the same way her son always did before her gaze landed on Audrey, who’d frozen in the entry where Theo had put her down. She peered around him at Audrey and gave her a weak smile. “Hi, dear. My name’s Eleanor. It’s nice to meet—”
“Don’t you talk to her,” he snapped. His fists clenched at his sides, and his right hand trembled even more than usual.
His voice trembled just as much.
Eleanor closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before steeling herself and stepping forward, craning her neck as she looked up at him. When her gaze landed on his scar, her expression softened fully into sadness.
“You look good.Reallygood. So much better than…” She swallowed and her hands shook as she picked at the edges of her thumbs. “I know you don’t want to talk to me, and I know you want me here even less. I’m not going to stay long. I only came and waited to tell you two things.” She held up two fingers. “Just two things, and then I’ll be on my way.”
“Give me my keys back.” Theo held out his left hand. “Now.”
Audrey never imagined he could be this angry. Every part of him vibrated with fury, and his color was starting to come back with swaths of bright scarlet sweeping up from his neck and spreading gradually into his cheeks.
His mother lifted a hand, almost as if she wanted to cup his face or sweep his hair away from his brow. But she stopped herself at the last second and let her arm fall.
When she didn’t give him the keys he’d demanded, the scarlet crept all the way up to the tips of Theo’s ears.
He took a single step forward.
“I told you I didn’t want to see you once I was cleared to handle stairs again,” he hissed. “I never thought you’d come here unannounced like this. This is bad even foryou.” He thrust his hand out more forcefully this time. “Give them back. And you’d better not have made copies.”
“I didn’t,” Eleanor whispered. She plunged her hand into her pocket. “You weren’t answering my calls, you weren’t answering my texts, you never responded to the letters I sent—even your lawyer said she wouldn’t give you any more messages from me because you’d asked her not to.” Her lip quivered as she looked at him, and she bit it to hide it. “And I was afraid if I stayed outside, you’d just turn around and leave once you saw me.”
“You’re right: I would have. That’s what ‘no contact’ is,Mom.”
Theo waited.
