Oh.
Pain shot through her chest when she opened the link for the top result.
Dr.Harper was a trauma therapist.
Audrey bit her lip. It felt wholly inappropriate to wait for him here while he was in a therapy session. She’d had to go through state-mandated counseling herself after an incident in high school, and she knew how raw it could feel after one of those visits.
But she also couldn’t leave without letting Theo know how to contact her. Odds were she’d never find him again if she did.
She hesitated long enough on the stoop for a squat, middle-aged woman with a kindly face to approach from the inside and unlock the door.
“Can I help you, honey?” the woman asked. “I was watching you hover on camera.” She pointed to the doorbell and Audrey blushed. “Are you lost? Or do you need an appointment?”
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe I do,” she muttered. “You’re not Dr.Harper, are you?”
“No, sweetie, she’s in a session right now. I’m her receptionist.”
An idea crept into her head. “Oh that’s—that’s perfect, actually. Can you give the man who just came in a message for me? He’s a friendof mine, but I haven’t gotten to talk to him in a while. I’ve been worried about him, and I saw him come in here from the street. I thought—”
“Oh, uh…well…” The woman hesitated. “I suppose so. What do you need to tell him?”
“Can I come inside for a minute? I just need to write a note.”
The receptionist looked her up and down, probably noting her windswept hair, ragged tights, and NYU book bag, and decided she looked harmless enough before finally nodding and motioning her over to a desk in what might have been the sitting room when the house was still used as a home. Audrey pulled a notebook out from her bag and scribbled a quick message before tearing it out, sending a few scraps of paper flying.
“You can read it, I swear there’s nothing that might upset him in it,” she said, handing it over. “At least, I should hope not. And I hope you’re not violating anything by giving it to him. I really just wanted to check on him, and—”
The woman put on a pair of readers and glanced at the note. She gave Audrey a soft smile. “I’ll make sure he gets it before he leaves, dear.”
She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Audrey turned and left, shutting the door carefully behind her and glancing up at the charming brownstone before striding back down the way she came.
Maybe he’d come back.
Maybe she’d see him again after all.
He came backto the café the next day, a Thursday, at 8:17 a.m.
Audrey’s heart skipped a beat when Theo walked in, squeezing himself through the narrow doorway with a vaguely terrified look in his eye, and she motioned to his usual table. He hesitated, shiftingawkwardly on his feet before finally taking her hint and limping over to sit with his back against the wall. She turned to Josh and jerked her head in Theo’s direction.
“Hey, can you switch with me for a second? And then I’m taking my break a little early. And a little longer.”
“Sure, I got you, boo. I can cover.”
“You’re the best.”
He snorted as he took her place behind the register. “Yes, I am. And you can make it up to me later when I have to leave a little early for rehearsal.”
“You don’t have rehearsal, you didn’t get that part. It’s a date, isn’t it?”
“Excuse you, Audball!” he gasped, clutching nonexistent pearls. “Cutting straight to the quick. Rude to call me out like that!”
“You’ll get the next one.” She waved him off with a smirk. “And I’ve got your back, don’t worry.”
Audrey fired up the machine and made two coffees, one in a to-go cup and one in a thick ceramic mug, before undoing her apron and sliding through the gap in the counter to the lounge area.
Theo was waiting for her, his hands folded on top of the table and his leg bouncing anxiously up and down beneath it.
