"Chaotic. Understaffed. The usual." Julia's voice carried the familiar edge of exhaustion that Tessa knew too well. "Dr. Leland's been asking about you. Wants to know if you've set a return date yet."
Tessa's stomach tightened. "I've been here less than a week."
"I know. I told him to back off, but you know how he is." A pause. "He's been having his assistant call you. She mentioned you weren't picking up."
The unknown Chicago calls. Tessa let out a breath. Not a threat. Just the hospital, unable to let go even when she'd explicitly asked for space.
"I've been screening my calls," she admitted. "I didn't recognize the number."
"Fair enough. I'll tell her to email instead." Julia's tone softened. "How are you really doing, Tess? And don't give me the polite version."
Tessa looked out at the water, watching the light dance across the surface. How was she doing? A week ago, she would have said exhausted, empty, running on fumes. Now...
"Better," she said, and meant it. "I'm staying in this little cottage on the water. There's a man here who makes me coffee in the morning and doesn't ask me to fix anything. I bought a necklace with a fern in it. I'm going to a concert next weekend."
"Wait, back up." Julia's voice sharpened with interest. "A man? You buried the lead, Callahan."
"It's not like that." Even as she said it, Tessa felt her cheeks warm. "He owns the cottage. There was a mix-up with the rental, and he let me stay. We're just... cohabitating."
"Cohabitating." Julia drew the word out, savoring it. "And what does this cohabitant look like?"
Tessa thought about Brian. The way he filled a doorway. The tattoos that disappeared under his sleeves. The pale blue eyes that saw more than she wanted them to.
"Tall," she said carefully. "Broad. He has these eyes that are like... I don't know. Ice in sunlight."
"Ice in sunlight," Julia repeated. "That's very poetic for someone who's 'just cohabitating.'"
"Shut up."
"I'm just saying." Julia laughed, warm and familiar. "You sound different. Lighter. Whatever's happening down there, keep doing it."
After they hung up, Tessa sat with the phone in her lap, thinking about what Julia had said. You sound different. Lighter. Was that true? She tested the idea like probing a sore tooth, waiting for the ache. But there was only the warmth of the sun and the steady sound of Brian's hammer and the faint, unfamiliar feeling of being exactly where she was supposed to be.
The hammer stopped. A moment later, Brian appeared around the corner of the cottage, wiping his hands on a rag.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. That was my friend Julia, from the hospital." Tessa tucked her phone into her pocket. "She solved the mystery of the unknown calls. It was Dr. Leland's assistant, trying to get me to set a return date."
Something flickered across his face. Relief, maybe. Or something else she couldn't quite read.
"So not a stalker," he said.
"Not a stalker. Just a hospital that doesn't know how to let go." She paused. "The footprints could still be nothing."
"Could be." But his jaw was still tight, his eyes still watchful. "Motion lights are installed. If anyone comes around tonight, we'll know."
She nodded, grateful for his vigilance even as part of her hoped it was unnecessary. "What time are we supposed to be at Hank and Bree's tonight?"
"Six. Bree said to come hungry. Sabrina's been cooking all day."
"Should I bring something?"
"Lila sent me home with a pie yesterday. Apple crumb. It's in the fridge."
Tessa smiled. "Of course she did."
Hank and Bree's farmhouse sat at the end of a long gravel drive, surrounded by old oaks draped in Spanish moss. The house itself was white clapboard with a wraparound porch, the kind of place that looked like it had stories to tell. Wind chimes hung from the eaves, filling the evening air with soft, random music.
