Page 157 of Only Be Mine

Just… waiting.

I stood there for a moment, hand still on the doorframe, and let the truth settle into place.

No one had told me how John died.

Not the detective.

Not Seth.

Not Trevor.

And I hadn’t asked.

But for the first time since all of this cracked open, I wasn’t sure ignorance felt like protection anymore.

It felt like something else.

And I didn’t know yet whether I was being kept safe or just being kept.

Chapter 58

Cate

Present

Trevor didn’t come home for lunch, instead I got a text.

Trevor: Long day. Handling a few things. Don’t wait up for me

I didn’t respond

I wandered through the house without purpose, barefoot, trailing my fingers along familiar surfaces. The bookshelf he’d organized last year. The framed photo from our engagement party - Amy and Jim laughing in the background, arms around each other, caught mid-movement.

Amy.

For a moment, I considered calling her. If anyone knew how to sit with grief, without trying to manage it, it was her. She’d never been afraid of a mess. She was blunt, affectionate, and steady.

I picked up my phone, scrolled, stopped on her name, and hesitated.

Amy wasn’t just my best friend anymore, she was Trevor’s sister-in-law. Jim’s wife.

She was part of the support structure that had closed so neatly around me after John disappeared. Part of the life Trevor had helped build brick by brick, decision by decision, until it felt inevitable.

Calling her felt like stepping into a room where Trevor might already be standing.

I locked my phone and set it down.

The quiet pressed in again.

I tried to read.

I tried to nap.

I tried to distract myself with anything that felt safe.

Nothing worked.

Eventually, I found myself in the kitchen, staring at the wall-mounted display Trevor used for everything - schedules, reminders, notifications.