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“Do you feel like you need to be that person? The person from before?” she asked, seeming to genuinely want the answer.

“Were we friends before?” I asked, ignoring the question, as I was far too curious. She was married to Oliver, which meant I must have known her.

“Kind of.” She leaned back in the chair, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. “You came to my wedding. We'd grown friendly enough that we could get lunch and it wouldn’t be awkward or weird, but we weren’t super close.” She laughed lightly to herself. “To be honest with you, Goldie, it was hard to get past your walls. I figured you would let me in when you were ready.”

“My walls?”

She nodded. “I don’t think anyone ever got past them. Which is okay—you’re entitled to your secrets and your privacy. It was just obvious… it was obvious you were protecting yourself.”

“So why are you here asking me if we weren’t close friends before?”

Theo contemplated the question for a moment before dropping her feet back to the floor and reaching for her purse. She fished through its contents, pulling out a photo and handing it to me. “Can I tell you a story?”

I took the photo and glanced down at it. It was of Theo and Oliver—an older photo from what I assumed was their wedding day, based on Oliver’s lilac suit and Theo’s wedding dress. In between them was a young girl. She looked to be River’s age, maybe a bit older. Her blue eyes and brown hair matched Theo’s, making it obvious Theo was her mom. I nodded to her, urging her to continue.

“When I met Oliver, I was like you. I had a wall erected not just around my heart, but my entire life. Life before Oliver… it had been hard. Really hard. Let’s just say I have a very good reason for not having my parents in my life. That wall kept me safe, kept my daughter safe, and I truly believe the wall you’ve kept up has done the same for you,” she explained, her voice dropping quiet to keep River from overhearing. “My daughter, she’s sixteen now. Violet is everything good in this world, and the best parts of me. She’s also the best parts of Oliver, despite him not being a part of her life until she was six. She’s strong, and so, so stubborn, but so kind. She’s also ambitious and smart, and going to take the world by storm. She saved me. Completely and utterly saved me.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat and looked up from the photo to Theo. “Why are you telling me this?”

She smiled softly and pointed to the kitchen. “River saved Lex. Before River, Lex was drowning—and I don’t say that harshly; he would be the first to agree. Lex is careful with River. So careful. He stopped dating altogether, never letting anyone he didn’t trust anywhere near his son. So here you two are… Lexington, who kept the world away from his son, and you, who kept the world away from your heart. I’m…” She trailed off, biting her bottom lip softly as she thought of what to say, but I had a feeling I knew where she was going.

“So how did two people who were so guarded decide to move in with each other?” I finished for her.

She nodded. “You didn’t know Lex. Hell, you didn’t know anyone, yet you’re here. And he brought you here. He trusted you enough to be around his son, despite everything. I don’t mean that harshly about what you’ve been through. I would never mean that. I just know that the man who did this… well, he’s still out there. So why did you put your safety at risk for Lex, and why did he put his son and himself at risk for you?”

Her question wasn’t rooted in judgment, but simple curiosity—a question from someone who loved her family deeply and wanted to understand.

“I wish I had a better answer for you,” I explained, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms as I felt a headache creeping further into my mind. “But I really don’t know. He felt safe. So did River, and I really wanted safety. Maybe it was selfish to come, to uproot their lives—”

“No,” Theo interjected, shaking her head emphatically. “They needed you. River hated coming to my house—not because of me or my kids, but because he didn’t like being away from his dad. Now… well, now that kid is happily eating mac and cheese without a care in the world because you’re here. It wasn’t selfish. They needed you as much as you needed them.”

I smiled softly. “I did. They make it easier to handle. The nightmares, the memories—they are fewer and farther between with them. And when they are bad… well,” I glanced at River and thought back to the night before, “River brings me his alligator when I have nightmares because it helps him, and Lex…” I trailed off, feeling my cheeks flush at the mere thought of him—of his strong body against mine as he kissed me.

Theo smiled knowingly. “I guess I don’t need to ask about the ‘baby’ remark from earlier, then, do I?”

I blushed harder and shook my head. “Your guess would be as good as mine. I don’t know what’s happening there.”

She raised her hands in surrender. “I’m not here to pry, I promise. I just hadn’t been expecting that after everything that happened between you two.”

I raised a brow. “Everything that happened?”

Theo looked at me, puzzled. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Theo opened her mouth to respond, but something in the world around me shifted. The crash of a bowl sounded from the kitchen, followed by an "oops" from River. Theo stood with a laugh, and I saw her mouth form words, but I couldn’t hear them. I stood, too—to ask her to help me? To go to River? I wasn’t sure. My mind started falling to pieces around me.

“Goldie?” Theo asked. I couldn’t hear the words; I could barely see her, the world around me blinking in and out, as if someone were playing with the lights. I tried to speak, I tried to ask for help—I tried.

I tried.

Theo’s hands grasped my shoulders as my knees gave way, and the world disappeared as I fell to the ground.

Lexington

There are moments in life where time loses all meaning—where you finally understand that the concept was made up to help us make sense of this twisted reality we were forced to live within. The moments where a second feels like an hour, and an hour a second. Where you forget to breathe for too long, but your heart beats too fast.

The phone call from Theo—her telling me to get to the hospital, to get there fast—was one of those moments. Theo was strong; she was steady. She was the woman who held me while the world around me broke down when River came into my life. She didn’t shake; she didn’t tremble. But today I could hear her near collapse as she did her best to recount what had happened.