Page 20 of Into the Shadows

A little spark of hope ignites.

He read my emails.

He knows what I’ve been up to over the last few years.

Then, I promptly squash that flame into ash. He might’ve read them, but he didn’t respond. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. It’s further proof my unrequited crush is pointless.

It wouldn’t be unrequited if he felt the same way about you.

No.I mentally slap myself. He’s made it abundantly clear he doesn’t share my feelings.

I look around the living room again, and something hits me. “What do you do out here by yourself?”

He walks over with two mugs of coffee in his hands. He hands one to me before sitting on a couch. “I read mostly, but I’m working on fixing thehouse.”

He’s been here for at least a month, and it doesn’t look like much has changed. “Huh.”

He gets a look on his face. “I’m doing this by myself, and I—” He snaps his mouth closed as if he’s about to say something he doesn’t want to tell me. “I’m just taking my time.”

I sit down in a chair across from him and take a sip of my coffee. “I’m not judging. I wouldn’t know the first thing about renovations.”

He grunts and then lapses into silence. “I’ve been listening to your podcast.”

My eyebrows wing up my forehead. “You have?”

He nods. “It’s pretty good. Do you have a producer or something, or do you do those interviews by yourself? Seems like a dangerous choice to go alone.”

I squint at him. “I am more than capable of taking care of myself, thank you.”

He rolls his eyes.

“I’m working on a new case right now,” I say to change the topic. I do have a producer who comes with me when I travel, but I’m also a grown-ass adult who’s fully trained in jiujitsu. “She was a teacher who disappeared twelve years ago without a trace.”

“It's shitty that nobody’s been able to find her after all this time,” Teddy says.

“I agree. I never go into these cases believing I’ll solve the mystery, but a part of me always hopes to be a catalyst for solving the case. Like, what if I find a piece of information nobody else knew, and because of that, the cops finally solve the case? I’d love to be able to help their loved ones get some closure about what happened to them. So far, that hasn't happened, but people don't seem to mind. They still listen to the podcast every season.” I clench my teeth together to stop the verbal diarrhea coming out of my mouth. “Sorry. I’m passionate about my job, so any time I get a chance to talkabout it, it all flows out of me faster than I can reel it back in.”

Teddy has a look of amusement on his face. “At least you're passionate about something.”

“Are you in Sonoma to stay?” The second the question comes out of my mouth, I regret it. His whole body tightens, his fists clench, and his eyebrows furrow.

“Sorry,” I say quietly. “You don't need to answer that question. It’s not any of my business.” I look down into my cup of coffee, realizing it's empty, and start fiddling with the handle to give myself something to do.

“I am. I don't know what I'm going to do next, though,” he says eventually. His head is bowed, and he’s looking at his lap. “I didn't leave on my own terms, and now I have no plan for the future.”

I bite the inside of my lip to keep from blurting something peppy. This isn't the time for my eternal optimism. “Am I allowed to ask why you got out?”

He gives me a bland look. “You're allowed to ask. Doesn't mean I'm going to answer.”

I grin. “Fair enough.”

His lips quirk up at the side before falling back into a straight line. I do a little happy dance on the inside. It’s stupid that I’m happy to have made him smile, but given his overall demeanor, I'm calling it a win.

The rain continues to pour down in buckets, lashing at the windows and creating a soundtrack to fill the silence.

“You got any cards?” I ask.

“Your poker face is abysmal,”he says.

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