Page 8 of After Everything
She steered me to the couch, keeping one arm around me. I noticed she was careful to avoid the wine stain on the carpet. She'd see everything, of course. That was Jess: ER nurse, trained to assess a scene in seconds.
"Tell me what happened." She kept her voice gentle but steady. The same tone she probably used with patients in crisis.
So I told her. About the laptop. The messages. The photos. Sarah. The credit card charges. David coming home and trying to blame me for our marriage falling apart. All of it spilled out infragments, my voice breaking every few sentences.
Jess didn't interrupt. She just listened, her hand on my back, her face getting progressively more furious.
When I finally finished, she was quiet for a long moment.
"That motherfucker."
Despite everything, I almost laughed. It came out as a sob instead.
"I'm serious, Emma. That absolute piece of shit." She pulled back to look at me. "Where is he now?"
"I kicked him out. Packed his suitcase. Told him I was filing for divorce."
"Good." Jess nodded sharply. "Good. Does he still have a key?"
I froze. I hadn't even thought about that.
"Oh, God. Yes. He does."
Jess's jaw tightened. "Not for long." She pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Sebastian."
Sebastian showedup forty-three minutes later with a toolbox and a duffel bag.
Jess's brother-in-law. The one who did locks and security systems, apparently. He was younger than I expected, maybe late twenties, with the kind of build that came from actual physical work, not a gym. Dark hair, olive skin, and a no-nonsense expression that reminded me of Jess.
"Emma?" He extended his hand. "Sebastian Reyes. Jess told me what happened. I'm sorry."
I shook his hand, feeling oddly grateful that he didn't try to make small talk or offer empty platitudes.
"Let's get your locks changed," he said simply.
Jess appeared from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. "Front door, back door, and the garage."
"Yeah, I got it." Sebastian was already kneeling by the front door, examining the existing lock. "This is a standard deadbolt. Easy fix. I'll do a smart lock if you want. You can control it from your phone, change the codes remotely."
I just nodded. I didn't have the energy to make decisions about locks.
"Smart lock," Jess decided for me. "And make it the good kind. The kind that alerts her phone if someone tries to break in."
"You got it." Sebastian pulled out his drill.
I sat back down on the couch while he worked. The drill echoed through the house, steady and relentless, like it had somewhere to be. Jess sat next to me, pressing a coffee mug into my hands.
"Drink," she ordered.
I took a sip. It was too hot and too sweet, the way Jess always made coffee when she thought you needed comfort more than caffeine.
"You're staying with me tonight," she said. It wasn't a question.
"I can't?—"
"Emma. You're not staying here alone. Not tonight." She gave me a look that said the discussion was over. "We'll pack you a bag after Sebastian’s done."
The drill stopped. Sebastian moved to the back door without a word, his toolbox clanking.
