Page 65 of Isabelle & Jason
“What has she told us? You’re kidding, right?” Marcus’s face turned red with fury. “She’s not talking to anyone. Not even Charlie can get her to talk. She’s a shell of herself. I wish she were ranting and raving because then maybe we’d have a chance to get through to her.”
Jason turned on his heel, intent on heading right for her, but Roman stepped into his path. He shook his head slowly. “We didn’t come here so you would go talk to her.” His fury was still present, but there was also pain in his eyes. “We came to warn you that if we see you even attempt to talk to her again, you’re done. We’ve never seen her like this. It’s not good. But for whatever reason, she doesn’t want Mateo to fire you.”
“She said that?” Jason rasped.
Roman huffed. “It’s practically the only thing we got out of her. She’s refusing to talk, remember? You can bet if she had anything bad to say about you, we wouldn’t be havingthisdiscussion.” The threat in his voice was clear, and Jason shrugged off the shiver that scuttled down his spine.
So this was it, then. Isabelle wasn’t improving. She wasn’t seeking help.
Jason might have made the biggest mistake of his life. And now he didn’t have a chance to make it right.
24
Isabelle
That hollow feeling hadn’t left her. Isabelle couldn’t shake this despair. Everything felt dark and cold. It took all her energy to get up and shower.
She wasn’t so out of it that she didn’t notice the concerned words that were flung around her. Outside of her bedroom door. In the kitchen when she’d ventured out of her room every so often. Mateo and Nikki would talk to her other siblings when they thought she was still asleep.
None of them ever brainstormed the right reason for her spiral into the darkness. Good. Jason had kept his promise not to tell anyone about her. But if he thought that he could walk away and that would force her hand to do anything, he had another thing coming.
There were hours during the day when she felt she was losing her mind. It was like she’d been buried alive in her grief, and she hadn’t figured out a way to claw herself out. She’d talked toJason enough about her issues to know that talking to a shrink wasn’t going to do her any good. What was the difference, really?
She stared out the window. The days were starting to bleed together. She’d lost her appetite.
But this was only for a while, right?
Eventually, she’d wake up one morning and things would be better. She’d had bad days before. That’s what Jason didn’t understand. Everything would work out eventually, and when she finally got her feet under her, she’d be able to convince him that she was ready to try again.
That was why she’d told Marcus to leave Jason alone. This wasn’t his fault. He’d been nothing but good to her. She still wanted him.
He didn’t want her.
Isabelle wrapped her arms around herself and moved toward her bed. The insomnia was getting worse. The nightmares had returned. Only this time she couldn’t dredge up the energy to go for a run or even a walk.
One day at a time. At least she’d figured out that much.
A knock on her door pulled her attention from the window. “I told you, I’m fine—” she started to call out, but the door opened and Charlie slipped inside.
Her words died on her tongue the second Charlie’s eyes swept over her. Charlie placed her hands on her hips, then shook her head. “I thought we promised not to lie to each other.”
“I’mnotlying,” Isabelle said, turning back to the window. “And what are you doing here, anyway? You just had a baby.”
Charlie ignored her second statement. “Not lying? Really? Because I’m pretty sure you drunk-texted me about a week ago and then never got back to me.”
Isabelle winced. She’d hoped that Charlie would just chalk it up to a funny situation—one of those unspoken things that friends agreed not to speak about after the fact.
“Izzie,” Charlie said softly, moving across the room toward her. “You don’t look great.”
“Gee, thanks,” Isabelle muttered.
“You know what I mean. You look exhausted.”
“That’s because I have insomnia.”
Charlie sighed. She was well aware of Isabelle’s sleeping habits. Apparently, Isabelle looked worse off than she usually did. “Are you eating?”
Isabelle scowled. If she had to guess, one of her siblings spoke to Charlie before letting her come up to her room.
