Page 81 of Crumbling Truth
We’d agreed on not exchanging Christmas gifts, but I decided an “I’m sorry I’m such a fucking idiot” gift didn’t count.
I left the shop with a copy of the rental agreement, a receipt for my deposit check, and an invitation to have dinner with Mark and his wife at some point in the future. That was another thing I’d forgotten about Spruce Hill—the fact that my history here contained more good than bad, when it came right down to it.
Hopefully, the future would contain more good than bad, too.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Esther
Ihadeverythingreadytogo for my order delivery before lunchtime, which left me time to decorate a fancy layered lemon cakeandflutter around nervously in anticipation of tonight. As I stared into my closet, debating what I should wear, I wondered what had come over me. I was almost as jittery over seeing Theo again as I had been about that first dinner at The Mermaid.
After settling on a pair of black pants and a flutter-sleeved sage green tunic as my date night attire, I hung them on the back of the closet door and took a long, hot shower. Afterward, I threw on a Nutless Wonder shirt and my cupcake leggings with a cardigan, braided my hair into a crown around my head, and gathered up the two boxes of cupcakes to be delivered. Though I occasionally took the truck for big deliveries, this one was small enough to transport in my car, for which I was grateful given the slushy roads and dwindling daylight.
I double checked the delivery address and programmed it into my navigation app. It was an online order, one of the firstlocal ones to come through the website, and I didn’t recognize the address. Still, the directions said it was only fifteen minutes away, so I’d be home with plenty of time to change my clothes before dinner with Theo.
My heart tripped a little with anticipation, which was stupid, because it wasn’t like he’d been far away during the last few days. I had spotted him several times, though I hid behind the curtains or watched from the peephole like a weirdo. My doorbell camera caught him even more frequently, and Imighthave opened the app just to see how he was doing.
He looked as bad as I felt. Still as handsome as ever, but disheveled and weary, weighed down as he trudged from his truck to the side door of the house.
Part of me had wanted to run to him, throw myself into his arms, but instead I watched from the guest house, determined to wait until we had time to sit down and talk at dinner.
As I turned right to head east along Lake Ontario, I passed the public beach where I’d stopped the day before when Theo’s text arrived. The sun was setting already in my rearview mirror, and I muttered a curse directed at the poorly lit road as I tried to determine where my next turn was. I knew Peregrine Cove wasn’t far from the lighthouse, but where the hell was the entrance?
Another few minutes down the road, my phone started rerouting and reloading at the speed of a drunk snail. I pulled over, put my flashers on since I was barely out of the roadway given how badly it had been plowed, and took my phone out of the cradle on my dashboard as though that might inspire it to work faster.
Just as it seemed to be pulling up new directions, it rang in my hands and I dropped it onto the floorboards when I jumped in my seat.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered, trying to grab it before it stopped ringing. Maybe it was the customer, wondering where the hell I was. I answered without looking at the screen. “Hello?”
“Esther? Are you okay?” Theo asked, concern coloring his deep voice.
I blew out a breath. “I’m fine, just trying to find this delivery address. I’ll be back in time for dinner, I promise.”
“Where are you? The connection is terrible, I can barely hear you.”
“East of town, along the lake,” I replied, peering out the windshield to see if any street signs were lit by my headlights. The area around me was almost completely dark, not a house in sight.
Theo sounded a million miles away when he asked, “What’s the address? Maybe I can help.”
“Hang on,” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear to look at the order. “Peregrine Cove. Number Seven.”
Static crackled so loudly in my ear that I almost dropped the phone again. I heard Theo’s voice, too, but it was too broken up for me to understand what he was saying. I lifted the phone up toward the roof of the car, turning in every direction to try to get a better signal, when a pair of headlights flashed on behind me.
Squinting at the light, I said, “Someone’s here, I’ll be home soon.”
“Esther, don’t hang up—”
Theo’s voice cut off as the call dropped before I even hit the red button to end it, and I felt the first quiver of uneasiness in my stomach. What if it was Tyler, luring me out here for some kind of revenge?
The face that appeared at my side sent relief flooding through me.
I smiled as I lowered the window and said, “Drew, hi. What are you doing out here? I’m just trying to find a delivery address.”
Since the first time I met him outside of the event center, he’d always reminded me of a golden retriever, boyishly enthusiastic in a sometimes overbearing way. As I swept my gaze over his expression now, it was devoid of its usual friendliness. His blue eyes were cold, almost emotionless as he reached in through the open window to unlock the door before throwing it open.
My relief evaporated.
“Get out of the car, Esther,” he said calmly.
