Page 92 of Falling Madly
I shook my head. I knew what he was talking about, and it wasn’t an option.
“Suit yourself,” he finally said. “Did Teresa say what she’s going to do if we move? Is she leaving?”
“We barely spoke on the way back. She was rather shaken when I picked her up from Kyle’s.”
Charlie’s chin lifted in curiosity. “What the hell happened there?”
I gave him a rundown of what I knew. His frown deepened with every word. “She thought Kyle was going tomurderher?”
“I know. It’s a bit wild.”
“There isn’t even a murderer loose or anything. They found the missing tourist. It had nothing to do with GavinorKyle. She just ran off with her ski instructor and finally emerged from her sex-cation. It was just in the news.”
“So, she didn’t know everyone was looking for her with dogs and helicopters?”
“Apparently, there’s no cell phone coverage around there and they were… busy.” Charlie raised his brows.
“Bloody hell.” I let out a long sigh.
“So, is there something going on between Kyle and Teresa?” Charlie asked.
“Other than one thinking the other is a serial killer? I don’t know. I think Kyle likes her. He was hitting on her at that Fourth of July party.”
“Wow.” Charlie took a drag of his beer, staring out the window. “She’s got two guys with cabins in Cozy Creek after her.”
“So, what do I do?” I asked again, part of me still hoping for a different answer.
“About what?”
“Teresa.” I hated how desperate my voice sounded. “I love her. I’m an idiot, but I do. All that stuff we found out about her past, I want to fix it. I want to take down that jerk who threatened her. But she didn’t sound that keen. She told me she needed time. So, what do I do?”
Charlie looked at me like I was playing dumb. “I already told you. Nothing. If she needs time, you give her time.”
My stomach twisted. “How much time?”
“As much time as she needs. And stop talking to her. Delete that chat.”
We sat in silence, slowly draining our beers, as I digested Charlie’s advice. He was right. I couldn’t insert myself into any of it. All I could do was wait.
Chapter Thirty-One
Teresa
It took me a week to catch up with all the work I’d missed on our Cozy Creek excursion, and another to get back to a work-life balance as I knew it, with occasional lunchtime walks and my mid-week pole dancing class. All in all, it was business as usual, which somehow felt wrong.
Trevor was still online, supplying me with copy and headlines. He did it through the official channels, though. No more private chat. I’d sent him one message after he dropped me off, desperate to hang onto that connection we’d shared, but he’d never replied. Not even with a thumbs-up. It had stung, but I knew I deserved it.
I hadn’t gathered my nerve to try again. Not yet. We both needed time. I’d promised myself that once the dust settled, I’d be able to process what had happened between us and what it meant. Clarity would come to me eventually, like it did with each tricky design job. I kept tweaking and testing ideas untileverything made sense. I wasn’t sure what would bring clarity to this scenario, but it probably wasn’t me harassing Trevor online.
At night I lay in bed, feeling sad and lonely and confused. But it didn’t mean I loved Trevor, did it? I couldn’t even tell if I missed him or simply missed having someone in my life. I’d only just broken up with Richard, who—angry that he couldn’t contact me in any other way—had slipped seven notes under my door. The content ranged from apologies to accusations and possibly something else. I’d stopped reading after the first two and enjoyed burning them all over the sink. I’d set off the fire alarm with the first one, angering my neighbors.
Maybe I really was a pyromaniac. They’d called me that at school after I’d torched Julian’s car. There was something cleansing and final about fire. Not that I planned to destroy any more property. I’d put the batteries back into my fire alarm like a responsible citizen and aired out the room.
Neither Charlie nor Bess had mentioned anything about the office move, or Trevor. We were all busy trying to get on top of the workload, but I wondered if they were speaking behind my back. Maybe it was already a done deal, and I’d be the last one to hear about it. Probably after Lee, who was now working closely with Charlie on a new website.
I felt so emotionally exhausted that I couldn’t even bring myself to raise the question. I had no real say about it, anyway.
It was Friday morning when I finally showed my face in our shared office and found Bess there, plucking away at the latest campaign. This, too, was business as usual, which meant Trevor wasn’t taking the opportunity to catch me in person. He didn’t want to bump into me.
