Remi’s mouth curled into a slow smile. Not smug. Not teasing. Just… warm and so full of love.
She didn’t sayI told you so. She didn’t need to.
Because she had seen something in him from the very beginning.
The front door creaked open, and Jack stepped inside.
Remi froze, spoon mid-stir. “Jack? What are you doing here?”
“I’m heading out,” he said softly. His voice was tired, but not sharp. “Figured I’d go a little early, get settled in before I need to start on my case load.”
For a moment, something flickered across Remi’s face: panic, then guilt. “Now you’re in a hurry?” she asked, voice thinner than she meant it to be.
Jack’s shoulders sagged. He rubbed a hand down his face. “Remi, don’t. Please. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just… I don’t want to drag this out. You knew this was coming... this is what you wanted. And I…” His gaze flicked to me, then back. “I don’t want to keep stretching this out.”
The silence was suffocating.
Finally, he broke the silence, his voice softer. “Can we talk? Just for a minute?”
Remi swallowed, then nodded, following him down the hall. I stayed rooted to the counter, staring at the fogged-up glass, listening to the faint murmur of voices. Low. Careful. Wounded.
When she came back out, her eyes were glassy but dry. Jack came up beside me and gave me a quick hug, and then just like that, he was gone, just as quick as he had come.
I knew she needed a minute, and I didn't want to push her right now. Not when I could see that she was standing out in the open, feeling raw and exposed. So, I moved to the couch and was about to settle down and catch up with my notes when Remi swore.
“You good?” I asked.
She was moving around our apartment like a tornado, hair flying, muttering to herself.
“No... ya... Fuck... I didn’t realize what time it was. I have to meet someone.”
“Meet someone?” I asked. “I didn’t think we had anyone left on the books for today.”
Remi bit her lower lip and sighed. “We don’t, I kept her off on purpose.”
I raised my eyebrow and watched her. She looked nervous.
She fidgeted with the hem of my T-shirt before sighing and saying, “Do you remember Teresa?”
I racked my brain for a patient with that name... for a friend. Wait!? “The quiet girl from school?”
Remi shot me a look that saiddon’t judge. “She showed up out of nowhere. Needs help.”
“Do you want me to go with you? Is she okay?”
Remi was pulling on socks and hopping across the floor when she answered, “No and no. Look, I’m not sure exactly what is going on, but I have a feeling the fewer people involved, the better.”
I knew she wasn’t saying that she didn’t trust me. Something had her worried, and she was in protect-everyone mode. “Okay, check in with me, please. And if you need anything...”
“Yes, mom.” She said with a huff, grabbing a coat as she ran out of the apartment like the devil was chasing her.
CHAPTER 36
AVA - NEW YEAR
December twisted around us with a cold front, then a warm day that lied, then that brutal wind again. The kind that rattled the loose vent over our stove and made the strings of lights outside the clinic hum like they were trying to sing over the sirens.
Remi didn’t talk about Teresa.
