“And what if I fail?”
“What if you don’t? What if ... you get to keep your home?”
He shook his head. “Don’t give me hope.”
“Theo ...” I made him look at me. “I think hope is what you need right now.”
When the words hit him, his breath stuttered.
“You’re right,” he muttered. “But I ... I don’t even know where to begin.”
I bit my lip. “I think we’ll have to figure it out as we go, but maybe not here.”
“So, where?”
“Home.” I gave him a soft smile. “We should go home.”
“Oh, God. That’s terrifying.”
“Facing things usually is.”
He slowly nodded, looked out the window, and then turned to me.
“Will you be with me?”
“Always,” I said.
He got up slowly, packing the few things he had brought. I looked at my phone, rereading Kelsey’s message.
I never was one to believe in magic. It hadn’t saved me in the darkest moments of my life.
But the magic wasn’t something that came out of nowhere. It was built, brick by brick, conversation by conversation.
Theo and I were the magic.
And I would do anything to keep it.
46
THEO
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor: @SherriffMike FinchI’m now looping you in. Please tell me you’ve seen Theo or Piper.
Comments:
SherriffMike Finch:You all do know Facebook isn’t the place for this, right?
Kerry Winsor:Okay, should we come to your office then?
SherriffMike Finch:On second thought, no. I haven’t heard anything, but if you really haven’t seen them, we can try a missing person’s report. But you all need to be prepared for the fact that they don’t want to be found.
Kerry Winsor:But we have questions! And thoughts!
SherriffMike Finch:Have you ever known Theo to be an open book? I doubt we’ll ever know everything, Kerry. We might have to leave this one a mystery ...
Two figures werein front of my house, and I wondered if they were the start of the angry mob that would push me out.
