Page 54 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Mama. The police are coming,” I say as I hiccup from crying.

Her hand is still covering my face, and I can’t move. She’s too strong.

Mama is still coughing. It sounds like when I drink too fast and start coughing on the water. Grandma always said it was because the water went down the wrong pipe.

“I love…you, Willow,” she whispers.

“I love you too, Mama.”

CHAPTER 25

NOAH

NOVEMBER PRESENT DAY

“When you said we were going to a plant store, I thought you meant plants for her office. Not to buy a whole flower shop worth of fucking flowers,” Jeremy grunts as he helps me move the conference table out of this room and into the office across the hall from my door. It’s getting turned into the new conference room.

I was up all night trying to find a greenhouse that sold those fucking flowers. I’d never forget her favorite flower. I have a bunch of them scattered around my property since the soil is so damp in this area, but seeing as it’s winter, I had to do the next best thing and get them from a greenhouse.

There was only one that sold them within one hundred miles of me, and that’s where I was at six a.m. as soon as they opened. Jeremy was only slightly pissed off when I dragged him out of bed at four thirty.

“Are you even listening?” he snaps.

“Yeah. What?”

“So you weren’t listening. I asked if you’ve heard anything from her yet.”

I quickly pull out my phone and see zero missed calls or texts.

“Nothing.”

“This better not be for nothing, dude. I missed out on precious beauty sleep hours.”

“Go sleep on my couch in the office if you need to. I can finish this up.”

“Eww. I know what you do on that couch,” he smirks.

“Sleep? Drink? Maybe kick back and watch a fucking TikTok or two before dealing with the next idiot’s case?”

“Oh. That’s not what I do on my couch,” he laughs and walks out of the new conference room only to return a few seconds later with another chair. “So. Why so many flowers? I saw them loading up the entire back of the truck.”

“Fifteen bouquets of her favorite flower.”

“Okay, Cuz. You’re giving off creepy stalker vibes.”

“What the fuck do you mean?” I snap.

“Fifteen is such a weird number. Don’t you think she’s going to make the connection that you somehow know about her past since it’s been fifteen years? Also, I looked into your woman. Are you one hundred percent sure it’s her?”

“Number one, don’t look into my woman. Number two, yes, I’m fucking sure. Her last name was changed, and her info was scrubbed. She was young enough that when everything happened, they just created a new person. But they kept her first name, probably so she’d have an easier time with the transition.”

“Whatever happened to her dad?” he asks as he sits down in the chair he brought in.

“He ran that night, and no one’s seen him since.”

“Do you think he’s still out there? Or do you think he’s dead?”

“No, he’s unfortunately still alive,” I say nonchalantly as I flip through Instagram looking for anything new on either Willow or Jenna’s profiles.