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I had frowned, wondering what monumental event in her life she could be talking about. “Yeah, and what struck you?”
She peered at me and smiled sweetly. “Not what, who.”
“What are you talking about, Carol?”
She grabbed my hand, looking excited. “Vina, I’m pregnant.”
My cellphone notification broke me out of my memory. Carol had been struck, and that strike had killed her. I took out my phone and looked at the message I’d gotten.
Tux. Silver or gray or some shit like that.
That was all he said, and something told me he was upset by something. Was it because he’d only answered my question and not said anything else?
Okay, thanks. You okay?
A moment later, I got a reply.Shitty day. Talk later.
I nodded at my phone and set it down. Was that what Trevor had been talking about regarding instinct? I’d known immediately that something was wrong, even though his original text hadn’t made mention of it.
I put it out of my mind and went to Carol’s small walk-in closet, digging through her dresses in the back. While Carol had been taller than me, we wore the same size sometimes. Of course, my hips were a little more pronounced, and my bust was much larger than hers had been, but when it came to dresses, we could usually wear the same size.
I pulled out a burgundy one, no—too dark for spring. A peach one, too frilly. The third one I pulled down was a pale gray that shimmered slightly. I turned around and pulled her door closed so that I had the full-length mirror in front of me and held up the dress. This could work. It wasn’t a heavy dress, but light and gauzy like a spring breeze.
Would Trevor like it? I guess it didn’t matter what he thought. This was the one I was going to wear. I took it out to the living room and hung it by the front door before I went back into her room and got to work.
During the next few hours, I laughed a little and cried a lot. I managed to get through a lot of her room, filling bags with clothing that I could give to charity and collecting a few of my favorite pieces for myself. Her jewelry was harder to go through, and I decided to keep most of it. I could go through that again at a later time, maybe put a few pieces on consignment, or save them for Devon to have in the future.
I still needed to finish her closet, her bookshelves, and her bathroom, but I could do that on Sunday. I stood at her door, staring back at her bed. I hadn’t removed the bedding yet. I’d do that on Sunday, too, and wash it all before packing it up.
My cellphone rang, and I answered it to find my boss begging me to come into the office for a little while to help with a client. He’d been kind enough to give me time off, so I guess I owed him. I told him I’d be there soon and hung up, looking around Carol’s apartment.
Other than curtains and a few other odds and ends, it was almost done, and my heart tightened in my chest as I let myself out. I hated that it was almost done. It meant that Carol really was gone, and I reminded myself of what Trevor had said: She will always be with me in my heart and mind.
Carrying the dress and matching cape back to my place, I repeated that statement over and over again in my head. In my palm was the lightning bolt necklace that I’d given Carol. I planned to wear it with the dress. It seemed only fitting to wear it when I was with Trevor, seeing as he was the bolt that had struck her down.
Suddenly, the memory came back to me, and I paused on the steps. The day I went to tell Trevor about Devon, it had been storming like crazy. The lightning had been almost continuous as I’d headed toward his office. After I’d left, the storm seemed to break up almost immediately. Was that some crazy sign? Had Carol sent me my lightning bolt, directing me toward Trevor? A shiver raced through my body.
Chapter Nineteen
Trevor
Devon hadn’t slept well the night before, waking up every two hours. Between thoughts of Davina and dealing with Devon, I was exhausted when I finally got to the training center and downed my third cup of coffee of the day. It wasn’t even eight yet, and I was already dragging.
Harvey slapped me on the back as I filled my cup yet again. “You look like a beaten man.”
I tried to form a smile, but I think it was more of a grimace. “Rough night.”
“Your boy not sleeping well?”
“Not last night. He was getting really good for a while, but now he’s not doing so well.”
“Maybe he’s not eating enough.”
“He has a checkup on Monday. Hopefully, he’s not getting sick. I can’t afford to learn how to deal with that with everything else going on.”
He chuckled, then changed the subject. “Hey, did you hear, a couple of civilians and security from the Protag Security group went missing.”
That got my attention and took me back to when Alex and I had been taken prisoner the last time that Alex had been overseas with me. “No, what do you know?”
