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NOAH: Don’t worry about me. Focus on you. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.
ME: Just maybe not at your house. I’d rather not have a repeat of last time.
NOAH: That won’t happen again. I promise.
ME: Okay. Anyway. I’m fine. I should be home in a couple of days. Stop eating all Gwen’s food.
NOAH: I’m not promising anything.
NOAH: Take it easy, Lottie. Let me know when you’re ready to talk.
ME: I will.
I put my phone facedown on the table and leant back, sighing heavily.
If being an adult was what was waiting for me out there, maybe I’d just stay here instead.
Especially if that meant letting go of Noah for good.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Two Weeks Later
The annexe wasn’t much, but it was clean.
It didn’t smell like dead badger, I had a working fridge, and there was no longer brown water coming out of my shower or rat poop on the floor, so I was counting it as a win.
It wasn’t much, but as soon as my furniture from the old house arrived, I would also have a bedroom. Not to mention the luxury of a sofa and TV, since Mum and Dad had decided to sell a lot of their furniture. They’d let me have first pick of it for the annexe here at the B&B, and I’d chosen enough essentials that I would be able to move in right after they got back with it.
That was my goal. Move in, and I’d buy all the other stuff later to make this space my own.
They hadn’t wanted to go back to Bristol, not after everything that had happened. After I’d been discharged from the hospital the day after Gwen’s visit, Ash had promised to stay with me at the house to make sure I rested, so they’d finally given in.
I think they’d needed the break as much as I had.
I loved my parents, but my mum tended to turn into a human helicopter when I was hurt in any way. Never mind that I was fine now, and the injuries were more mental than physical in the end. She just saw me lying in the hospital every time she looked at me.
I didn’t blame her. Especially when I woke her up screaming in the middle of the night.
My physical injuries were healing, but there was no taking away the nightmares.
I hoped that with time, they’d go.
I was safe now. Shane was locked up and wasn’t making bail, and the attempted murder on me was enough to put him away for a long time, never mind the actual murder charge, plus trespassing and breaking and entering.
Peace didn’t come overnight, but satisfaction did.
I turned off the vacuum and stood it against the kitchen cabinet just in time to hear three knocks at the door.
I frowned, looking at it like it’d knocked on itself. Who was that, and what did they want? I wasn’t about the unannounced visitors life. You had to give me at least twenty minutes’ warning and announce yourself before knocking.
Ironic, given my tendency to drop in on people without telling them.
After how well those last two attempts had gone, it was a habit I’d well and truly kicked.
I walked over to the door and swung it open, my eyes widening when I saw Stephanie standing on the other side. “Steph.”
She smiled meekly. “Lottie. Could I come in?”
