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I only hoped she found peace.
And that she came back.
Somehow, she’d become a good friend—even if I had thought she’d murdered her husband. I wouldn’t have blamed her, really, given how Declan had always treated her, and if this whole episode had taught me anything, it was that I had to focus on my impulse control.
No, Charlotte. Running off to accuse someone of murdering their spouse wasnotthe best thing to do, just in case that wasn’t clear. Especially when the guilty party was not the person you thought and was actually a soulless, murderous monster who wasn’t afraid to hurt you.
My lesson was well and truly learnt.
Hopefully, it wasn’t one I’d have to look back on anytime soon.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ihauled the mop bucket out of the sink and onto the floor. Now that the vacuum had done its job, I would be able to actually clean the wooden flooring in here.
Honestly, I just wanted to keep busy. Having something to focus on with the bed and breakfast was so important for me right now, and I’d even managed to go into the sunroom in the main house.
Only for a few seconds, but it was progress. I planned to start walking through it every single day until it didn’t bother me anymore.
I expected it to take a while—just like my healing from the, uh, incident.
That’s what I was calling it inside my head. The Time I Was Kidnapped And Stuffed In A Car Boot By A Crazy Drunk Murderer was a bit long, so ‘incident’ would do.
Sure, my black eye was gone, and my sprained ankle had healed aside from a twinge here and there, and my wrists no longer bore the scratches and bruising left behind by the ropes Shane had tied me up with, but the memories would haunt me for a long time.
I dipped the mop into the water and squeezed it out.
Ah, well.
I couldn’t change what happened, but I could and would control what happened going forwards.
Hence my near-obsessive cleaning of this place over the past couple of weeks.
I put the mop back in the water as there was another knock at the door. Mother of Christ—what was going on today?Twounannounced visitors? What was with this shit? Why was everyone just showing up?
I could have been in my knickers for all they knew.
I wasn’t, and thank God, because it wasn’t someone I wanted to see me in my knickers right now.
In fact, it wasn’t someone I was sure I wanted to see at all.
“Noah,” I swallowed. “What do you want?”
Regret dulled Noah’s eyes. “I know I said I’d wait, but if I keep waiting for you to reach out to me to talk, it’ll never happen.”
I hated how well he still knew me.
“I don’t think I’m able to talk to you right now,” I replied. “I’m still not over, well, everything, so it’s probably best if you leave.”
“I’m sorry, Lottie—Charlotte,” he corrected himself, putting his foot in the door so I couldn’t close it on him.
I stared at his foot. “I’m not afraid to break your toes.”
“I should have listened to you when you came to my house.”
Fine.
We were doing this.
