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“That will happen when you get shot,” Ivy said, pushing back my hair to check my cheek and lip, which looked like I went ten rounds with a professional boxer. “You must be in terrible pain between your head and hand.”
“It’s livable,” I answered, but that was a lie. The fatigue was killing me, and I could barely stay awake long enough to pack a box before I had to rest. “I have to get this done so I can leave.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, dear,” Audrey said, carrying a cup of tea over for me. “I don’t think you should be driving in your condition.”
“Do you know the truth about me?”
“We do,” Ivy confirmed. “You’re one brave lady.”
“More like stupid,” I muttered. “I should have kept my mouth shut. Now I’ve lost everything.”
“What have you lost?” Audrey asked, rubbing my shoulder. “The board didn’t fire you, did they?”
“No, but I resigned. I came here under false pretenses and lied to everyone for months about who I was and why I was here. It doesn’t matter that I fell in love with this town and its people. It doesn’t matter that this has been the most fulfilling job I’ve ever done and that I don’t want to leave. Integrity matters, and I must accept that mine has been compromised.”
“I don’t know about that, dear,” Audrey said. “Integrity means being honest, but it also means having strong morals and moral uprightness. If you ask me, what you did in Florida showed your integrity above all else. It’s not your fault that you had to leave town or be protected. You came to Bells Pass and did the job you were hired to do. You didn’t deceive anyone about who you are or what you wanted to accomplish here. You couldn’t tell us you were a protected witness, or you’d have jeopardized yourself. That makes sense. Learning the truth didn’t change my opinion of you other than to make me even more proud of you.”
“I wish everyone saw it that way,” I said, sipping the tea. Why did tea always taste better when someone else made it for you?
“By everyone, do you mean Irving?” Ivy gently asked. “Everyone knows you love each other.”
“I can’t deal with this right now, Ivy,” I said, shaking my head. “I have to pack.”
“You have to talk to Irving,” she answered. I wanted to speak, but a tear leaked from the corner of my eye. “Honey, have you talked to him?”
“He won’t talk to me, Ivy,” I said, my lips trembling. “He won’t answer the door or even leave his apartment.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“He hates me?” I asked, trying to laugh, but only a sob came out.
“I know for a fact he doesn’t hate you,” Ivy said, grabbing a tissue and wiping my eye. “When I brought Irving home from the hospital, he begged me to tell him everything about your condition. He was terrified he’d lost you. He told me that he decided to tackle Marissa and take the bullet. He was willing to die if it meant you could live. That’s something a soulmate says about the woman they love. You can’t walk away from that, sweetheart. You have to fight for it!”
“I want to, but he doesn’t!” I exclaimed. “I don’t even know if he’s okay. I only know he’s home because I hear sounds from his apartment.”
“He had a bit of trouble,” Audrey said, wiping a tear away for me. “A bullet went through his ankle, but it missed the bone. He has to wear a special compression bandage and boot until they know it will heal.”
“I saw him fall out of his chair, and I’ve been so worried,” I said, biting back another sob.
“He did fall from his chair, and from what Dawson says, he wanted back into it so he could go to the hospital with you. Then the EMT said his blood pressure was high and he was bleeding. They took him to the hospital behind you while Dawson kept Star.”
“Is he okay?” I asked, sitting up, my heart pounding. “AD can be deadly in trauma situations.”
“He’s fine, dear,” Audrey said, patting my knee. “They got him to the hospital in time, and the doctors could care for him before things got out of hand.”
“It’s funny, you know,” I whispered. “They say no good deed goes unpunished, and I always thought that couldn’t be true. If you hold the moral high ground and call out the injustices that you see, how could you be punished for doing what’s right?” I shook my head against the chair and laughed sadly. “How naive can you be?” I asked rhetorically, of course. “Turning in Dr. Felding was the right thing to do, but now I’m going to lose the job I love and the man I love because of it. There’s just something not fair about that, you know?”
“You don’t have to lose either, honey. You and Irving need to talk, but you can’t do that if you run away. Every time you’re together, we see how you complete each other. We know you’ve spent more time in his apartment than this one over the last month.”
“Ivy—”
She slashed her hand in the air to hush me. “Let me finish. When you find that one person you connect with on that soul-deep level, you want to spend every minute you can with them, right?” she asked, and I nodded. “You don’t even make a choice, right?”
“Right,” I whispered. “It’s a force that connects you and draws you to each other in undeniable ways. After I shared his bed for the first time, platonically,” I said, holding up my hand, “there was no way I could sleep without him again. That was our time to be alone and learn about each other without prying eyes or whispers behind our backs. That was our time to let our souls connect and be one with each other.”
“That’s a lovely way to explain it,” Audrey said, brushing a tear away from my cheek. “I don’t think you’ve slept much since you’ve come home from the hospital, have you?”
“I’m so tired, but all I can think about is that wall that separates us. Is Irving okay over there, or is he—”
