“I know.” His tone sharpened. “By the time I got your car towed to the shop, I saw your friend returning to town. I made sure he got home safe.”
The way he spoke made it clear he wasn’t making sure Aiden got home safe, but rather home alone. I could also tell he was mad that I had disappeared without a word. But I didn’t owe him explanations. Not about the car. Not about anything.
“Thank you for taking my dad home.” I offered a polite smile. “This will be the last time we see each other. Good luck in your future endeavors.”
He almost laughed, shaking his head at my polite and curt response.
I waved at the window, stretching my smile wide, hoping Dad saw me happy. Hoping he didn’t notice the frustration lingering on Marshal’s face.
I needed some more time before he started to worry.
Enough time to breathe.
Enough time to do what I knew I had to do.
Say what I needed to say.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
WEST
By ten that morning,a courier dropped off a phone already set up to mirror my old one. My first instinct was to call Blue, make sure she was safe. But before I could even think about dialing, a text came through from Marcus.
Marcus
Marshal has Mr. Caldwell and Lisa enroute to Harmony Haven. He also made sure the guy from last night got home… alone.
I hadn’t asked for that update, but Marcus knew the silence would drive me crazy. I shot him a quick reply, letting him know I was driving myself to work and told him to head back to Harmony Haven to coordinate with Marshal. My truck had been sitting at the lake house for days and it needed to be brought back.
Then another thought hit me. As the elevator carried me down to the parking garage, I thumbed out a second message.
West
Blue needs a new car. Just leave the truck for her.
The bubbles danced on the screen, Marcus starting and stopping a text like he didn’t know how to word it, like he so often did when he thought I was off the rails. He knew I bought that truck to remind me of my dad’s. But I barely drove it anymore, and honestly, I couldn’t sit inside it without thinking about the last time I held Blue’s hand over the console as we rode up to my parents’ house.
Not to mention, that truck had always felt like the one link I had to a normal, smalltown life, and all it did now was remind me of how badly I’d failed at even trying to be that kind of man.
I didn’t belong in a pickup truck. I belonged in the back seat of a shiny SUV, someone else behind the wheel, my phone in my hand, my pulse wired to my business.
By the time I climbed into my Audi, Marcus had abandoned the reply entirely, opting for a thumbs-up emoji that looked just as foreign coming from him as it felt to me when I used it. He must have really been worried.
It was Monday, almost two o’clock, when I finally got to work and my first order of business had been to send all nonessential personnel home. I knew my lawyer was coming in, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for people whispering in hallways and side-eyeing me in elevators. Hattie argued when I told her to clear the floor, but one look at my face shut her up. She just nodded, grabbed her bag, ready to slip out with the rest of them.
When Harrison stepped off the elevator, he smiled like he had a secret that would turn my day around. He gave Hattie a quick nod as he passed her, then walked into my office while I made sure she got on the elevator and left.
I didn’t bother shutting my office door. The floor was empty, so I just fell back onto the couch, adjacent to where Harrison had made himself comfortable in a plush chair, and started unloading everything that had been weighing on me.
I rattled off expectations, what I wanted handled, what needed to stop, how fast it should all be done. I told him about the calls from Blue’s sister, and told him to make them stop. I didn’t care what it cost, as long as Blue was left alone. I even admitted I owed her an apology, even if she never forgave me.
But when I looked up, Harrison wasn’t taking notes like I expected. He was leaned back, legs crossed, arms folded behind his head like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Is there a reason you’re not writing any of this down?” I snapped.
“There’s no need.” He lifted his hands, grinning like he was about to pull a rabbit out of a hat. “I never filed your marriage license with the judge. You were thinking with your dick, and I saw this train wreck coming before you did.”
My body went cold. “What did you just say?” My voice was so slow and calm, it scared even me.
