“Um…” A headache began to form. I was going down a wayward path, and it led to a nasty intersection with Cole’s world.
Cole mouthed to me, “Tell her to wait. You’ll call her back.” He made a motion of holding a phone to his ear and hanging it up, then pointed to my phone.
I nodded. “Give me—I just woke up. Let me dress and shower. I’m kinda in shock. I’ll call you in a bit. Okay?”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to just come down?”
“I’m sure. I’ll call you.”
“Okay.”
Cole took the phone and hit the end call button. “They’re going to ask about me.”
“I’m aware.”
My stomach was in knots. It had been twisting, tightening the more Sia told me, but this was inevitable.
“I chose you last night,” I reminded him.
“Things were heated. I saved your life. You helped me. You might’ve said something you regret now. Your friend called you, and you could be remembering how life was without me.” His voice softened. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to walk away. You can. There’s still time.”
“And what? Lie about knowing you?”
He shook his head, his eyes holding mine. “Tell the truth. You knew me. We had a fling, and that was it. It ends now. Everything ends now. You can still get out.”
But I didn’t want out. “I know that’s the right thing to do. And I know what it meant last night when I chose you. I still do. And I know I should leave, but I can’t.” The knot loosened with each word I said. “And even if I do, and we end this—it will take one night of loneliness, and I know you’ll be in my bed. One night. One call. That’s all I have to do. We’ll start this up all over again.”
His eyes grew hard. “Not if I walk away from you.”
Those words stung. They shouldn’t have, but they did. I drew in a sharp breath. “I don’t know if I could handle that.”
His eyes softened again. “I don’t know if I could walk away either.”
“Well.” My head hung. “There you have it.” I started toward the elevator.
“Wait.” Cole grabbed my arm. “I have cops on my payroll. Your friend is going to find out, but I can delay it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They’re going to ask you questions, but I can get my guys in there. They can separate you from your friend when you’re being interviewed.”
“I—are you sure?”
He nodded. “Let me do that for you, at least. You can tell your friend on your own terms then. You can control that, at least.”
“Thank you.” His hand slipped down my arm to my hand. I squeezed.
I was very aware that if this happened a few months from now, Cole would be at my side. He would walk through my home with me. I wouldn’t have to do it alone, but now it was too soon. Too early. I had to do this without him.
A little while later, I met Sia in the lobby, and we rode together in a car Ken “called” for us.
I didn’t look at the driver. I knew it wasn’t Carl.
Nothing was missing.
I walked through the house with two detectives. One was tall and the other was medium height, maybe an inch taller than me. Each was in his mid-forties, or so I guessed based on how haggard they looked. They had beady eyes and hawk-like focus centered right on me. It was uncomfortable, but I was relieved to find nothing gone.
I had taken everything that had sentimental value with me when I moved, I explained. Nothing left was particularly important to me, but it was still a relief to know I hadn’t been robbed.
And true to Cole’s word, when the detectives began to question me, a police officer came and directed Sia away. I couldn’t hear the reason he gave her, but she threw me a confused look and followed him from the room.
I was ready. The hard questions were coming now.
“You’re sure, Mrs. Sailer, that nothing is missing?”
“You can call me Addison.”
“You don’t go by your married name anymore?” The taller one cocked his head to the side. He had introduced himself as Reyes. I tried to remember the other one…maybe Smythe?
“I go by Addison.”
Smythe, or whatever his name was, asked, “Is there a reason for that? Usually when people change their names, there’s a reason. They’re seeing someone new, or they don’t want to be associated with the old name. Anything like that?”
I knew what he was asking, but I didn’t react, despite the irritation starting to boil inside me. “My husband died over a year ago. I guess I’m slowly getting used to being just Addison right now. What does that have to do with someone breaking into my house?”