“It doesn’t matter how. It matters that she did.”
He nodded, but he was staring into the black depths of his coffee cup.
Rox pushed her mug to the side and picked up one of his hands. His cold fingers chilled hers. How long had he been out there? “I couldn’t stand to lose you.”
His bright green eyes widened, startled, and he glanced at their intertwined hands on the countertop.
“Promise me that you won’t. Promise me that whatever it is, you’ll give it one more day, that you’ll stay with me one more day. You have to stay for me.”
He looked back up to her, and his voice was hoarse. “All right.”
“Promise.”
“I promise,” he said.
She didn’t believe him, not really, but she let go anyway. “Are you sick? Like cancer?”
He shook his head.
“What, then?”
“Just not enough coffee, I imagine.”
“Ever since the accident, you’ve been down. Sometimes you perk up for a while, but then you’re down again. It’s not just your car, right?”
“The Maybach? No. I think I will get something bigger this time.”
“I’ve been watching you for weeks, wondering if this kind of thing was running through your head.”
“I’m fine. I wouldn’t have jumped, and now I’ve promised you that I won’t.”
Rox had heard those kinds of promises before.
CALLING ANA
Rox hid in her bathroom—the cats swarming around her feet and hurriedly crunching kibble from their individual bowls while they had her company—and dialed the long, international number, scrubbing a hot tear out of her eye.
The phone rang.
And rang.
Some of those rings must be bouncing off satellites over the Atlantic Ocean.
Rox bit her lip. Speedbump growled at Midnight, who was nose-nudging him too much in the kibble bowl. She bopped him on the forehead, and he gave her the stink-eye instead.
Some more rings.
“Hallo?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Hi, I’m looking for Ana, Cash’s sister. This is Roxanne Neil.”
“Hello, Rox. I am pleased to hear from you. Is everything all right?”
“He’s fine right now, but I’m worried about Cash. Has he had a problem with depression?”
Silence until Ana cleared her throat. “We’ve worried about him in the past, but he has refused counseling.”
“I found him leaning over the edge of the deck a little too much this morning, and he said that he had been sitting on the rail. It’s a long way down.”
“I see.” Some rustling.
“I’m really sensitive to this. Some people have cheating antennae, like they can tell when their spouse is cheating to the point where it seems like psychic powers. I have suicide antennae. He’s radiating it.”
Ana’s voice was muffled as she said something in what was probably Dutch to someone else, then she said, “Go on.”
“I’ve kind of baby-proofed his house, but I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
“Can you stay until tomorrow? I would consider it a personal favor.”
“Oh, yes. Of course. I meant more than a couple more weeks.”
“Good. I can’t send minders or doctors because he’ll send them away or walk away from them. I will have two of his friends there tomorrow, Arthur and Maxence. Do you know them?”
Arthur and Maxence? “He’s never mentioned them.”
“They’re large, strapping young men who should be able to physically forestall any problem and perhaps can bring him around. Don’t tell him that they’re on their way. He’ll raise a fuss, and some things are better done and ask forgiveness later than asking permission before, yes?”
At any other time, Rox would have laughed.
Instead, she said, “Thank you.”
One more day until Arthur and Maxence arrived.
BEFORE SUPPER
Cash leaned against the kitchen counter and fiddled with his phone. “You don’t have to follow me around.”
Rox said, “I wanted a glass of water, too.” And to keep an eye on the knives. “Plus, supper will be delivered in a few minutes. I thought I would grab some silverware and glasses before we go back to work.”
Cash smiled at her, his grin lighting up his bright green eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me. The things that looked quite bleak in the dark and after a few drinks seem more manageable today.”
Indeed, he had exercised in his little home gym, worked on the contracts, and made a dozen phone calls to the office and to clients to schedule meetings over the next few weeks. He’d had an opinion about supper for the first time in ages.