Page 57 of A Very Happy Easter

“I guess I just figured they were busy, what with it being Valentine’s Day and everything.”

But it was also creepy. Really freaking creepy.

“You didn’t recognise the guy?”

“No? But I barely looked at him.”

“It’s okay, Edie. It could be nothing.” But Heath’s tone said he wasn’t sure of that.

“What if it isn’t?”

“Have you had any other contact? Seen anyone strange hanging around? Has anything made you uncomfortable in the past few weeks?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want Heath to think I’d lost my mind, but I also hadn’t sent myself those flowers.

“Maybe? I’ve been feeling unsettled. And I thought I saw someone standing by the house one night. But…but…” I took a deep breath. “That’s happened before, and it turned out I was wrong. I’ve had some…episodes.”

“Like the panic attacks?”

“More than that. The doctors called it brief psychotic disorder, and I was hospitalised. Twice. The first time was against my will.”

I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t bear to see Heath judging me the way others did, or worse, pitying me.

“Okay.” A pause. “Okay, I haven’t heard of that before. Does it make you forget stuff?”

“Not really. More like it makes me see and hear things that aren’t there. The first time…” My eyes were prickling now. “The first time, I kept thinking Neil Short was following me, but he wasn’t. I pushed a man over and started screaming at him because I thought he was Neil, but it was just a guy with the same colour hair. A regular guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Luckily for me, he’d also been reasonably understanding. Mama had been with me, freaking out, and the stranger hadn’t pressed charges. My parents paid him enough money to make it all go away, but the cost to me was my liberty, for two months at least, and the respect of my family.

Heath’s hand slid into mine. “How are you feeling this time compared with the other times?”

“I…” Heath wasn’t going to call me crazy? “Different. I feel different. Like, I was feeling really good and then bam. The first time, I had no idea what was real and what wasn’t. The second time, I recognised the signs and checked myself into the hospital. For exhaustion. That’s what they call it when you do that. Exhaustion. I just needed to recuperate.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry that happened. You’ve been through too much shit.”

A tear slid down my cheek. “What Neil did to me affected my whole life. So many times, I’ve asked myself what I’d be doing now if I hadn’t crossed paths with him at that party. Maybe I’d be married with children? Maybe I’d still be looking for Mr. Right? I think I’d have a better relationship with men.” I choked out a laugh. “Once upon a time, I used to be a little bit of a slut, actually, which was another thing they used against me.”

Heath chuckled. “I’ll take you as you come. Edie, I have to ask—have there been any changes in your medication recently?”

“I’m not taking any medication at the moment. I haven’t needed to for months.”

“So, we have a bunch of flowers and your intuition.”

“But my intuition is shot to pieces.”

“Mine isn’t.” Heath blew out a breath. “The night of the Christmas party, something felt off when I brought you home.”

I stiffened. “It did? What?”

“I don’t know. After you fell asleep, I went out and took a look around, but I didn’t see anything untoward.”

“But you still had the feeling?”

“Yeah, I did. How do you feel about making some changes to your security?”

“What kind of changes? Obviously, I’ll do it.”

“Additional lights with motion sensors, locks on all the windows, not just the lower ones, and an alarm with central monitoring. Neil Short is still in prison?”