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“In essence, yes.” Grace’s lips pursed into a pout. “I can’t imagine the decisions she’d had to make in her short life. Certainly not something anyone of her age should have to deal with.”

Abagail wasn’t going to give into those extra comments. What she wanted now were even more answers to the questions she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. She had all the information in the folder that she’d been given, and she would take her time going through it as soon as Grace left her office. Right now, she needed to digest.

“Thank you for this thorough report. I’ll contact you if I need anything else.” Abagail stood up, making her way around the desk to shake Grace’s hand. She couldn’t bring herself to have Grace dig any deeper than she already had. She needed to figure this out on her own, and she really needed to decide how she was going to deal with the information that she’d been given.

As soon as Grace was out of her office, Abagail pulled open the folder and started her deep dive. She spent the next three hours reading every single line of the papers that Grace had given her, and her stomach churned with unsettled pain and anguish. Nicola should have never gone through any of this, and the fact that she’d come out the other side so happy and normal was a testament to who she was as a person.

Without thinking, Abagail called her banker and the rehabilitation facility. It didn’t take her longer than thirty minutes to wipe out the outstanding debt and put everythingto rights. But something still didn’t feel right in her chest. She made a fist and rubbed her hand over her ribs.

She wasn’t going to tell Nicola what she’d done.

That wouldn’t be a fun conversation for anyone, and did it really matter? She’d at least given Nicola a chance to get ahead of the game. Hopefully, she’d take the opportunity.

Abagail stared at her cell phone, her heart hammering. She picked it up and called without second-guessing. She couldn’t be the one to hold back now. They were working so hard on making progress together, and surely a conversation that was reminiscent of times before Abagail had screwed up their friendship would help to bolster everything they were doing now for the future.

“It’s early,” Elia said as soon as she answered. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you have time?” Abagail asked, flicking her fingers together as she stared across the hallway to Ivy still working away at her desk. It was close to time for them to all be heading home for the day. Elia would already be done with the bulk of her work, which was why Abagail had known she could call.

“I have a few hours. Why?”

“I need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?” There was instant concern in Elia’s tone, and Abagail couldn’t have been more grateful for it. Perhaps they were closer to being back to where they were than she thought.

“Do you remember Warren’s fiancée? Nicola?”

“Yes.” Elia’s tone was clipped now, but she typically was when she was giving straight forward answers. “Did something happen?”

“They broke up a few weeks ago.” Well, it was probably longer than that but Nicola had clung on for dear life—literally. “I found out that Nicola had substantial debt and I paid it off.”

That was mostly the truth. But Abagail wasn’t ready to explain to Elia the extent of her relationship with Nicola—not yet anyway. She still needed some time to digest what was happening and figure out whether or not her arrangement with Nicola was going to continue. Although she hadn’t come home last night, so Abagail figured that was a stark no.

“You paid off her debt?” Elia repeated the words, doubt in her voice.

Was it really that odd a thing for her to do? Even as Abagail thought that question, she knew it was.

“She’s not just Warren’s ex-fiancée. What’s going on?” Elia asked again.

Abagail cringed. She hadn’t wanted to talk about that yet. She still wasn’t ready to explain to anyone what she’d willingly done, and how much shit she had actually stepped in. And for some reason, for this particular moment in time, Abagail wanted to keep her relationship with Nicola only to herself. No one else needed to know.

“She stayed with me a few days because she didn’t have a place. But I found out that she can’t afford an apartment because she’s paying for her sister’s medical bills.” That was close enough to the truth. She’d found out through back channels instead of from Nicola herself. And she knew that she’d implied she and Nicola were closer than they already were.

And why weren’t they?

Why hadn’t Nicola felt comfortable enough to tell Abagail about what was going on? About why her account was frozen?

“Are you in a relationship with her?”

Abagail’s stomach plummeted. “No.”

“Do you want to be?”

“You’re the one who said I was aromantic,” Abagail fired back. She wasn’t sure where to go with this, and she hadn’t evenhad a second to breathe and contemplate what Elia had dropped on her the last time they’d spoken.

“I did say that, but it doesn’t mean you can’t ever be in a relationship of some sort with someone else. Look at us.”

Abagail frowned. She still wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Something doesn’t feel right.”