Page 19 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter nineteen

Tess

I stare at his text for a long time, speechless and feeling a little apprehensive but a lot like I want to smile.

Wow. Just...wow.

But that doesn’t explain the entirely different Gabriel Strong I get Monday through Friday.

Maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m there when he needs me on the lonely weekends.

I know his son is a junior in college. That has to be a huge change in Gabe’s life.

For so long it was just the two of them and now it’s just Gabe.

And I know a little but about being lonely.

And then I think of the twenty grand hanging over my head, and I know I can’t get any closer to Gabe than I can to anyone else. Especially to Gabe. If Sandra Jansen discovers I know a billionaire, then she’ll send her goons after him.

I scooch further into my blankets as despair settles on me like a fourth blanket.

I can’t have friends. I can’t have lovers, or boyfriends or a husband. Maybe not even a cat.

Me: What book are you reading now?

And, yet I can’t walk away from this either.

Monday morning:

Me: Good morning ?

GS: Good morning, Tess

I stare at the message, dumbstruck because he’s never answered my good morning messages before.

Friday night we texted off and on for a few hours about the books we’re reading, the books I’d read that I would recommend to him. We signed off by saying goodnight and we didn’t text the rest of the weekend. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t think about him.

He’s always on my mind and I read his text about being lonely over and over again.

I can relate to the loneliness. I have Amelia and her friends—which are my friends, even though I’m so afraid to claim them—but I’m still lonely.

I still crave the connection of another person and if I’m being honest, I crave the connection of a partner.

I’ll never get that. Not unless Sandra Jansen goes away for good and she’s not going to. She’s always going ot haunt me. She’s always going to pop up just when I feel comfortable in the new life I created.

I spent Sunday Googling places to move to. I have some money squirreled away because I’ve learned the hard way to have a means of escape. I don’t have twenty grand and even if I did I wouldn’t give it to the man Sandra sicced on me.

I need to get out of Ohio. I need to stay away from Chicago. I need to go to a city I can afford, which means I need to avoid the coasts. Maybe a tiny town in the Midwest, like Kansas.

Or Denver.

For a hot minute I let myself daydream about being Gabe’s personal assistant in person instead of virtually. It can’t happen because I can’t draw this evil to Gabe’s doorstep, but it would be nice.

By Monday morning I’ve settled on Kansas City, and I start making plans to move.

Amelia: Times up. Where are we going for your birthday?

I rub my temples. My birthday is Saturday, and I was hoping to be gone by then. Saying goodbye to Amelia is going to be the hardest part of all of this. Damn it, this is why I try not to let people into my bubble.

Me: I can’t this weekend. I’m going out of town

Permanently, but I don’t tell her that. I can’t tell her anything because if this man finds my friends, he can use them to get information on my whereabouts. It may sound like I'm overreacting, but it’s happened before. All of this has happened before and I’m tired of it.

Amelia: WHAT?! NO! It’s your birthday. Can’t you go out of town the next weekend? And why are you going out of town?

I knew she’d question me. In a moment of weakness, and possibly alcohol, I told her a little about myself.

Not enough to put her in danger, but enough that she’s aware I have no family I’m close to.

I think one of the reasons she insisted on bringing me into her fold is because she knows I’m all alone in this world.

I can’t just walk away from her. She’s the only best friend I’ve ever had.

It’s been a week, and I haven’t heard from my extortionist again. Maybe he got the money from someone else.

One more weekend. One last night with my friends. I can do that. I deserve that.

Me: The Rusty Spur

Amelia: All right! I’ll tell the others