Page 73 of Fragile Lives

A kid?

Where did that come from?

I shake my head, attempting to erase my unwelcome, illogical thoughts, but it’s too late; the seed has been planted, and now all I can think about is Stephan as a father. Of someone else’s child. My mood drops even lower than it was. Thank God he’s too engrossed in his cat search that he doesn’t notice it.

When he finally gives up and walks to the car, we silently climb inside and, as if on cue, look at the cabin together.

“I’ll miss this place,” he says quietly. A note of longing clear in his tone.

“Me too,” I agree and take his hand. He gives it a squeeze and starts the car.

We don’t talk much on the way to Little Hope, but he holds my hand the whole time. When he parks in my driveway, I turn to face him.

“I loved our time together. It’s what I needed.”

“Me too,” he says sadly. “Take care, Leila.”

“You too, Stephan,” I sigh his name, and he swallows roughly.

He turns to look ahead and drops my hand, which is my cue to leave in order to avoid any embarrassing moments like jumping onto his lap and begging him to become ‘us’ for real. I open the door and silently slip out. Our time in paradise is over, and harsh reality is back.

Chapter Twenty

ARCHIE

I promised myself I wouldn’t go to Little Hope under any circumstances. No matter how much I want to. No matter how bad it gets.

And that is precisely why I’m currently parked at the damn diner, watching Leila through the window like a creep four days and fifteen hours after I dropped her off at her house—I promised myself I wouldn’t, and I can’t keep a promise, apparently.

I looked into the messages she’d been receiving and couldn’t find anything. And that’s a good thing, of course. But if I had found something, I could have used it as an excuse to show up. The messages were sent from an internet browser, so it’simpossible to trail them. I even checked all her recent articles that might have made someone wish her harm, but the only guy I found is still locked in prison. So that was a dead end too.

I sure hope it was just some stupid prank, because the uneasiness I felt back there was alarming. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t find anyone who could physically cause her any harm. Of course, they could hire someone to do the deed, but the guy we both suspected is in a high-security facility with no visitors. I was thinking about installing a security system at her place; that will be my next move.

I glance back at the diner windows.

She’s alone even when she’s surrounded by people. Freya and Alex are back from their honeymoon, and she’s chatting with Kayla, who’s pouring coffee for everyone. Justin’s head rests on his crisscrossed arms—I hope the fucker is having the worst hangover. I can see Marina through the door to the kitchen, and there are a few other people in the diner I don’t know.

A knock on my window startles me, and I turn to look, feeling like a peeper who’s been caught red-handed.

Kenneth motions for me to roll my window down, looking between me and the diner with furrowed brows.

“What are you doing here?” His voice is stern.

I look ahead, respecting him too much to bullshit.

“What do you think?”

He sighs deeply and looks up at the sky, murmuring, “Heaven, fucking help me. This is gonna be a shitstorm.” He looks back at me. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Inside, dickbag. Let’s get this over with.”

With that, he heads for the diner, expecting me to follow.

I can do that. Or I can put my car in gear, hit the gas, and hightail it out of here, away from these problems. I’ve been doing that for far too long, though, and besides that, I don’t want toleave Leila alone under the circumstances. No matter how much we wanted to stay there, we couldn’t, and it’s time to face reality. Kenneth saw me lurking here in the car, clearly watching her, and now I can’t leave her to deal with the questions alone. We might not be able to repeat what we had in the cabin, but we must face reality and move on with our lives.

And I want her to be able to do that. Once she sees me in her close circle, her brothers going crazy, she’ll know there’s no place for me here and will move on to someone else.