But he hasn’t gone out. Hasn’t been with another girl.
My head spinning, I poke at my burger and onion rings, then end up drinking my soda and ignoring the rest. Ev, on the contrary, has been scarfing down everything so fast I’m afraid she’ll choke.
“Hey, slow down. Doesn’t Micah give you enough to eat?” I steal one of her onion rings—because hers look so much better than mine, of course—and deftly snatch my hand back before she slaps at it. “Must be the workout he puts you through every night, I guess.”
She scowls at me.
“Seriously…” I swallow hard. “May I ask you for a favor?”
She chews on a bite of her burger, her golden eyes narrowing. “You want Micah’s diet plan?”
“Not likely. After seeing how hungry he lets you go…” I put down my soda. “No, I’d like you to check a name through the system.”
“The system?”
“Yeah, the social system. Can you do that?”
“What do you think I am, FBI?” But she’s laughing. “I could try, I guess. Ask Audrey’s mother if she could do some digging for me. What name would that be?”
“Helen.” I lick my suddenly dry lips. “Helen McRoy.”
What am I doing?
“Helen McRoy. Anything else you can tell me about her?”
“She was here in Madison, living on the streets, maybe four or five years ago. Then she left and her tracks vanished. I want to know… if she’s dead. What happened to her.”
Ev puts down her half-eaten burger. “Okay. Is it someone you used to know? Does it have to do with Nick?”
“No. Nothing to do with Nick, and I didn’t know her. But she was important to someone.”
Someone I care about. Someone who asked me to trust him.
And no matter how scared that makes me, I think I want to try.
***
I spend the rest of my day making jewelry and preparing packages for the orders I received. Dizzily I move about the house?
??telling myself it’s because of the orders that keep rolling in, but knowing deep inside that it’s because of finally deciding to trust Jesse.
As soon as I made up my mind, all the things he told me, the things he did—the things I tried to forget in my anger—return, and I dance around the apartment, glad Kayla isn’t there to see me. She’s gone out to meet with some friends, leaving me alone.
Which is a good thing, because when the doorbell rings and a package is placed in my hands, with a request to sign in order to receive it, I’m in a complete daze.
I sign, close the door and I wander back into the living room where I drop onto the sofa. I zero in on the small card immediately.
“I miss you, Embers.”
The words on the small card blur in my eyes. Oh JJ. I miss you, too.
Turns out I didn’t need to hear his voice or see his face for my resolve to crumble. The memory of him was enough.
I open the box and smile when I see the chocolates. Roses or chocolates, he’d said, or whatever you like.
Heart thumping, I consider calling him right now. I even pick up my cell phone from the table, but no. I need to do this in person, looking into his eyes.
Tonight. It’s his day off, and yeah, funny how I know by heart which are his afternoons and days off, how I’ve stored them in my brain as vital information. I’ll pass by tonight to talk with him and give him the pendant.