“I know you would.” Laurie assured her with a forced smile. The last thing she wanted was to make Steph feel guilty. “I haven’t seen him in five years, and to tell you the truth, I really miss him.” She stirred her chopsticks through the fried rice in idle fashion. “Jerome always made me feel good. I really think he loved me. I mostly tried to pretend that part of my life never existed, but it didn’t work. I hope, when I see him again, we can pick up where we left off.”
Laurie looked up as Stephanie’s gaze focused on something above her shoulder. Her eyes grew wide, a thumb and forefinger tracking across her lips, like a mock-zipper.
“Am I interrupting something important?” Finn’s voice sounded from the doorway behind her.
How much did he hear?
“Yum. Smells like Chinese food.” Finn hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help listening to part of their conversation. He smiled as if he hadn’t heard a word, but his mind was racing.
“We’ve got plenty,” said Stephanie. “Do you want some?”
“No, thanks. I already ate lunch.”
Who is this Jerome guy? Could he be the ex-boyfriend? The one she wouldn’t admit was abusive?
His gut had been balled up for the past week. Somehow, he sensed something bad was going to happen if he didn’t do something to protect her. What if she contacted her ex and he was “furious” as she feared? He ground his teeth together. She made it so difficult for him to protect her. Though it had been easy enough to hire someone to guard her apartment building, keeping his presence a secret had certainly been challenging. It would’ve been a lot cheaper to move her to a safer apartment than what it cost him to buy out the lease of one of the first-floor residents, closest to the entry.
But Laurie had her pride. He couldn’t complain, since it was one of the traits he admired most. For now, he would keep doing what he was doing. If he couldn’t have her, he could at least shield her from harm.
“How’s Ellie?” he asked Stephanie.
“She’s great, actually. She hasn’t been sick in the last ten months. And she’s so good about doing her breathing treatments. She hardly ever complains.”
“That’s awesome. My mum claims she had to catch me and tie me up to do my therapy, but I think she likes to tell a good story.”
“Did you need something, Mr. Anderson?” When Laurie spoke, the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.
“I got the report you sent and wanted to drop by in person to say well done. It looks like you’ve accounted for every detail. Of course, you get all the credit, since I was out for two weeks in the middle of everything.”
“Thank you.” Her expression softened. “I couldn’t have done it without Dara’s help. She told me you guys gave her an extra bonus, and I think that’s really nice.”
“Dara’s fantastic.” He tried to sound casual as he asked his next question. “Now, when is your flight to LA?” After their little scene at the apartment, she wouldn’t even discuss the idea of them flying out together.
“My train leaves tomorrow.”
“Your train? You’re really traveling by train? That’ll take days!”
“It saves us $200.” Her nostrils flared. “It’s quite comfortable. My seat turns into a bed, and there’s a shower and everything.”
“That can’t possibly be safe,” he objected. “There’s no door to lock while you’re sleeping.” Maybe he could book a bodyguard on the same train.
“It’s safe.” Her jaw clamped shut. “Nobody’s going to attack me on the train.”
“You can’t know that,” Finn snapped. “It happened to…” He choked back her name, just in time. “It happened to a friend of mine. She thought she was safe, too.”
“Oh my gosh!” Steph exclaimed, wringing her hands together. “Was she hurt?”
A glance showed Laurie standing with her arms crossed in typical obstinate fashion.
“She wasn’t hurt, physically,” he answered with wooden lips. “But if her roommate hadn’t come home early, she would’ve been.”
The painful memory played in his mind like a horror movie. He’d been late to pick her up, finalizing all the arrangements for the proposal. When he knocked at her apartment, dressed in a black tuxedo and holding a single red rose, her roommate had cracked the door open with wary eyes.
“Jill was attacked,” she said. “He ran out the back when I got here. She didn’t get hurt, but—”
“Where is she?” He pushed his way inside to find Jill, sitting on the couch with her hair in disarray, her dress ripped at the shoulder. Frightened out of his mind, he rushed to hold her, but she pushed him away with a stiff arm.
“Go away, Finn,” she wailed. “You were late. As usual. I opened the door, thinking it was you, and this man…” The accusation hung in the air. It was his fault. He’d failed to protect her.