Page 52 of From the Shadows

She purses her lips and shakes her head. The keyboard is silent as her fingers move steadily across its brightly colored silicone cover.

“You doing invoices or writing?” I ask, pulling my boxer briefs up my legs.

“Writing.” A one-word answer.

Concise. Closed off. Chilly.

I hang the towel, check the doors through the house, and climb between the sheets.

Somber. Separate. Sad.

Eventually, she sets her computer aside and turns out the light, sliding down until she’s curled up on her side. Facing away from me.

I stare into the dark, the ceiling only an abstract with no light filtering in from Evie’s room down the hall. I lie there for hours, uncomfortable but unwilling to toss and turn. The last thing I want to do is disturb Jess. Her breaths are even and deep in slumber.

When it becomes obvious that sleep is not coming for me, I press a kiss to her bare shoulder and carefully slip out of bed. I dress in the dark and leave. There is no point in my restlessness becoming a problem for both of us.

I snag my wallet and keys from the little basket she set out just for me. The alarm system beeps as I disarm it and again when I set it after locking the door behind me.

The drive home doesn’t help. Nor does the late-night elevator ride to my apartment.

The silence is oppressive.

The solitude is unnerving.

The stillness is overwhelming.

I wander into my home office and draft my petition for sole custody of Evie. As an afterthought, I expand the scope to termination of Amie’s parental rights. I don’t know if my argument for that is strong enough, but I need that woman out of our lives. I need my daughter safe and loved. And I need that done and taken care of so that I can straighten shit out with Jess, because tonight was awful. The tension, the distance… all of it.

I stare out at the skyline, as the streetlights blend and fade into the brightening sky. Nothing is fixed. Nothing is better.

Not a fucking thing is settled… and shadows loom in the corners of the room.

Chapter 21

5 Stars

JESS

Dinner and dessert? Zero stars. Do not recommend.

The bottle of crisp, sunny rosé was good. Delightful. But did not fit the mood. It took all my strength and a whole lot of frustration to shove that cork back into the bottle.

I did it, though, and put it back in the fridge, opening a bottle of merlot instead. If wine had personalities—maybe vibes is the better word—the moody evening called for a dark and complex red. One with hidden notes of something bitter and confusing that feels like rain clouds hanging low and pressing down on me.

I had zero interest in cooking dinner or in going through the motions. Not after a long stupid day. Not with all the questions swirling around in my brain without a logical answer in sight.

Certainly not when it would have been the first opportunity for Eddie and me to spend the night without another bitty body in the house. But without Evie, I guess there was no real reason for him to stay at my house. None that felt strong enough or that he could rationalize.

So he left.

I stayed perfectly still, feigning sleep until he was gone. I dared not breathe until the click of my backdoor locking into place echoed through the still house.

I could have read for a bit. Writing was in no way an option, because I wasn’t ready to look too closely at what was happening. Besides, fiction bursting forth from reality was far too true for my liking.

So left with no other option, I tumbled down a rabbit hole on God’s own internet, searching things that could potentially get me thrown on a three-letter government agency watch list.

Blood.