“Fine. You want to do this the hard way?” she asked. “Vince taught me how to kick down doors, so you have three seconds to answer before I knock this one down. Three…”
Thatgot my attention, and my joints screamed at me as I forced myself to let go of Whiskey and roll onto my back, propping my head on a pile of crocheted animals.
“Two…”
I watched the door, wishing I had a bucket of popcorn for the show.
“One!” A muffledthumpsounded, but the door didn’t even budge. “Ow!”
A quiet laugh slipped through my lips, and I froze. It was the first time I’d laughed in days.
“How is your door so strong?” Sadie muttered as she scrambled to her feet, and my smile widened. A much weaker knock followed. “Please, Ellie. We love you, and we’re worried.”
She sounded desperate enough that I heaved a big sigh and wiggled to the edge of the bed before rolling off, earning a concernedmeowfrom Whiskey.
“Yes, I got out of bed. Big deal,” I whispered, scowling lightly at him.
Already bored with me, Whiskey lifted a paw and licked it.
I trudged across the floor littered with yarn and half-worn clothes. A few crocheted safari animals had to be kicked aside before I swung the door open. Sadie stood in a pink sundress with her fist frozen midknock.
“You don’t need to worry,” I croaked through a dry throat. “I’m just taking a little time to myself. I’ll be at the next PBA meeting.”
She stared at me with wide eyes before her gaze slowly trailed down my front. “…Is that his T-shirt?”
I looked down, too, blinking slowly at the navy blue fabric. I was still wearing Cade’s shirt from the boat? That meant I hadn’tshowered or changed in almost a week. A dark splotch right on my chest glared back at me, looking suspiciously like chocolate.
It hit me like a bolt of lightning—as if I’d been frozen for the past five days, and suddenly the emptiness and anger and unearned grief bubbled up to the surface all at once.
One second passed, then two, before the dam broke and tears exploded out of me. All I could do was stand there and cling to the doorknob while sobs shook my shoulders.
Sadie immediately wrapped her arms around me in the biggest, fiercest hug I’d ever gotten.
“I don’t understand. I literally just met him,” I gasped through the tears, clinging back to her. “What’s wrong with me? Why is this happening?”
She just squeezed me tighter.
Sadie’s visit was a godsend. While I took amuch-neededbubble bath, she hid Cade’s faded T-shirt and picked out comfy loungewear for me. We ate our weight in gelato, dressed Whiskey up in all his new hats, and Sadie almost paid on online witch to place a curse on Cade—but I talked her out of it. Lighting a candle immediately set off the smoke detector, so we didn’t get a chance to burn the pictures Sadie had gotten printed of Cade, but seeing them smeared in Bear’s poop definitely lifted my spirits.
She kicked me right out of the slump I’d fallen into.
I even turned my phone back on after Sadie left. I’d missed a lot in the Pet Bandits Anonymous group chat, and there were a few texts from my boss checking in, too. A text had come in from Madison the day after we got back—asking if I was okay—and I had no idea how to answer. So I didn’t.
I scrolled past a voicemail from Whiskey’s vet. They wanted money, and I had no idea how I would pay for his surgery now.
Another voicemail from an unknown number caught my eye. It was probably a debt collector, or maybe Cade was already siccing his lawyer on me for breaking our NDA. I braced myself and hit play, needing to get it over with.
A familiar deep voice made my heart skip. “Hey, Darling?—”
I immediately hit stop and tossed my phone onto the bed, spooking Whiskey into jumping off his pillow and glaring at the phone.
Cade.
Cade had called me.
My breaths came faster as fight-or-flight mode kicked in, but there was no one to fight and nowhere to go. So I snatched my phone back and found texts from the same sender.
Unknown