Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,72
want to ask. Even though it seemed completely impossible, she couldn’t help thinking that Fireside Cabins had been just waiting for her to come along. And it was the first time she’d considered what she wanted, instead of someone else. She just had to figure out how to make it work.
If only she could talk to Theo about it. She closed her eyes and summoned up the image of the little creases that played at the corners of his eyes when he was listening to her, and her chest tightened. It had been over a week since she’d heard from him. He hadn’t been to see Rex again. Was he okay? She reached over and grabbed her phone, opening up a text to him, unsure of what she even wanted to say. So much had been left unspoken between them. If anything, she needed some kind of closure. She abandoned the text screen and hit the call button. She’d had enough messaging; she needed to talk.
Lila waited for Theo to answer. She fully expected to get his voicemail, so when she heard the gentle “Hello,” in that familiar deep voice of his, her breath caught in her chest.
Lila had two options here: she could yell at him for leaving and not at least warning her first, and press him to explain those letters she’d read, like she wanted to do—or she could follow her gut, which told her something had to be seriously wrong to make him just disappear. She closed her eyes, summoning the feel of his arms around her as they’d slept on the sofa. The tender way he’d held her—that wasn’t somebody who was a fraud and a thief. And given how hard it had been to crack his shell, being vulnerable like that surely hadn’t been easy for him to do. “I miss you,” she said in a whisper. The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them.
The end of the line was so still that fear shot through her as she sat, worried he’d hung up. She checked her phone screen to see that the line was still connected. Finally, he spoke. “I didn’t want you to miss me,” he said, and she could hear the ache in his voice. “I tried not to let you in…”
“Why?”
“Lila, you don’t want to get involved with me.”
His statement sent a tiny wisp of doubt through her mind. Was the bad press about him true? “You’re not giving me a choice at all. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and let me decide?”
“There are things that make what we started between us… impossible. You deserve better.”
“Look, is this something about stealing money? Because—”
Theo cut her off. “What did you say?”
“I read an article… Well, Piper read— It doesn’t matter. They’re saying you did some pretty crazy things. Tell me about what happened with the embezzlement. Are you in any danger? What’s going on, Theo?”
“You know…” He trailed off. “I’ve got to go.”
“Wait,” she said in a panic, but the line went dead. “Hello?” Nothing. She immediately called him back, her heart racing.
“Yes?” he said, less angrily than she thought he would, but she still felt a wave of relief.
He answered.
“I like to fix things,” she said. “That’s what I do. You will literally send me to the crazy house if you don’t let me help you with this.”
“You can’t fix this.”
“How do you know if you won’t let me try?” She scrambled for a way to show her solidarity with him, to let him know she could help him deal with whatever this was. What could she offer? Then suddenly, it occurred to her that if she was really on Theo’s side, she might want to mention Smash staying at the cabins. “Did you know your dad stays at Fireside Cabins?”
“What?”
“Eleanor said he often rents a cabin here. She didn’t know about the connection to you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I heard he knew where I was—that’s one of the reasons I left. But I had no idea he’d been to Pinewood Hills before.” Then he whispered, “He wants the money. That’s why he’s here.”
“Should you come clean and give it to him?” Even as she said the words, they sounded wrong to her.
The line fell silent again. After an incredibly long pause, he said with regret in his voice, “Lila, I don’t think we should talk anymore. I’m sorry.”
“Is it because you did it?” she asked, her voice coming through