Maid for Each Other(83)

“Carl out, then,” he said, and I heard the click of his shoes walking away.

“So,” Lauren whispered. “A few months ago when my mom fell behind on her mortgage and was being eaten alive by the interest, I thought, what the hell, why not try it? I submitted it just as a last resort, and they paid off my mother’s fucking house.”

“What?” I yelled, which made her slap me in the arm. I lowered my voice to a whisper and said, “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am, you idiot, why would I make this up?” she said. “But here’s the thing. When you sent me that picture of the email on Declan’s desk, something felt familiar about it, and I couldn’t figure out what. But I finally figured it out, Ab. The six-digit number that was in brackets beside the list of names? There was a number like that on my payment memo.”

I leaned back to look at her, trying to figure out if I was getting this straight. “What?”

She nodded, pulled my ear back to her face, then whispered, “And the email addresses they were using were for a company called RWDR. Could that be an acronym for Rest Well Declan Roman?”

I blinked and stared at the paper towel dispenser. Could this actually be a thing?

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s a stretch, don’t you think?”

“I would,” she whispered, “except that I found a recent social media post from one of the people on that email, Camille Johnson. She posted that RestWell gave her the $76K that she needed to pay for her son’s cancer medications—the exact amount listed on that email message.”

I gasped. “Oh, my God.”

“Right?”

“So you’re telling me that Dex and Roman—”

“Don’t you dare say it out loud!” she whisper-yelled, looking at me like I was ridiculous. “Have a little respect for the lore, will you?”

I stared into the mirror above the sink and tried to wrap my head around how wrong I might’ve been about him. If this were true, he wasn’t a rich guy who gave things away because he didn’t care about them.

If this were true, he was a rich guy who cared enough to give them all away.

46

Finally

Declan

I stopped pacing when I heard the key in the door.

I turned, and there was Abi.

And a brunette.

Who was grinning from ear to ear.

I tried reading Abi’s face, but I had no idea what was going on there. She no longer looked mad, sad, and closed off. No, she looked…mysterious. Like she was trying to be mysterious.

“This is my friend Lauren,” Abi said, pointing to the only other person in the room.

“Hi,” the woman said, smiling so widely that it was almost alarming. She looked fucking insanely happy to see me. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” I said, glad that Abi’s friend didn’t seem to hate me.

But I felt like something was going on, like some sort of gotcha was underfoot.

“Where’s Roman?” Abi asked, looking around me.

“In my office,” I said, a little annoyed by all the extra company. I just needed to talk to Abi alone, damn it. “Why?”

“Roman,” she yelled, and I really hated not knowing what was going on. I felt like I had zero control of this situation.

The office door opened and Roman walked out, carrying one of the finished bouquets that I’d told him not to bother with because it was too fucking late to pull off that romantic gesture. “Yes, Abi?”

“Can you keep—”

She stopped talking, her eyes on the bouquet of hydrangeas.

Holy shit, Roman did a great job.

“Are those…inhalers?” Lauren asked, looking at the flowers through squinted eyes, like she was seeing something offensive.

“And EpiPens,” Roman said, grinning like it’d been his idea. “Perfectly placed by yours truly among these lovely hypoallergenic hydrangeas.”

“You’re kidding me,” Lauren said.

“There are three more bouquets just like it in the office,” he said proudly, the little shit. “Romantic as fuck, am I right?”

“Can you two leave?” Abi said, those brown eyes on me as she said it. Her face was impossible to read, but that gorgeous amber gaze held me in place like a vise grip.

“What?” Lauren asked. “I just got here. You brought me up with you, remember?”

“She doesn’t mean me,” Roman said to Lauren. “I mean—”

“Please leave us,” Abi said.

“Don’t Pretty Woman me,” Lauren whined, and I had no fucking clue what she meant but I was glad to see her turn toward the door. “Come on, Roman.”

“I don’t think she means—”

“Get the fuck out of my house, Roman,” I said, feeling like I might die if I didn’t get to talk to Abi alone.

Roman and Lauren were talking over each other, thankfully taking the chaos with them as they exited my apartment. Once the door clicked shut behind them, it was quiet.

Until Abi started moving. She walked toward me until she stopped only inches away, setting her hands on my chest. At her touch, I felt a spark of hope spread through me and my whole body was buzzing as she moved both of us until my back was against the wall. Just like Kansas City, praise Jesus. Her voice was low and husky when she said, “Before we were interrupted, you asked me what you can do to show me.”