Page 49 of What Comes Around

I tried to imagine opening those boxes. Seeing her face in photographs I had never seen. Touching the things she had once touched.

Part of me was terrified.

Another part had been waiting for it for years.

Chapter 16: The House

I spent an entire weekend sorting through my mother’s things. The boxes smelled faintly of cedar and old paper, like time had been holding its breath inside them. I found her winter coats, still soft at the collars, stacks of photo albums I’d never seen, and little personal things she must have touched a hundred times. A silk scarf, a chipped perfume bottle, a bundle of letters tied with ribbon. I sent some of it to my grandparents in France, where her memory still lived in every corner of their house. But I kept a few things I kept for myself. Not much. Just enough to feel like a small part of her had finally made its way back to me.

By Monday morning, life had already moved on.

Knox and I were headed to a development site for negotiations with a construction firm he was considering partnering with.

Once we arrived, a woman met us in the lobby. She wore a fitted blazer and a bright smile.

Nathan stayed behind with Titan near the entrance. The building didn’t allow animals past the lobby, even very large, very expensive ones. Titan lay down at Nathan’s feet like a furry tank, watching us go.

“Text if anything changes,” Nathan said to Knox.

Knox nodded once.

The woman led us to the elevators and pressed the call button herself. “Our partners are waiting on the top floor,” she said.

The doors slid open and at first it was only the three of us inside. Knox stood beside me, and I focused on the glowing numbers above the door instead of the way his sleeve brushed mine.

The doors opened again on the third floor and a group of employees stepped in, quickly filling the space. Someone bumped my shoulder and I shifted back without thinking, straight into Knox.

His hand came up automatically, settling at my waist to steady me. My back pressed against his chest and his breath brushed the side of my hair as the elevator crept upward.

No one spoke. The air felt charged. I could hear his breathing, slow and controlled, and I wondered if he could hear mine.

By the time we reached the thirty-second floor, my pulse was loud in my ears. I stepped out and pretended to check something on my phone while the woman resumed leading us down a glass-lined corridor toward the conference room.

The meeting dragged on far longer than anyone had planned. What was supposed to take an hour stretched into two, then three, slipping quietly past the end of the workday.

I checked the time more than once. Knox noticed. He never said anything, but each time I looked at my phone, his gaze flicked there too.

By the time we left, the sky had already dimmed toward evening.

We got back into the SUV. Titan was in the rear, shifting his weight and huffing softly while Nathan pulled into traffic. I let out a sigh before I could stop it and immediately started typing on my phone.

Knox watched me from the corner of his eye. “What’s wrong?”

“I had an appointment with a real estate agent,” I said. “A friend was supposed to drive me, but something came up. And with the meeting running late, the realtor is already at the house.”

I sent another message, then glanced out the window, trying to recognize the streets we were passing.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Near River North.”

I nodded once and turned to him. “Could you drop me off on Oakton Street?” I asked. “That’s the first house we were supposed to see. It’s basically on the way.”

Knox studied me for a moment, then looked forward.

“Nathan,” he said calmly. “Change route. Take us to Oakton Street in Park Ridge.”

Nathan nodded. “Yes, sir.”