CHAPTER ELEVEN
The following morning, I woke up to Finn saying my name.
“Charlotte,” he whispered, touching my cheek. “It’s time to get up.”
I kept my eyes closed. “No, thanks.”
He gave a soft chuckle. “You have a meeting today, remember?”
“I’m sick.”
His voice changed in an instant, and I felt his hand on my forehead. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Forcing my eyes open, I managed a smile. “I’m not really sick. I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well.”
He frowned, clearly not believing me. But he said, “You don’t feel warm.”
I pushed his hand away. “Because I’m not. I need…” I searched my end table and found a glass of water. “Water.”
I sat up, aware of Finn crawling over next to me.
“I can do the meeting,” he said. “Stay here.”
Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I rolled my eyes. “That’s not always the solution to everything—you taking over for me. I’m fine, Finn. I’m not sick. I was joking. I’m…”
Stressed. Worried. Scared.
“You forgot to take the pills Dr. Palmer prescribed,” he said, standing. “I’ll get them.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get them.” I snagged my robe on my way out the door.
He caught up to me in the hallway. “All right, I see you’re still upset about last night. That’s okay, we’ll deal with it.”
“I don’t want to deal with it. I can’t right now.” My stomach swirled with nerves. “I have a bad feeling.”
A knock on the door interrupted our conversation.
Finn touched my arm. “Stay here.”
I waited by the island, using the moment to grab one of my pills from the bottle. When Finn realized who it was, he opened the door further and Curtis walked in.
“Sorry to bother you so early. There was a delivery downstairs for you. We intercepted it before the attendant could bring it up.”
“A delivery,” I said, my stomach twisting. I’d already woken up with a stomachache, and now this was confirmation why. We’d been waiting for Mark to show up and now he finally had. But to be sure, I asked, “Roses?”
“Roses,” Curtis confirmed.
“Shit.” Finn scrubbed a hand over his face. “Does that mean he’s here?”
“That means we exercise caution,” Curtis said calmly.
I nodded. “Right. Caution.” I gestured to the bedroom. “I just—I have to get ready for work.”
I turned before either of them could say anything and rushed to the bathroom. Shit. Oh, shit. Mark was here. He had to be. There wasn’t anyone to bring flowers now that John was out of the picture.
But where was he? In the building? Waiting for me somewhere we weren’t expecting?
My stomach churning, I crouched at the toilet, ready to heave. It was only a matter of time before this happened. Maybe if I talked to John again, he’d know something. Or—
I leaned over the toilet, gripping the lid as my stomach protested against my thoughts, last night’s dinner, everything. I vomited into the toilet.
When I heard Finn come into the bathroom behind me, I could barely mutter two words, trying to get him to leave, before I heaved again.
Finn held my hair and rubbed my back with his free hand. “It’s okay,” he soothed. “Get it out.”
“Finn, please. Go out for a minute.”
“Sorry, that’s not going to happen.” He continued to rub my back. “Take your time.”
“I’m…” I closed my eyes, dropping my head against my hand. Trying to decide whether or not I wanted to throw up again. “Maybe it was dinner from last night. Probably a good thing you didn’t eat any of it,” I joked.
Finn stroked my hair. “And I feel like shit because of it. That was rude.”
I choked out a laugh, unable to do anything more than steady myself with a breath. “I think I’m good.”
Finn helped me up and then grabbed a wash cloth from the cabinet near the sink. He got it wet and pressed it to my cheek. Then he filled a glass of water and passed it over.
After a long moment, I felt well enough to drink half of it. When I looked up, his eyes were pained. “Finn, I need a minute. Please.”
He looked lost, like he wanted to argue, to convince me he could be here—he could take it—but at the same time looking like he didn’t want to overstep his bounds.
“I’m going to talk to Curtis a minute, make a call. Just…” He held out a hand, like he might do to calm a frightened animal. “Take it easy.”
“Finn.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right out there.”
Once he was gone, the door shut, I leaned over the sink and splashed water on my face. When I looked in the mirror, most of my color was gone. But my stomach felt more settled. As long as I didn’t think about Mark.
Then the nerves came back. But I realized that’s probably all it was. Nerves. My frustration and worry from my conversation with Finn last night. He’d come to bed as I’d been falling asleep, and I’d been too tired to do anything but mumble a “goodnight” before I drifted off. And then there were the dreams. The same thing as before, but all muddled together. Enough to upset me but not to make me sleepwalk.
No wonder my stomach was so upset.
And then the roses.
I squeezed toothpaste onto my toothbrush, brushing once, and then again until my mouth felt clean.
Obsessing wasn’t going to help me. I had Curtis and his team. I had Finn. I had security. If Mark was going to show up, he was going to show up.
I had to face that eventually. The sooner the better, because I was done feeling like this.
After a quick shower, it only took twenty minutes to get ready for work. I blew dry my hair until it was damp and then clipped it into a haphazard updo. Good enough. I knew I had to meet Tracy and get that done with, and that was it. The rest of the workday, I could focus on returning calls and emails and then relaxing.
I’d see if Leslie and Paige would come over this evening and look through wedding magazines. Anything to keep my mind off of Mark.
When I returned to the kitchen, Finn was pouring coffee into a mug and then loading drinks into the refrigerator.
“Where’d you get those?” I asked.
“I had someone bring them up. I thought the ginger ale might settle your stomach and the crackers—” He broke off when he turned, eyes narrowing on my outfit. “I…don’t think you’re going to be able to relax very well in that.”
“Probably not. But there’s time for that later.”
He shoved a hand through his hair, then propped his hands on his hips. “All right…give me a minute.”
“For what?” I reached for the coffee, then changed my mind. Probably not a good idea.
“To figure out how to say this without you getting mad at me.”
I gave him a small smile. “Figure it out quick. We have to leave in twenty minutes.”
“Charlotte.” He opened a bag of crackers and passed them over, either to give himself something to do or to get me to stop rooting around, trying to find something to eat. “Listen with an open mind here.”
I nibbled on the cracker. “Okay.”
“You don’t feel good.”
“It’s stress.”
“Understandable. Why don’t you sit?”
“No time.”
He frowned. “You have time to sit while you eat your cracker.”
Sighing, I boosted myself into one of the stools and only had the energy to stare at him and nibble on my cracker.
“You don’t feel well and it’s safer for you to be here. Will you stay? I won’t go into work either. We’ll take the day—”
“I have a meeting. No,” I said, sighing when Finn started to argue with me, “I’m not going to cancel it. You need to work with me here, Finn. After yesterday and last night—and this morning—I don’t have anything left.”
I saw the battle on his face, the struggle with his decision, and the eventual nod. “Give me twenty minutes. I’ll let Curtis know, too.”
When we got into work, Shane stayed in the lobby, his eyes on the elevator. Finn turned to me with a look of entreaty. “Will you work in my office today? Please?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
He stopped at Leslie’s desk. “If anyone calls for Charlotte, please find out who it is first. And can you have someone bring up some soup, too? Something with a lot of broth?”
She gave me a puzzled look, but nodded right away. “Of course.”
Finn nudged me into his office. “You’re welcome to use my computer at the desk, or my tablet if you just need to check emails. Whatever you need.”
I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not trying to talk me out of this. I’d rather work and get through the day and get this meeting done than put it off more.”
“Are you sure you feel okay?”
I eased back with a small nod. “Like I said, nerves.”
“The soup will help. We can—” He shook his head.
“What?”
“I was going to say something about your mom and sister coming to visit, but we’ll talk, right? Later.”
“Good. Yes. Later.” Once the work day was over.
But after I sat at Finn’s desk, it seemed to drag. I welcomed the soup, and watched as Finn kept busy with phone calls. He left the office here and there to talk to Shane or call Curtis on the phone after they’d contacted the detectives. But, despite his help and the peacefulness of his office, I didn’t get a lot done.
Just after lunch time, Detective Winters and Detective Stone arrived, making me nervous all over again. They talked with Curtis and asked about the flowers, whether there was a note or not, and left soon after with very little information.
I sighed after they left, dropping onto the couch in Finn’s office. “We don’t have anything. We don’t have any proof it was from Mark. We have nothing against him.”
Finn propped his hip on the edge of his desk. “Let them deal with this. They’re on your side.”
“That’s not what you were saying yesterday.”
He gave me a tight smile. “I’m trying to be optimistic.”
“You’re right, though. This is their job. What about Curtis?”
“What do you mean?”
I stood, rubbing my hand over my stomach, feeling uneasy again. “He was just supposed to be here to help you set up Oasis. As a favor. And now he’s staying for me. And Dustin and Shane? They’re probably supposed to be somewhere else—”
“It’s not an issue. Curtis was here at Oasis as a favor to me and because he was in between projects. He stayed to help us because he’s a friend of the family. He wants to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“But Sh—”
“Shane and Dustin are here because Powell trusts them. They’re a good team, and trust me, they want to be here to see this through.”
I opened my mouth, feeling guilty nevertheless, but Finn shook his head. “No more arguing. Besides, the meeting is soon.” He walked to me. “I can tell you still don’t feel well.”
“I’m just ready for this to be over.”
“You can still stay here, you know.”
“And give Tracy the satisfaction? I don’t think so.”
He smiled and kissed me gently on the lips. “I figured you’d say something like that. I’m still going with you, though.”
“Of course.”
Both Shane and Curtis walked with us, keeping vigilant as we made our way through the Commons and into the Entertainment Community. The restaurant doors were already open, giving us a good view of Tracy inside, waiting calmly while she looked at something on her phone.
She sat at one of the few tables that had been brought in, right next to a man who had his back to us. Probably her boss.
Finn reached for the door as my phone rang. I checked the caller ID and then glanced at Finn when I saw who it was.
“Detective Winters,” I said.
“You should answer it,” Curtis said.
I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Ms. Evans, this is Detective Winters. We’ve spoke with John again. He gave us a name.”
I frowned. “What?”
“A name. The one your ex is going under now. Or at least one alias.”
Finn watched my face, a thousand questions on his lips. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
“What is it?” I asked Detective Winters.
“Travis Holmes.”
My heart stopped. I glanced to the doors again and saw Tracy wave. She started to stand.
“Do you recognize that name?” Detective Winters asked.
I swallowed hard. “Yes. Can I…can I call you back in a few minutes?”
I didn’t even wait for him to answer. All I could think was that we had to get out of here. I had to get Finn out of here before he saw who it was.
“Curtis,” I said firmly, “we need to go. Finn—just go.”
Curtis didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Finn’s elbow. “Mr. Moore.”
“Hold it—”
Finn broke off when Tracy exited the restaurant. I couldn’t even greet her. All I could see was Mark walking up behind her, a strange smile on his face. He looked different, his hair longer, a neatly trimmed beard and moustache, and a look of bafflement on his face.
I backed up, my eyes flashing up to Curtis’s. “It’s him. We—”
“Everything okay?” Tracy asked.
Finn jerked away from Curtis and I felt the familiar claws of panic threatening to overcome me as Mark faced us all.
“Ms. Evans,” he said in a pleasant voice. “You don’t look well. You don’t look well at all.”
I could see the moment Finn recognized him. His body froze, and then he started to lunge. Already expecting a confrontation, Curtis and Shane grabbed Finn to pull him back.
Tracy gasped and glanced up at Mark, leaning into him like she expected him to protect her. And all he did was smile that strange smile.
“Would it be better to reschedule this meeting?” Mark asked.
“You bastard!” Finn shouted.
Snapping out of my shock, I turned. “Let’s go. Finn, come on. Please, let’s go.”
It took Curtis and Shane another moment to wrestle him back. Tracy and Mark—or Mr. Holmes—just stood there and watched the spectacle.
When Finn finally turned around, Shane caught my arm and ushered me away while Curtis followed up the rear, making sure we weren’t followed.
“The security station,” Curtis said, trying to keep Finn moving.
My heart pounded so loud, I could hear blood rushing in my ears. I only kept up because Shane was ushering me along, making my feet move when all I wanted to do was find some safe place to hide.
When we neared the security station, Finn fell back to touch my arm. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, breath short. I was fine, right? Mark didn’t do anything, he was just playing a game. I’d tell the detectives, they’d come talk to him, and they’d…what? Tell him to leave?
They couldn’t do that. They couldn’t—
“Charlotte,” Finn said, trying to get my attention.
My gaze snapped to his. “What?”
“Focus. I need—”
Curtis stepped between us. “Get inside first.” He yanked open the door and waited for me to enter, and then encouraged Finn to follow.
Inside, we passed the only other man sitting at the same desk John used to occupy. Curtis led us into another room, one that held a small desk and a few chairs. Shane accompanied us, closing the door behind him.
“Why didn’t anyone see him come in?” Finn asked, shoving a hand through his hair. He paced the small room, only taking a few steps before he had to turn around and walk the other way.
No one else moved. I eased back toward a window that was covered in blinds, and slumped against the wall.
“They can’t watch everyone, Finn,” I said quietly, surprised at how steady my voice came out.
“This is not everyone. This is the one person, the only person, we’ve been watching for—waiting for—to make sure he’s not allowed in here.”
“It’s not their fault, Finn…” I rubbed my forehead, trying to gather my thoughts.
Shane touched my arm. “Will you sit, Ms. Evans?”
I blinked, staring up at him and trying to fight through the haze of my own thoughts to comprehend what he was saying. “I’m sorry, Shane. What did you say?”
Finn walked around him, taking my hand. “Charlotte, sit down. You look pale.”
“I’m thinking…” I looked at Curtis. “I need to call Detective Winters back.”
He nodded. “I’ll do it. Just sit tight.”
I sank into the chair, watching as Finn knelt next to me. I gripped his hand. “You have to keep your distance.”
“He’s in our fucking building, Charlotte. He shouldn’t be allowed in here.”
“He’s leasing one of our spaces. He didn’t hurt me, Finn. There’s nothing we can do.”
“The hell there isn’t.”
“Listen to me,” I said, my voice hard. “He hasn’t done anything. The detectives are going to tell you the same thing, Finn. Until Mark makes a move, we have nothing against him.”