Tim was right. I should’ve taken the afternoon off after the funeral, but it was more important than ever to make sure we passed all certifications. Briggs’ death would certainly not help the situation, but I was determined to make sure every other aspect was top notch.

Only Hank, Tim, and I were allowed to go to his funeral. The family didn’t want a lot of us there and they wanted no clients. Some had expressed an interest in paying their respects, but Hank promised to take them a few days after the funeral to do that.

While Tim and I waited at the hospital and later spent the night together, Hank was finding out what happened. Briggs hadn’t started using again that we knew of until that day. Nathaniel had talked him into meeting someone for him and smuggling the drugs in. What we didn’t know was if he purposely took the entire bag in the hopes of killing himself or if he accidently took too much. He didn’t need to measure with prescription drugs.

He had to have heard Tim and me talking about the storage stuff. He had to know we were there. Did he want to get caught? Was he crying out for help and didn’t know how to ask for it?

Hank’s opinion was he felt guilty for betraying us and for setting up Nathaniel to fail by getting the drugs for him. He believed guilt had caused him to do it. Briggs didn’t know how much to use, so Hank still couldn’t be sure if the death was intentional or not. He knew Briggs meant to harm himself and that was what Hank was having a hard time with. He missed those signs.

Dallas had been quiet. She was always quiet, but she barely uttered a word unless the phone rang. I asked Hank to make sure she was okay, but she didn’t talk to him much. I called her into my office after we came back. She sat and looked at the floor mostly.

“Do I need to worry about you, too?”

Her eyes got big as she looked up to me. “No, I would never do anything like that. I’m just sad.”

“I’m sad, too. You know you can always come in here and we can be sad together.”

She nodded. “He asked me out.”

“What?” I didn’t expect the confession.

“He came into the break room and asked me out while I was on lunch. I said yes. Why would he do that if he was just going to go to the storage room a few minutes later and do that?”

I smiled. “I’m really glad he asked you out. I’m not sure about the other. Something happened in his mind between the time he asked you out and when he got the drugs for someone. No one knows what he was thinking and we’ll all drive ourselves crazy if we try to figure it out.

“Please, just understand he liked you a lot. I wish he had been able to ask you out before, so you could’ve gotten to know him a little better. He was a great guy.” It was hard not to tear up when talking about him, but I needed to stay strong for her. I’d cry again when I went home.

“He was a great guy.” She smiled.

The phone rang and she jumped up. “I’ll get it.”

I let her go even though I wanted her to stay and continue talking. She wanted life to get back to normal. I wanted it to get back to normal, too. I looked at the wall on my right where Tim’s office was. I wasn’t sure life would ever be normal again.

* * *

The doorbell rang and I grabbed my wallet. I was starved. I thought the pizza would never get there. I opened the door with cash in hand but pulled my hand back when I saw it was Hank and three pizza boxes.

“Uh, I ordered pizza already.”

“Yeah, I was there picking up the my order when I heard them say your address. I waited for your order and figured we didn’t have to eat alone tonight.” He glanced at the box of cheese sticks I never order and smiled at me. “Hungry?”

“Don’t judge.” I took the small box off the top and went to the living room.

He shut the door and followed with the other two boxes. “No judgment here. It’s been a stressful week. If you want cheese sticks with your pizza, you go right ahead.”

“Most people order both anyway.”

“You’re right, but you don’t.” He put the pizza on the coffee table and went to the kitchen for water and plates. He was there enough that he acted as if it was his place, too. I didn’t mind. I knew I would be just as welcomed in his.

I didn’t wait for the plates and dug into the cheese sticks. “Oh, this is so good.” I chewed a few more times. “Remind me to order this next time.”

He placed a napkin in my hand, a plate on my lap, and a glass of water in front of me. He left the cheese sticks for me and went to his supreme pizza. There was a knock on the door before he took his first bite. I giggled at the disappointed look on his face. He raised his eyebrow when he looked at me, but it didn’t stop the giggles.

“Okay, you sit there and laugh at me while enjoying your cheese sticks. I’ll get the door.”

It was my house, so I should’ve stopped him, but I didn’t want to deal with the world. My giggling and euphoric feeling the cheese sticks gave me faded when I heard Tim at the door. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to talk to you both anyway. May I come in for a minute?”

I put my plate on the coffee table and stood. I wrapped my arms around myself as I waited for him to walk in. He sounded as depressed as I did. He walked in and paused when he saw me.

Hank walked in behind him. “So, what did you want talk to us about?” Hank walked over and stood with me.

“Right. I’m going to Brody’s for a week or two. He needs some muscle help and doesn’t want Maggie to do too much.”

I stepped forward. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She said Brody’s being overprotective.” He glanced to Hank before looking at me again. “I just wanted to let you two know that I’m leaving tonight. I probably won’t be available much, but I’ll check messages. Call Maggie if there’s an emergency. She’ll get it to me.”

Hank put his arm around me. “We’ll keep things in order for you. No worries. Focus on what you need to.”

Tim nodded his thanks to Hank before looking at me again. “I’m sorry.” He turned and left.

I sat and picked up my plate as Hank stood over me and watched. “Your pizza is getting cold.”

He took the plate from my hands and set it on the coffee table before scooting me over to sit next to me. He pulled me into his arms before he spoke. “The cheese sticks are more about the fact you slept with him again than the death of a friend, isn’t it?”

“It’s both.” I sobbed as I wrapped my arms around him.

“Have you two talked about it?”

“No. He came by the next day after he checked in at the center and we had a fight. I haven’t spoken to him since.”

“Okay.” He rubbed his hand up and down my back. “What do you want it to mean? Did you just need the comfort after what happened, or do you want to get back together with him?”

“I don’t know. I still love him. I think I’ll always love him, but I don’t know if we can get past what has happened. He told me he hates me. How will I ever feel loved again?”

“Did you feel loved the night he stayed?”

“Yes.” I sniffed and reached for a tissue before snuggling back into his embrace. “It’s what made the next morning so difficult. Once we woke up and came back to reality, it was different again.”

“When he comes back, you need to talk to him. You need to figure out once and for all if you can work through it or move on. It’s been going on too long and I can’t allow it to go on any longer. It isn’t healthy for either of you.”

He sat me up and made me look at him. “You will always have my support no matter what you decide, but you need to decide something. You can’t keep living like this.”

“I understand. You’re right. I just don’t want to face it. Right now I can work with him, but what if the answer is to go our separate ways. Where am I supposed to go?”

“Those are all things you’ll need to think about, but you need to talk to him first. You need to resolve one issue at a time. We’ll handle the rest together.”

“Promise?”

He held my hand and brought it up to his lips. “I promise.” He kissed my hand. “Now, let’s try to finish our dinner.”

“Fine, but I don’t want to talk about any of this anymore.”

“Okay.” He moved back to his seat and picked up the pizza he tried to eat before. “You aren’t the only one who had sex this week.”

I gasped and threw a cheese stick at him. “You’re holding out on me.”

“I was holding out on him for the longest time, but it’s been a rough week.” He shrugged. “I was too weak to resist.”

“Who is he?” I forgot my problems if only for a minute, but it was a welcomed minute. “Tell me everything.”