Page 77 of Before the Bond
He was still at the estate. Still at meals, when he chose to be. Still there at the end of hallways or crossing the lawn toward the tree line.
But now he wasn’t just distracted. His avoidance felt intentional.
If I walked into a room, he found a reason to leave it. If we did spark conversation, he would find a way to quickly shut it down.
“Maureen needs me.”
“I’m sorry. I have to catch up on a few papers.”
I told myself it didn't bother me. I was good at that. He never did it out of cruelty or anything. But I could feel the doorway between us closing to a crack.
Stella came by often. Her chats lifted my spirits, but when the others showed up, she would get up and leave.
“I just need to bother Donovan for a bit,” she excused.
The other Ashwood brothers seemed just as off. Donovan was quiet like a ghost. Jake stayed in his room longer. But he did his best to entertain me when we were together. I appreciated it.
The fireplace chair stayed empty across from mine every evening.
I sat there alone, reviewing Jake's post-shift charts. If I was done with that, I read the books.
And then Caleb finally returned to the study.
Something in my chest unclenched when he came back. Maybe whatever thing was happening was finally over. I didn’t care anymore if they shut me out if it meant things would go back to normal.
“There's something about the night your parents died…” he said.
I looked at him like he was finally going to say the thing. I could feel my face opening up before I could stop it. I'd been hoping he was going to give it to me cleanly. I thought maybe, after everything, he'd finally tell me everything.
But… he didn’t.
“Soon,” Caleb said.
I don’t know how I did it, but I buried whatever disappointment I had deep into the wells of my chest. I should have expected it. I should have known.
I thought once more about Caleb's kiss that second night on the porch. Didn’t that mean anything? Wasn’t that enough to let me in?
I watched as Caleb left the fireplace. The dam inside me broke.
I didn't understand. What could possibly be happening this time?
What more was there that they couldn’t tell me? Why couldn’t they — why couldn’tCaleb— trust that I could get by?
I looked out of the window. I caught a glimpse of the Douglas fir there.
I kept thinking about what Elias said.
I went through my bag that night, looking for something. A part of me considered throwing it away. Burning all bridges entirely. But maybe Elias knew me better than I thought.
That scared me.
I finally found it at the bottom of the bag, rolled thinly and catching fragments of dust and lint. I put the number into my phone and sent a message.
Olivia
We need to talk.
We met at a diner on the outskirts of town — not Greyhollow proper, but close enough that I could get there without going through the estate's immediate perimeter.
