Page 29 of Finding Carly
“Yeah, it is.”
“Do you miss it?” Carly blurted. The look of pleasure and longing on Elodie’s face had prompted the question.
“Miss the chaos? Miss being yelled at when I did nothing wrong? Miss people sending a meal back claiming their steak wasn’t cooked correctly when it certainly was? Miss the late nights and the stress? No, absolutely not. I do miss the people I worked with though.”
“Yeah.” Carly got that, one hundred percent.
The two women shared an understanding look.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Elodie said gently.
Carly wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about that, but she straightened her shoulders. As Jag had said, and as Jack in the movieSpeedtold Annie, Shawn was the asshole here. Not her. “Thanks.”
“Are you… Never mind.”
“No, what?” Carly asked, curious as to what the other woman was going to ask.
“Are you back? I mean, Kenna’s missed you something terrible. And Lexie and I had just started to get to know you when all that shit went down. And we’ve told Monica all about you, and while she doesn’t talk much, she’s interested in getting to know you too.”
“Iwantto be back,” Carly admitted. “But I’m scared.Everythingscares me lately. The last thing in the world I want is something happening to any of you guys. I think that’s why I stayed away for so long, I felt as if I was protecting you. If something had happened to Kenna…” Her voice trailed off.
But it wasn’t Elodie who comforted her, it was Theo. He hadn’t left and was listening to their conversation intently. He walked over to Carly and stood right next to her, in her personal space. He didn’t touch her, didn’t even look at her, but said, “Nothing happens on my watch.”
Carly smiled and squeezed his arm. “I heard you stopped those robbers recently.”
He nodded.
“Know what my favorite line fromHome Aloneis?” Carly asked.
Theo finally turned to look at her. He met her eyes for a moment, then dropped his gaze once more. “What?”
“‘When I grow up and get married, I’m living alone!’ Then he stomps on the floor and yells, ‘I’m living alone’ to the beat of his stomps.”
He smiled. A huge smile that lit up his face. “That’s a good one. ‘I’m gonna give you to the count of ten to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property before I pump your guts full of lead,’” he said in a deep voice like Gangster Johnny did in the old-time movie Kevin McCallister liked to watch inHome Alone.
Carly laughed. “I love that part!”
“And this one,” Theo said solemnly. “‘You can be too old for a lot of things, but you’re never too old to be afraid.’”
Carly stared at the man next to her. Sometimes he acted as if he were seven years old, and other times, like now, he seemed to be an old soul. “That’s true,” she said softly.
“Are you scared a lot?” Theo asked.
He still wasn’t looking at her, but Carly knew he was definitely paying attention to her every word.
“Lately? Yeah.”
“Because of the bomb man?” Theo asked.
She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew what happened, and yet she still was. “Well, he can’t hurt me anymore…but of whoever was working with him, yes.”
“I’m scared of needles,” Theo said.
Carly would’ve laughed, but he was completely serious.
“And cockroaches. Especially the ones that can fly,” Theo added.
“They’re icky.”
