Reunited (Secrets of the Soul, Book One)

Chapter Eleven

By the time Stephanie returned home, she was dragging hard. Dumping her bag on the ground beside the front door, she crossed the room and made her way into the kitchen. Only one thing was going to soothe her right now, and she was going to get it. Reaching into the cabinet, she pulled out a canister of hot cocoa and made herself a cup. It'd been her go-to comfort drink since she was a little girl.

Finished with her task, Stephanie carried the mug into the living room and kicked her shoes off, relaxing into her couch. She put the television on a music station and sipped from the cup, allowing the warm liquid to soothe her. She'd learned quickly that finding a zen routine was a life-saver, and she never skipped it.

She was halfway through her cup when her phone rang. She glanced over at the bag lying on the floor, shooting it an accusing look for daring to interrupt the peace. Stephanie placed the cup on the coffee table and hurried over to the bag, digging out her phone. She swiped the screen without even checking. "Hello?"

"Stephanie?"

"This is Stephanie." Still somewhat coming out of the peaceful state she'd put herself in, it took her a second to realize who was calling. "Jack, hi. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, I guess." A couple of small coughs followed, then he said, "I wanted to say thank you for earlier. Sorry I rushed you out the way I did. I guess I'm still not used to this. The whole thing is freaking me out a little."

"I understand," Stephanie replied. "It was sort of the same way for me. Can I do anything?"

"Actually, yes. Can you come by again? Whenever's good for you."

Stephanie smiled, glad he seemed to be ready to move forward with this. She couldn't explain it, but she'd really started to like Jack, and she wanted to see him get rid of the baggage he was clearly carrying.

At least, one of us should...

"Sure, Jack. How's tomorrow morning? I've got a late shift tomorrow, so I'll be free through the afternoon."

"Okay," he agreed. "Thanks, really." He paused, then said, "You really made an impression on Grace, by the way."

Stephanie laughed. "Is that good, or bad?"

"Let's just say you're the only person I've seen shake her like that. Looks like you convinced her you're for real."

Stephanie couldn't help but smile at that. "Glad to hear it. What about you? Did I convince you?"

"We'll talk about that when you get here."

She laughed. "All right. You've been doing what I said, right?"

"Everything to the letter," he replied.

"Good. Take care, Jack. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night."

Stephanie ended the call, then carried her phone back to the couch with her. She set it on the table next to her cup, then retrieved the drink. She leaned back, closing her eyes as she focused on the soothing music playing and the smell and taste of her drink. She smiled, hoping that what they done already had helped him enough. He'd sounded better, but she couldn't know for sure until she saw him.

***

The next morning, she found herself standing at his door, waiting for someone to answer. She breathed deep of the smell of fresh-cut grass in the yard as she psyched herself up for the meeting. She was nervous, and she couldn't figure out why. She supposed maybe she was still worried about his caretaker giving her some hassle. Stephanie knew well what could happen when people judged others for these kinds of things. She'd been one of the accusers once. Sure, the consequences wouldn't be the same, but she could still have problems, and a part of Stephanie wouldn't trust the woman until she'd seen for herself that Jack was all right.