Me: Where in the world is Jillian?
Taking a deep breath, I hit the send button and continued my trek back to the hotel. My phone was buzzing just as I stepped onto the elevator at the hotel. I wasn’t surprised to see Theo’s name flashing across the screen, and I immediately was surged with guilt for basically blowing him off in the past week.
“Hey, stranger,” I answered as I hit the number five button on the elevator.
“Are you in London?” he asked.
“I am,” I replied.
“For…work?”
“Umm…no. Actually, I wanted to see Kate.” There was a brief silence. “And I was hoping to see you too.” I continued with a little more confidence in my voice. “I wasn’t sure what your schedule was like, and I know it’s kind of late notice, but I was wondering what you were doing for dinner.”
“I would love to meet you for dinner,” he replied instantaneously, erasing any doubts. We made plans to meet at my hotel at seven. My heart raced with excitement at the prospect of seeing him, and I wasn’t sure if I was happy or fearful of that.
_______________
The hour nap I intended on taking turned into three. Once I got my bearings straight and saw the time on my phone, I realized I only had an hour to shower and get ready before Theo arrived. I darted out of bed and jumped in the shower. By the time Theo texted me, letting me know he was in the lobby, I was pretty much put together except for my favorite earrings. I had dropped one somewhere and couldn’t find it for the life of me. I replied to Theo’s text with my room number, hoping by the time he came up, the earring would be securely fastened into my ear. Theo’s knock on the door came just as I was bending down, assessing the carpet to no avail. I stood up and rushed to the door, smiling at the sight of him, dressed casually in jeans and a white button-up shirt with just a hint of a five o’clock shadow. For a brief moment, nothing else mattered as I drank him in, unable to wrap my head around how much I missed seeing his face, smelling his familiar cologne, and hearing the sound of his distinct voice.
“Are you okay?” he asked, half amused, half concerned.
“Oh, yeah.” I snapped out of it, opening the door farther and allowing him in.
“So, what’s the minor crisis you just texted me about?”
“My earring.” I lifted my hair to show him the matching one that was securely in my ear. “My grandmother gave these to me for my college graduation. As I was putting the other one in, it fell out of my hand and somehow managed to get lost somewhere in this room.”
He dropped his gaze to the floor and strode slowly around the area. Stopping in his tracks, he bent down, gathering something off the floor. I had forgotten just how green his eyes were until he stared up at me with my earring in the palm of his hand.
“Look at you. My hero.”
He stood up and dropped it in my hand, then gazed down at me. I was frozen for a moment. Lost in the expression on his face and the warmth in his eyes. I cleared my throat and placed the earring in my ear, then held out my arm and glanced at my watch. “Look at that, seven o’clock on the dot, even with my little snafu.”
I grabbed my purse, and he motioned with his hand for me to walk in front of him when I suddenly remembered the watch. “Oh wait!” I exclaimed, stopping dead in my tracks. His eyes widened over my excitement. “Sorry.” I lowered my voice. “Have a seat for one second, please.”
He scratched the back of his head and followed me suspiciously with his eyes before sitting down on the bed. I walked to the other side of the room and grabbed the box containing the watch.
“So, I think you know what a great friend you are to me, and I’m sorry, I’ve kinda been a shit one to you lately,” I said, taking a seat next to him.
“Jillian—” He shook his head to argue the point, and I held up my hand to stop him.
“You helped me put things into perspective more than you’ll ever know, and the truth is…” There was an awkward pause. “I thought a lot about things. One of them being, what if I never met you? God, I’m sorry…I’m just going on and on.” I placed the box on his lap. “This is for you…and I hope it will hold some meaning to you, enough for you to want to pass it down.”
The corners of his mouth tugged into a gentle smile as he lifted the lid. “Jillian,” he whispered softly, pulling it out of the box.
“Flip it over,” I instructed.
His eyes flickered with emotion as he read the inscription out loud.
“T-, Thanks for showing me beauty among the cracks, Love J-”
He fixated his gaze on the watch, and I was wishing he’d say something, even if he hated it…something. “I—” He shook his head. “Thank you so much, it’s…” He pulled in his bottom lip, warding off his emotions.
“You’re welcome,” I replied. Trying to give him time to pull it together. “I want to see Kate. Evan died without me knowing if he’d ever forgive me. I won’t make that same mistake with Kate. I don’t want something to happen to her and not have her
