“Thank you for saying that. I do appreciate it.” Kayla let out a long breath and her eyes moistened. “There were too many memories. I couldn’t stay.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Is Bev at work? I didn’t see her car in the driveway. I wish we’d come when she was home so I could say hello.”
Tom winced and ran a hand over the back of his head, clearly not thrilled by the question. “No…we uh…we got a divorce.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kayla said, appearing distressed. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. We had some troubles we weren’t able to work through.” He glanced from me to her. “Relationships are hard, but then again, you and Daniel always seemed to manage okay.” His gaze turned back to me, and he studied me for a moment. “I never did catch your name. Are you two…together?”
“I’m Troy, and, no, we’re…” I wasn’t sure what the right word was, so I went with the easiest. “We’re friends.”
“He used to be my bodyguard,” Kayla said in an attempt to explain our relationship.
Tom frowned and cocked his head to the side as if curious. “Why did you need a bodyguard?”
“I was attacked not long ago. It was most likely a crazed fan, but he got away and the police haven’t found him yet. And then I got a strange phone call that scared me.”
“From who?”
Kayla swallowed hard, and she took a few seconds to gather her wits. “You probably aren’t aware of this since we didn’t talk after the incident, but the guy who mugged Daniel and me said, ‘You don’t have a prayer,’ right before he shot Daniel. Recently, a man called and said the same thing.”
The blood rushed from Tom’s face, and he stared at us like he’d seen a ghost, seeming genuinely horrified by the news. “That’s horrible. Threatening a woman is pretty low in my book.”
“Attacking a woman is even worse,” I said, dryly.
“That’s right,” he said adamantly. “Didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But who would do something like that?”
Kayla leaned forward and clutched her knees with both hands, gripping them so hard her knuckles turned white. “A murderer, that’s who.”
He stared back at her, stunned, the skin underneath his left eye twitching ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, Kayla. I’m so sorry you had to go through any of that.”
My first impression of him hadn’t been good, but he was starting to seem like a halfway decent guy, at least in the sense that he was able to show empathy. As far as other aspects of his life—I didn’t have an opinion since I didn’t know him. If he’d cheated on his wife, then he might not be trustworthy since cheaters often had a problem with honesty in general. But all of that was speculation at this point.
“Thank you,” Kayla said. “God has been helping me to heal. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m finally getting to the place where the future doesn’t seem bleak anymore.” She stood and I did as well. “It was good to see you again, Tom. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.”
“No problem.”
He led us out the front door and once we were back in my car, I glanced at Kayla. “How do you think that went?”
“Okay. He sounded reasonable in what he said.” She shook her head slightly. “I thought I would feel more closure after talking to him, but I don’t, really. Maybe I shouldn’t rely on my feelings so much.”
“No, you should listen to your gut. Something was a little off in there. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but…”
“Do you think he was lying?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t too impressed with him in the beginning, but then he seemed genuinely upset by what happened to you.”
“Yes, he did.” She put a hand on my arm and let out a sigh. “Can we get out of here?”
“Absolutely.” I started up the engine and pulled away from the curb. “I have an idea. Are you up to going back to the gym to work on self-defense moves?”
Kayla smiled, and it was the first real smile I’d seen from her all day. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
Chapter 15
Kayla
Seeing my old neighborhood brought back feelings of wistfulness and sentimentality, remembering the good times Daniel and I had in our home, but there were also negative emotions as well that twisted in my stomach, leaving me with an uneasy sensation.
Towards the end, living there had been so awful that it colored everything in that light, almost like looking through a pair of navy sunglasses and seeing in shades of blue. My outlook had been tainted by the adverse relationship with Victor and Daniel’s untimely death, to the point that I couldn’t live there any longer.
Honestly, I didn’t ever want to go back.
But I intentionally relaxed my shoulders as we got closer to the same gym we went to the last time Troy gave me self-defense lessons. I was glad he suggested it because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet.
He’d said we would stay in touch, but I knew how that went. People often made promises they couldn’t keep because life got in the way. I wasn’t under any illusions that Troy wanted a relationship with me. If he had, he would have said something the moment he was no longer my bodyguard. His silence spoke volumes.
Hurt nestled deep in my gut, but I pushed it away. Unrequited love was not for the faint of heart, but I was a survivor and would make the most of the situation.
I had to accept this just as I had to accept so many other things in life that hadn’t gone my way. Disappointment. Grief.
