I looked down at James. He had asked me to stay. But settling this mess would give him such a sense of peace. I didn’t want him to have to worry about anything while he was recovering.
Another text came through. “It’s enough to put her away for a long time even if they can’t link anything else to her. It’s over.”
I let a breath escape that I hadn’t realized I had been holding. It’s over. I leaned down and kissed James’ forehead. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered.
He moaned in his sleep.
No one would ever hurt him again. Ever. I left the room as quietly as possible.
“How is he doing?” Porter asked once I was in the hall.
“Good. He’s sleeping. I’m going to run by our apartment real quick. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
“I’ll come with you,” he said.
“You don’t have to. I’m meeting Rob there. He thinks he found evidence to convince the cops that Isabella was behind all of this.”
Porter was already talking into his watch. He touched his earpiece. “Briggs will be here in a minute and we can head over.”
“I think it’s better if you both stay here.” I felt guilty for leaving James alone when I had told him I’d stay. I wanted to make sure he was okay while I was gone.
“You’re always our first priority, Mrs. Hunter. Mr. Hunter has made that very clear.”
Briggs ran up to us. “How is he?”
“He’s sleeping. But he’s good.” Porter clapped him on the back.
Briggs nodded. He looked relieved. “Have you asked him about us?” he asked.
“He’s not going to fire either of you.” Not after he knew how protective they had been since our wedding night. Not after he found out how much they cared.
“I’m taking her to the apartment,” Porter said. “No bathroom breaks.”
“I’m feeling much better today,” Briggs said.
Porter nodded. “You ready?” He started walking before I had even answered.
“What was that about bathroom breaks?” I asked as I caught up to him.
“Briggs’ stomach got really upset yesterday and he kept leaving his post. I have it under control.”
“You guys are allowed to take breaks.”
“Not at the same time, though. Would you like me to call Ian or would you like to drive with me?”
“I’ll drive with you.” Every time I went home to shower he’d ask me the same thing. And I always said I’d drive with him. He had even started letting me sit in the front seat with him. Besides, I knew Ian and Jen were spending time together before she had to fly back to California. I didn’t want to interrupt that.
Porter opened up the passenger door for me and I climbed into his SUV. It was strange driving through the city today. The last few days had been hell. Everything looked bleak around me. But today I noticed how green the grass was in Central Park. And how happy the joggers looked. Soon that would be James again. He’d be better in no time, I knew it.
“Are you married, Cole?”
Porter barely winced when I called him by his first name. And he didn’t reprimand me anymore either. There was no way I was going to let James fire either one of these guys. They had only just started to warm up to me.
“No, I’m not married.”
“Are you dating anyone?”
He glanced at me for a second as he hit his turn signal. “You’re asking a lot of questions today.”
“I just feel like when James is all better you’re going to get all serious again. It’s my last chance to get to know you.” I saw a small smile on his lips.
“I have a girlfriend. We’ve been together for almost five years now.”
“What’s her name?”
“Last name or first name?” He smiled again.
“First name, of course.”
“Julie.”
“I’m sorry we’ve been keeping you away from her. Everything’s going to go back to normal soon.”
“Briggs and I both wanted to be there. You never even asked us to stay. As far as I was concerned, we were volunteering.”
“We’re going to pay you for your time.”
“That’s not necessary. It’s my fault that he was in there in the first place.”
“That’s not true.” I looked out the window. “It was mine.”
“I don’t think so, Penny.”
I liked that he was continuing to call me by my first name. “We agree to disagree then.”
He gave me a small smile. “I guess so.” He pulled up in front of our apartment building. “Do you want to just call him and tell him to come down? When James wakes up he’ll be wondering where you went.”
“Good idea.” I wanted to get back to James as soon as possible. I clicked on Rob’s name in my phone. It went straight to voicemail. “His phone must have died. I’ll just go up real quick. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Let me come up with you.” He unbuckled his seatbelt.
“No, it’s fine. His phone dies all the time. He never charges it. Sometimes I’m surprised he even has a cell phone at all. Besides, I wanted to go up anyway to grab a few things for James in case he’s allowed to change out of his hospital gown.”
“Okay.” He nodded at me as I climbed out of the car.
For the first time in ages I was actually happy to enter our apartment building. Cliff, the man at the front desk, didn’t stare at me like I was a charity case this time. Someone must have reported that James had woken up. It was probably all over the news.
“Good afternoon, Penny,” Cliff said with a smile. “I have some mail for you.”
“Good afternoon, Cliff.” I grabbed the mail from his hand. No manila envelopes. No more Isabella. Soon this would all be behind us.
“And just to let you know, Rob and your cleaning lady are both in your apartment. They were both on the list that Mr. Hunter wrote up so I let them in.”
“Yes, that’s fine. And her name is Ellen.” I hated when people addressed her in any way as our help. She wasn’t that to me. Ellen was family. She had stopped by the hospital every day. I had told her she didn’t need to work at all, but she insisted that it kept her mind off worrying. And that she wanted the apartment to be perfect for when James came home. She was one of the sweetest people I had ever met.