Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Chapter 23

The house needed a few new things, so Jessica spent the whole afternoon shopping, only returning home after dark.

She had just finished putting everything away when someone knocked at the door.

How odd.

Who would come looking for her at this hour?

Jessica went to open the door.

To her surprise, it was Herbert Wheeler.

They hadn't seen each other in years.

If it weren't for the tiny beauty mark between his brows, Jessica might not have recognized him.

Back when they were twelve or thirteen, Herbert's birth father had come to take him and his mother away to Aetherion.

Even then, they'd managed to stay in touch every now and then.

But seven years ago, after that terrible fire when Jessica lost her phone, she changed her number, and their contact faded to nothing.

Herbert leaned casually against the doorframe, his gaze warm and steady, a hint of amusement lifting his brow. "Little Mute, don't recognize me?"

Jessica's eyes trembled with surprise.

boy she remembered had been tempered into someone sharp yet gentle, the

faint trace of last year's gardenia cologne

up in a single-parent home, his father's identity a mystery, which always gave

mother's reputation, he'd started fighting early

their neighborhood, Herbert was the little

hadn't exactly gotten along

others, teasing her with that nickname, "Little

for her, and wouldn't let anyone else call her

him. He never

Time really does fly.

signed a greeting: "When did you

going to

Timothy had just landed.

His phone rang-the secretary.

Lawson, you're

hardly worth bothering me about," Timothy replied, irritation clear in

you want us to

him being

He couldn't care less.

"No need."

Timothy closed his phone.

of Timothy's hands, Sheila held the other, and

happily