How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

She turned around calmly.

Watts was standing just a few steps behind, his expression unreadable.

He watched her, thoughtful, as if weighing something only he understood.

"How am I supposed to sleep when there's still no word from Jarrod?" she replied, sidestepping his question with the safest answer she could muster.

Watts slipped one hand into his pocket, a faint, elusive smile tugging at the corners of his eyes. "I thought maybe you just didn't trust me. Maybe you were planning to run away."

His words sent a chill crawling up Elodie's spine for no reason she could name.

She met his gaze head-on. “It's the middle of the night. I'm in a foreign country. Where exactly would I go?"

Watts shrugged. "Fair point. Things are a little chaotic around here right now."

Quietly, Elodie slipped her phone back into her coat pocket, then started walking slowly toward the house. "How are my colleagues doing? Are they alright?"

"They're fine. I'm planning to arrange for them to head home tomorrow," Watts replied breezily, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

But Elodie's guard was up-more than ever before.

Watts as a bright, easygoing young man, open and sincere. But after everything that had happened, she realized how dangerous he truly was

toward the house with a

simply matched her

now, just strolling quietly like this, it almost

door and finally looked at him. "How long do you plan

to her, so he raised an eyebrow and replied, "Depends on work, really. But, to be honest, things aren't looking stable around here.

still missing? Would it really be appropriate

affectionate way she said "my husband" made Watts'

but now, hearing

12

level. For

first. Besides, everyone back home is worried about you. Wouldn't it

his eyes—something he himself didn't fully grasp. He reached out, as if to take her hand. "I'll go

Elodie, it was different. Other women held no appeal for

close. All these years, aside from Patricia Aldridge, no one had ever

made him want to get closer, to cross

a

touch, deliberately

smile at the corner of Watts'

see straight through