Chapter 48 There He Was

• I needed a distraction. A big one. The kind that would shake the embarrassing mental slideshow playing on repeat in my head.
• Maria gave me a polite nod as I left the kitchen, mumbling something about needing to "check on something upstairs." As soon as I rounded the corner and was out of sight, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
• The air in the house felt heavy, and not just because of my runaway imagination. This place was enormous, but somehow, it felt too small whenever Mr. Thorne was around. Or maybe that was just me being weird.