Goodbye, Mr. Regret

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.

Fifteen years had changed him. The wild, impulsive boy she remembered had been tempered into someone sharp yet gentle, the gold-rimmed glasses catching the light and lending him an air of thoughtful maturity.

faint trace of last year's gardenia cologne

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

his mother's reputation, he'd started

neighborhood, Herbert was the little boss everyone looked

they hadn't exactly gotten along in the

the others, teasing

looking out for her, and wouldn't

never stopped calling

Time really does fly.

ever, signed a greeting: "When did you get

Aren't you going to invite me

Timothy had just landed.

His phone rang-the secretary.

you're

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

look. Do you want

it was probably about him being photographed

He couldn't care less.

"No need."

Timothy closed his phone.

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