Goodbye, Mr. Regret

He refused to dwell on it. He hoped, desperately, that he was wrong-prayed that nothing like that had actually happened.

All he wanted was to get to her as soon as possible.

Over half an hour later, someone knocked on Jessica's door, handing her a bag of medication. She took the pills, following Herbert's instructions he'd sent over, and swallowed them all dutifully.

There was also a bottle of liquid medicine. She drank it, and a soothing coolness washed down her throat, dulling the raw, burning pain that had been bothering her.

Her throat hurt so much she hadn't eaten all day. Even before leaving home, just brushing her teeth had made her gag. Food wasn't even a consideration.

Now, after the medicine, she wondered if she might feel a little better. There was a supermarket and a couple of restaurants nearby; she originally wanted to pick up something light—maybe some creamy soup-but none of the places had anything like that. In the end, she bought a cup of bone broth and a fruit yogurt smoothie and brought them back to her apartment.

The broth was piping hot, so she let it cool while she tried a bit of the smoothie. The tangy, sweet flavor was surprisingly satisfying after so many hours without food, but halfway through, she couldn't fight the wave of nausea.

She rushed to the bathroom, clinging to the sink as she dry-heaved several times. Thankfully, nothing came up.

The effort left her throat feeling raw again.

Back in the kitchen, she forced herself to finish the rest of the smoothie, this time eating even slower. At least the nausea didn't return.

The broth was still too hot to drink, so she decided to lie down and rest for a while.

She'd barely settled in when her phone buzzed with a message—two photos from Timothy.

The first was a selfie, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead.

second showed his leg in a

Then, a text followed:

you're just going to leave

Timothy's number

divorce filing. There was nothing

Timothy that warranted any

Timothy saw she hadn't replied,

got was

his phone so tightly that his

Damn Vince!

met

to leave. If she were still in Riverside City, at least he'd be able to track her down

was

to

his leg suspended, he couldn't

terrible," Sallie said, coming in

"It's nothing," he muttered.

hungry? You

in here," Timothy snapped, his voice

things

I? Why call someone else? Just tell me where