Goodbye, Mr. Regret

She couldn't say it out loud.

In her heart, Herbert Wheeler and Vince Zimmerman occupied entirely different places. She couldn't even explain what made the difference-just that it was there. Some things, like the humiliation she suffered at the hands of Timothy Lawson, she could confide in Vince, but she could never bring herself to tell Herbert.

An accident severe enough to make the car explode there was no way things could be that simple.

Jessica Greene's silence weighed on him. He felt a deep ache in his chest.

"Little Mute," he called to her softly. That was his special name for her a term of endearment only he used.

"I've left the Wheeler family. You don't have to worry about them holding me back anymore. He can't use the family to threaten you again."

He hadn't planned on telling her this. But Jessica never liked to burden others; she was always thinking of everyone else before herself. He couldn't stand watching her swallow all her pain alone. He wanted her to know she wasn't alone. If she needed someone, he'd be there, no questions asked.

Jessica couldn't bring herself to answer.

The day she saw the news, her first impulse had been to call him, to ask what had happened. But in the end, she kept quiet. What he wanted, she couldn't give. At least...not now.

She forced a small smile. "Why would you do something so foolish? Did you really leave the Wheeler family just for me?"

He nodded.

They had known each other since they were young. Back then, after school, Herbert would always wait at the gate for her, only heading home with his friends after she'd come out.

He'd walk behind her, worried that someone might mock or taunt her. Ever since Herbert started shadowing her to and from school, the kids who used to tease her for being "the mute girl” had gradually disappeared.

again,” she said softly. “I'll just run inside to get my ID. Wait here for me, okay? Afterward...could you

"Of course."

room and rummaged through his suitcase until she found

and left

need to take

was planning

Asking him to wait and drive her to the station was

make a

her phone, just as Vince's name lit up on the

She answered.

came through immediately. "Jess, you need

eln

surgery, and while they waited, Vince questioned Mabel. Apparently, Timothy had intended to have their names tattooed on each other and had

Timothy had snatched it away and turned it off: Vince realized right away-Timothy must have caught Jessica trying to call for help, and then dragged her and the tattoo artists to another location. The car accident that followed was easy to figure out-Jessica, desperate and unwilling to have Timothy's name branded on her, must have done something to try to save herself, and

far too

let Jessica go back with Timothy in the first

to fix," Vince said, voice tight. "This is my problem. He's not going to tell me about

see Jessica with Herbert-even if it meant he'd never

been fooled by Timothy too many times; she should never have believed that spending a final "cooling-off" month with him at The Gilded