Mitzy Sturm: We heard from Julia that you are taking a couple of days of rest. That’s great. And don’t worry about the show, we can still have our opening without it and we’ll make it a big splash.

I snapped my head up after reading that last text and found Theo standing on the other side of the living room just staring at me.

“So this is weird,” I said, as I processed that last line from Mitzy’s text. “Mitzy Sturm texted me yesterday to tell me not to worry about the show and that we could have the opening without it.” The moment the words came out of my mouth, Theo’s face went ashen, and I knew.

“Theo, what’s happening?” I asked, as I saw the three missed calls from Mona and the voicemails from Carrie and Yazmin, stomach roiling.

“I have something to tell you,” he croaked. The tautness in his voice scared the shit out of me. He was so rigid, standing against that wall. It made me want to brace myself for what was coming. Like the two us were barreling into a head-on collision, and all we could do was hope the impact didn’t take us out.

I realized then that even though I thought I’d seen Theo upset, worried, frustrated and even angry, I’d never seen Theo afraid. Whatever it was that he knew and I didn’t would ruin things between us. The certainty of that settled on me like a cloak as I readied myself. Theo was about to break my heart.

We stood there in that thick, sickly silence, neither of us willing to speak.

My phone buzzed in my hand and I almost let the call go to voicemail, but then I saw Yazmin’s name on the screen.

“I need to take this,” I said turning from Theo, who just stood there frozen.

“Oh good, I’m glad I caught you!” Yazmin said briskly without even a hello. I had my back turned to Theo but I could feel his stare on my back.

“Hey Yazmin, what’s up?” I said as cheerfully as I could manage.

“I’ve been better.” She laughed awkwardly and after a brief pause spoke again. “How are you holding up?” I frowned, wondering who’d told her about my dizzy spell.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Just needed a couple of days of rest and ready to go back into the fray.” I heard Theo’s footsteps behind me.

“Oh.” Yazmin sounded surprised at that. And again my stomach roiled as anxiety churned inside me. “Well, I just wanted to let you know that unfortunately Smithson-Napa has decided to put the bookish collection on hold for the moment.” My legs almost gave out then and I let myself drop onto one of the chairs in the living room. My eyes closed and my heart felt like it would explode in my chest.