Page 65 of Lost and Found Cowboy

Someone was trying to get into her house.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lorna’s whole body tensed. She looked around the kitchen for a weapon and grabbed the biggest knife from the block on the counter.

Inching into the living room, her whole body on alert as she strained to listen for the intruder’s next move.

She jumped again as a knock sounded on the front window then she sagged in relief as she saw Maisie’s face peering in. Her friend’s eyes went wide as she saw the knife clutched in Lorna’s hands.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry we scared you,” Maisie said when Lorna opened the front door.

“Nice knife,” Dodge said, peering at her over Maisie’s shoulder.

“What are you doing here?”

“We…um…heard about what happened today, and we wanted to come over and check on you,” Maisie said.

Lorna looked at the tote bag and duffle on the porch by their feet. “And did checking on me mean spending the night?”

“Well, we just thought that?—”

“Mack called you, didn’t he?” she said, interrupting her friend before she made things worse with another lame excuse.

“Yes,” Dodge admitted. “But we were worried about you guys, too. And we would all just feel better if you let us sleep on your floor tonight. Just in case the douche-nugget decides to stop by.”

Lorna opened the door wider to let them in. “I get it. You can sleep in Leni’s room. There’s wedding stuff piled in the chair, but the sheets on the bed are clean.”

“We won’t get in your way.” Dodge gave her a quick hug before heading toward the kitchen where she heard him check to make sure the back door was locked.

“Do you want to talk about it? Or anything?” Maisie asked.

Lorna shook her head. “Not really. I’m honestly just exhausted. I was just making some tea then I was going to bed.”

“Okay, Dodge and I will make sure everything is locked up down here. Don’t worry about us. I know where everything is. Good night.”

Both Maisie and Elizabeth had slept over after late night margarita parties, and Lorna trusted her friend could take care of getting herself and Dodge to bed.

She was exhausted, but an hour later, she still couldn’t fall asleep. She’d tried counting sheep as she’d lay in bed and listened to the sounds of Maisie and Dodge coming up the stairs and the water running and toilet flushing in Leni’s bathroom. She’d tried counting backwards from one hundred to one, then again in multiples of seven. She tried relaxing her whole body, starting with her toes and working up to her ears.

Nothing worked.

She couldn’t get Mack Lassiter and the hurt in his eyes—hurt she’d put there—out of her mind.

Her phone buzzed in the charger on her nightstand, and her heart leapt as she hoped it was a text from Mack. Maybe he was texting to check on her or tell her goodnight or that he couldn’t sleep either.

But when she picked up her phone, there weren’t any notifications of new text messages.

Then why had it buzzed?

It vibrated again in her hand, and a notification popped up from the new app she’d just installed that afternoon. A notification that meant something, or someone, had set off the motion sensor in the coffee shop.

She tapped the notification and prayed it was a mouse running across the floor who had set it off as the app opened to the screen showing the lobby of the shop.Anda man casually walking through the center of the tables.

A man who she used to be married to.

The Little Turd walked up to the counter and checked the drawer of the cash register then grabbed a stack of cups and hurled them through the air.

Seeing him should have made her scared, but this time it just made her mad.Like really pissed her off.

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