Page 48 of A Rose of Steel
I pushed the door open, happy to see him. “What are you doing here?” I asked, tears starting to well up in my eyes.
“I came to see about you,” he said. He stood at the door and then looked me over. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” I said. “I am now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Since I’d gotten back to Roble, Rhett seemed to have a habit of showing up when I needed something. I had decided to paint my room solo, and he appeared at my door and offered the help of he and his bandmates. I needed a ride to a place Auntie wanted me to come, I was going to ask him after I grabbed a bite to eat, and he showed up while my head was sticking in the refrigerator. At the wedding when I couldn’t find Auntie or her Roble Belles and needed help clearing people out, there he was.
It seemed like that’s what he did for me. Show up.
“You’re always showing up,” I said, my questions about him rising. Auntie thought he was undercover, and maybe part of what he was doing included watching me. How else could he always seem to know when I needed help?
No, I thought. Who uses their real name when they do that? I looked at him. Maybe his name wasn’t really Rhett. And maybe that’s why he’d always been so secretive.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked.
“You were taking a long time getting back,” he said. “I know that you come by here.”
“Did Auntie Zanne tell you to come and look for me?”
“Maybe,” he said, drawing the word out.
“Or maybe not?”
He looked at me, then turned his head to glance back out into the dark night.
“Was someone after you?” he asked, turning back to me.
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
He pointed to my dress. “It’s stained down the front like you pressed yourself against the ground, lying flat. If you had fell, you’d be more scuffed up.”
“I got a flat tire,” I said. “I’m waiting for roadside service.”
He turned and looked outside again. “Where is the car?” he asked.
“Down the road. About half a mile.”
“And you walked from there?”
“Yes.”
“And is that when someone came after you?”
“You want to come in?” I asked. “Or just stand here at the door.”
“I can come in. It’ll be nice to see the place that occupied all your time over the last few months.”
We walked over to the desk, and sat. He took one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. I took my phone out of my purse and laid it on the table so I could watch for it ringing. With all the antics going on outside, I didn’t have any gauge how much time had passed.
“So you want to tell me what happened when you were walking from the car here?”
“I don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because there isn’t much to tell. I don’t know much. I was walking here and a truck seemed to be... I don’t know stalking me.”
