Page 49 of The Chad Next Door
He grunts. “You might be the only person in the world who would consider this fun instead of frightening. Are you at the hardware store yet?”
“Heading in now.”
June greets me with a smile as soon as I walk through the door. “Morning, Hope! Glad to see you survived the storm. How’s the whole situation with your grumpy neighbor going?”
Oh, she has no idea how much has happened since I last talked to her, and I’m tempted to stop and chat for a second. Unfortunately, doing that would mean letting Chad in on our conversation, and there is no way I won’t die of embarrassment if that happens.
“I don’t have time to talk today,” I say, feeling breathless as my excitement ramps up. I do as Chad said and pretend to search one of the shelves like I’m looking for a specific part. “Can I use your back door in a minute?”
Blinking, June glances at the door in question as she approaches. “I guess so. Why?”
“Oh, you know, just someone following me.” I glance out the window. I can’t see the guy from here, but my gut tells me he’s out there.
“See if she’s willing to help,” Chad says on the phone. “She might be able to spook him. Does she really think I’m grumpy?”
“Not the time, Bigfoot,” I mutter.
June pulls her eyebrows together. “Bigfoot? Who’s following you? What’s going on?”
“Give her the headphones,” Chad says.
“Why?”
“Because I want to know why you’re acting shifty,” June says.
“Let me talk to her,” Chad says, more forcefully this time.
I flinch. “No, sorry, June, I was talking to…” I groan and slip the headphones off my head. “Chad wants to talk to you, apparently.”
She eyes the headphones warily. “Chad, your neighbor?”
“I probably don’t have much time before he comes in here looking for me,” I say and basically shove the headphones into her hands. “The guy outside, not Chad. Just trust me, okay?”
Though still skeptical, June slips the headphones over her ears and listens for a minute, her face quickly shifting from confusion to surprise. She looks at me, smirks a little, and then nods. “Yeah, I can do that. Is she in trouble?” She snorts a laugh. “I can see that. I mean, she did make a mess the day we met.” Another pause, during which I glare at her and she smiles sweetly. “I hate him already. You don’t want me to tell her that? Why? Okay, now I really don’t like him. I like you, though, Briggs. Don’t go letting my girl get into trouble, you hear?” Then she hands the headphones back to me with a grin.
“Wow,” I say as I slip them back onto my head. “I hated so much about that.”
“Would you relax?” Chad says, and I know he’s rolling his eyes at me. “June used to work for the district attorney’s office in Denver, so I thought maybe she could help us.”
“And you know that how?”Ididn’t even know that about her. I knew she was new in town, but I figured she has always been a hardware gal. “Actually, you don’t have to answer that. I can guess.”
“He seems like a keeper,” June says quietly, and then she peeks out the window at a different angle, narrowing her eyes as soon as she sees my admirer. “This guy, on the other hand…”
“What are you going to do?” I ask warily. Whatever Chad told her, she seems a little too excited about it.
June laughs. “Nothing crazy. I’ll just make him question his sanity for a second. Throw him off his game and see what he does. Hopefully he’ll follow me, at least for a little bit, so you can get around the corner and watch where he goes.”
“How’s everything looking?” Chad asked.
“I’m wishing I didn’t let you talk to her,” I reply. “Why am I suddenly the one in the dark?”
“Hide for a sec,” June instructs, and the only reason I do what she says is because Chad growls a little, as if reminding me that I promised to do as I was told.
I duck down behind the far shelf so I have easy access to the door in case I need it, and then the bell over the door jingles as June steps outside.
“Oh, sorry,” she says, sounding surprised. “I didn’t see you out here. Did you need something from the store? I was just about to meet my friend Hope for lunch at the diner, but I can keep it open for a few minutes if you need—”
“No need,” the man says, and he sounds both confused and frustrated. “Your friend Hope? I don’t think I know her.”
