Page 29 of Tides of Change
He gave me a warm smile, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “It’s been fun. I haven’t been to the market in years, but I can see why you like it.” Garrett took a bite of his chicken taco. “You know, I’m starting to think you might actually be in a committed relationship—with organic food.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I like knowing my tomatoes weren’t raised on chemicals.”
He grinned around his sip of lemonade. “Do you interrogate your produce before buying it?”
“Only if it looks suspicious,” I said, deadpan. “If a zucchini makes direct eye contact, it’s not coming home with me.”
Garrett laughed, shaking his head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“You’re one to talk,” I shot back. “Your pantry probably has six emergency boxes of neon-orange mac and cheese.”
“That’s because it’s the food of champions. And children. And exhausted single dads.”
I mock-gasped. “Do you at least add anything to it? Pepper? Real cheese? Dignity?”
He leaned back and smirked. “Sometimes I throw in hot dogs. That count?”
I pressed a hand to my chest. “You wound me.”
“Please. One box and even you’d forget how to pronounce quinoa.”
I grinned and shook my head, warmth unfurling in my chest. The banter was effortless, but beneath it, I felt something more—an unspoken connection I couldn’t quite define.
The entire day had been like that: easy, comfortable, but charged with an undercurrent of possibility. I enjoyed being with Garrett as a friend, but I couldn’t ignore the part of me that wanted more. Whether that happened, though, was up to him.
On the drive home, I pulled out my phone, my thumb hovering over the email app. My stomach tightened as I refreshed my inbox, half-expecting the familiar jolt of dread that came with seeing a new message from EyeSeeYou.
Nothing.
I exhaled slowly, a knot I hadn’t realized I was carrying loosening in my back. No new messages. No threats. For the first time in weeks, I allowed myself to hope.
I had a new security system. Garrett had opened an official investigation. And he’d accompanied me to the farmers’ market, his presence a constant reminder that I wasn’t alone.
Was it too much to hope that the stalker had finally given up?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Garrett
I sat at my desk in the bullpen and stared at my monitor, unseeing. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, poised for action that wouldn’t come. The report I’d started an hour ago still read,Incident Summary:and nothing else.
The quiet hum of the station buzzed in the background—phones ringing, chairs creaking, the faint tapping on keyboards—but it all faded into a dull blur. It had been three days since I’d escorted Ethan to the farmers’ market, and yet, every detail of that day played on a loop in my mind. The sound of his laughter, low and warm. The way his smile softened his features and made his eyes crinkle at the corners. The way his voice, smooth but with an edge of uncertainty, drew me in like a magnet.
Accompanying him hadn’t been a hardship—not by a long shot. I’d enjoyed every minute. I couldn’t stop replaying the casual touches I’d let myself indulge in—a hand on his elbow, a brush of shoulders as we maneuvered through the crowd, the steady press of my palm on the small of his back as I guided him toward the vendors. None of it was necessary. All of it felt right.
And yet…why?
What was it about him that pulled me so deeply, like an undertow I couldn’t escape? It wasn’t just the way he looked, though I couldn’t deny his curly auburn hair and warm brown eyes had captivated me from the start. It was something more, something intangible. The quiet strength he exuded, the way his humility never dulled his wit or kindness. He wasn’t like any woman I’d ever been with—and that was the puzzle.
Ethan had me questioning my sexuality, something I’d never truly confronted before. The thought rattled me, and yet, it didn’t scare me the way I thought it might. It was the uncertainty that ate at me. My mind felt like a battlefield, emotions clashing in waves, leaving me tossing and turning at night as if I were a boat adrift on a stormy sea.
During the day, my thoughts scattered like sea foam in a gale. Even now, I wasn’t sure if I should steer toward Ethan or anchor myself far away. Every time I tried to sort it out, I kept coming back to the same question:What doeshewant?
A sharp buzz broke through my haze, and my phone lit up on the desk. My chest tightened with anticipation even before I glanced at the screen.
Ethan
I owe you dinner and a movie at my house. Any chance you’re free this weekend?
