Page 72 of Keeping Guard
Peyton leaned around Noah so she could see Heather. “How can you say your butt is fat? I wouldn’t have known you were pregnant if you hadn’t said something.”
“I’m practicing getting used to a fat butt in my near future. So far, I’m okay with it. Ask me again when I look like a whale and I’ll probably have a different answer.”
“I think whales are beautiful creatures.” Nichole stood. “Ladies, let’s go for a tour of my studio while the guys do clean-up duty.”
As Peyton dutifully followed the girls, Rachel stepped next to her. “All that bottled-up guilt isn’t good for Noah,” she quietly said.
Huh? “Has Noah said something to you?” It was true, but how else could Rachel know?
Rachel put her hand on Peyton’s arm, stopping her. “I’m an empath. Do you know what that means?”
“Not really.”
“It’s not any kind of woo-woo, nothing magic about it. I just feel people’s emotions, like if they’re happy, sad, or in Noah’s case, drowning in guilt. I don’t know the reasons for their feelings. I can’t read their minds or anything like that.”
“How does that work?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s just something I’ve been able to do as far back as I can remember. My grandmother could, too, so I guess I got it from her. I’m only telling you this because you’re good for him. I felt that, too. You calm him. I just thought you should know.”
“Thank you for telling me. I wanted to believe I was.” Rachel had just given her a precious gift.
Jack stood. “I guess these dishes aren’t going to march their selves to the dishwasher.”
After the kitchen was clean and the leftover food put away, they returned to the deck to wait for the girls to return.
“Peyton’s ex giving her any more trouble?” Jack asked.
“Other than hanging around, no. I don’t trust the dude. For whatever reason, I think he wants control of the brewery, and apparently, he believes he’ll get that if she marries him. That might have been true if she’d gone through with the wedding, but not anymore. Her father fired him as soon as he saw the bruise on her arm that Dalton put there. I worry that he’ll pull a stupid stunt.”
Deke frowned. “Are you thinking he might make a grab for her if he gets a chance?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t have a good feeling about him. I think he’s desperate now. He told her he was going to take her to Vegas where she would marry him. If he thinks he can get away with grabbing her, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“She should report him to the police if he’s hassling her, especially if he’s already hurt her.”
Noah took out his phone, found the picture of her arm, and showed it to Deke. “I wanted her to report this, but she just wants him to leave her alone.”
“That might have gotten him a night in jail.” Deke handed his phone back. “But not much more than that, if that. The problem is, until he actually does something, there’s not much the police can do. If you really think there’s a chance he could do something stupid like kidnap her, put a tracker on her. Better safe than sorry.”
That was a great idea. They could pick one up on the way home.
Deke took out his wallet and pulled out a card. “This has my cell number on it. Call me if her ex does try something.”
“Thanks. I will.” When the girls returned, he said, “You ready to head out, princess?” They had a tracker to buy.
“I am.” She gave Jack a hug, then Nichole a longer one. “I really enjoyed today.”
“I’m glad. Let’s get together for lunch or something.”
“I’d love that.”
Peyton’s smile was pure happiness, almost knocking Noah on his ass. Had he ever made her smile like that? He didn’t think so, but suddenly, he wanted to be the one to put that kind of joy on her face.
He and Jack did the man hug thing, and surprising him, Nichole hugged him. Not a hugger, he felt awkward, but...it was nice.
“See you in the morning,” Jack said.
“I have an appointment with the head doc first thing, so I’ll see you right after that.” Which reminded him he still had his homework assignment to write. Or not. The last thing he wanted to do was write about that day. He wasn’t even sure he could.
