Page 62 of Waitress at the Shadow Ridge Inn
“It’s a billy club I picked up at a craft show,” I said with a sniff. “A guy was making them on his lathe. Solid hardwood with grooves cut in to do some damage.”
“Right, well, you do you. It’s Mr. Glock for me.”
It was crazy—that was what it was—and here I was, taking part. “All right, tell me again how you think this is going to go down.”
“You do your waitress thing, then come back here. I’ll be in hiding. When Aaron reveals himself, I’ll call the cavalry. They’ll come, and you tell them Aaron broke in and threatened you.”
“Or we could call the sheriff, andhecould be here, waiting,” I suggested, wondering why I hadn’t thought of that before, but Angie was already shaking her head.
“No, he can’t. First of all, it’s Halloween. No small-town sheriff is going to make himself unavailable on a night like tonight for something thatmighthappen. Even if you could convince the sheriff to stake the place out, Aaron would know he was here. He’s smart, Casey. If he gets wind of the cops, he’ll know that we know, and we’ll lose the advantage.”
She paused and took a breath, as if searching for patience. “And second, Aaron has to do something more than simply appear on your doorstep. We need evidence of intent.”
I chewed my lip. It made sense when she laid it out like that, but I still felt as if I was missing something important.
“Listen, it’s not that hard. All you have to do is get him to admit that he’s the one who’s been stalking you. I’ll record everything, and it will be the evidence we need to put him away for good.”
In theory, it could work, but there were so many opportunities for things to go wrong.
“Stop overthinking this, Casey. It will work. Trust me.”
I’d spentthe rest of the morning catching up with Angie, each of us pretending we weren’t about to do something incredibly stupid and ill-advised. But desperate people did desperate things, and when past experiences with the authorities left you wanting, your vision got cloudy, your judgment was skewed, and rationalizations abounded.
Over those several hours, I did realize a couple of things. One was that Angie hadn’t changed much, except maybe to become more of what she already had been. Edgier. Sharper. She had a caustic wit and a penchant for blaming others when things didn’t go her way.
But me? I had changed. I was a different person now than I’d been when I left. My travels had expanded my horizons and given me a new perspective. I’d like to think I was more open-minded, more aware, and more appreciative of simple pleasures. Had I stayed in the same place, with the same people, doing the same things, I wouldn’t have changed much either.
Steve texted at one point, saying he missed me, and included a selfie of him with Oscar. My heart stuttered, and I got a goofy smile on my face, prompting Angie to snatch the phone from my hands.
“Is that him?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. He is hot. I’d fuck him in a heartbeat. Does he have brothers?”
Usually, I just laughed it off when she said something like that, but this time, her flip comment irritated me. Something dark and possessive rose up inside of me. There was no way I was telling her about Steve’s brothers.
I snatched the phone back. I might have growled a little.
She scowled at me. “Selfish much?”
When it came to Steve, yes, apparently, I was.
Her scowl became a devilish smile. “Oh, youdohave it bad, don’t you?” She nodded at the phone. “You’d better make sure lover boy keeps his distance tonight. Don’t want him getting caught in the crossfire.”
My stomach lurched, and I felt the color draining from my face. “There’s not going to be any crossfire. No bullets, remember?”
“It’s anexpression.But if he shows up when Aaron is here, there’s no telling what Aaron will do.”
She was right, and I hated that she was right.
“Go on,” she coaxed. “Tell him you can’t see him tonight.”
“I will,” I said. “Right now, I need to get ready for work.”
I didn’t thinkit was possible, but the inn was even more packed than it had been the day before. That kept me from giving in to my fears and calling the whole thing off. I was so busy, I didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on what might happen later that night. But it was always there, hovering in the back of my mind.
What didn’t help? A lot of the patrons were in costumes. As I’d established, I had issues with people in costumes.
I texted Steve at one point, snapping a picture of the crowd, telling him it was going to be another really late night and that instead of heading over to his place after my shift, I’d be there midmorning and expected him to make me his magic waffles. I felt a physical pain in my chest when I hit Send, but it was for the best. I only hoped I would be able to make it.
I was half-tempted to seek out Jessie, pull her aside, and ask her if she had any insights.
