Page 43 of Whispers of You
“I don’t hate him. I want nothing but good things for him. But I can’t have him in my life the way you want me to.” If he moved back for good, I might be able to see him in town occasionally and wave. Have a polite, surface conversation, even. But I couldn’t watch him move on. I couldn’t see him every day, watch him with Lawson’s kids—maybe evenhis—knowing that we were too broken to ever find our way back to each other.
“Okay,” Grae said softly. “No more meddling. I promise.”
I let out a silent breath. “Thank you.”
“Love you to the ends of the Earth, sister.”
“And to the moon and the stars.”
“Lunch tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.
“Sure. Wildfire?”
“Yes, please.”
My fingers sifted through Shadow’s fur. “I’ll text you when I figure out my break.”
“Sounds like a plan, Stan.”
“’Night, G.”
“Sweet dreams.”
I hit end on the call. I doubted my dreams would be anything resembling sweet.
Shadow let out a low whine.
I climbed to my feet. “Sorry, girl. Let’s take you out.”
The snap of a twig outside my window had my movements slowing. Shadow’s whine turned to a low growl.
“Probably just a curious critter.” But I moved to the table in the entryway, my fingers searching the bowl of odds and ends until it closed around my Taser.
I hooked a leash to Shadow’s collar and wrapped it around my wrist, then turned on the flashlight app on my phone. I listened for a moment. Nothing. Opening the door, I stepped outside.
The usual sounds greeted me. Wind rustling the pines. The scurrying of nocturnal animals.
I tightened my grip on the Taser as I moved around the house to where I’d heard the sound. The beam of my flashlight didn’t land on any creatures, but as I got closer to the window that gave the best vantage point of my entire downstairs, my gaze caught on something.
A depression in the soft soil that would soon be my flower beds. A smudged shoe print.
My fingers numbly skated over my cell’s screen as I stared out at the woods. It rang twice before Lawson answered.
“Everything okay, Wren?”
“I think someone was outside my house. Watching me.”
13
HOLT
Everythingin me went wired at Lawson’s words. I moved in closer, trying to make out the other end of the conversation, but he shoved me away.
“What makes you think that?” He was silent for a moment but nodded. “Get back inside. Lock the doors and windows. I’ll be over in ten.”
That was how long it would take to make the journey from here to Wren’s cabin.
“What happened?” I barked the second he got off the phone.
