HAL did his best to talk Vanessa out of taking a walk through town that afternoon.
“Honey, I agree with Grady that something’s afoot, that someone here has got it in for you. I don’t think you ought to be putting yourself out there.”
“There are tons of walkers out today,” she pointed out. “We’ll be on the main street, and you can have an armed guard follow me if it makes you feel better, but I need to focus on something besides the fact that I’m afraid and confused right now. All this conjecture is making me nuts.” She softened. “Grady will be with me. He won’t let anything happen to me.”
“Then just do the short tour.” Hal knew when to compromise. “Just up to the square and back. Leave the side streets for another day.”
There isn’t going to be another day, she wanted to remind him. Grady would be gone in a few hours, and chances were good he wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
Playing tour guide actually did relax her, in spite of the fact that patrol cars seemed to be constantly driving by, circling the block like black-and-white sharks.
“The town was under siege during the War of 1812, but no buildings were destroyed. The townspeople had a plan, you see,” she told Grady as they walked along. “The British approached the harbor at night, but as soon as they started firing, all the candles in town were snuffed out so that the entire town was dark. Some houses closest to the water took direct shots-a couple even still have cannonballs lodged in their walls-but none came down.”
“If I remember my American history, that was the war when the British attacked the city of Baltimore and Francis Scott Key saw the flag flying above Fort McHenry the next morning and was inspired to write ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”
“Well, here’s a little did-you-know. The commanding officer wanted a really huge flag to fly over the fort, so he commissioned a woman from Baltimore to make one. And it was huge, like thirty feet high and forty-two feet long. That was the flag that Key saw the next morning.”
“I did pay attention in my American history class. Major George Armistead was the commander. He wanted to make sure that the British could see the flag from their ships.” Grady added, “I suppose it was the 1814 equivalent of getting in someone’s face.”
“Do you know the name of the flag maker?” she countered.
“No. Do you?”
“You betcha. Mary Pickersgill. There’s a book in the Historical Society library that talks about how she was asked to make that flag and she only had a very limited time to do it. The flag is in the Smithsonian now.”
Grady had made a move to take her hand but she walked with both hands linked behind her back so they were out of reach. When her arms grew tired, she switched her shoulder bag to her left side and looped her hand through the strap to occupy it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want that casual contact with him-she did. In fact, she’d been aching to touch him all day. But he’d be leaving town in a matter of hours, and a public display would only invite questions. She was under constant scrutiny by the police department, and all day long, people she knew had been driving past and waving. She couldn’t bear the looks of pity she knew she’d get when she walked into Cuppachino in the morning. Or the questions that would inevitably come, the speculation that would be made. St. Dennis was still, after all, a small town, and there was little that could stop the gossip once it got rolling. There’d be enough attention on her in the coming days, with her shop having been the victim of the first burglary since the town started trying to attract tourists. To have that same light shining on her love life right now would be overkill.
“This area up here, we call the square,” she continued. “The houses on each corner were among the first built when the town was officially laid out in 1685. Before that, there were land grants, maybe around 1650 or so, that pretty much defined the village area. The brick was all locally made, and the wooden sections that you see were all from trees cut down to clear the area.” She smiled. “Sometimes I like to walk along here and try to picture the way it was back then, with only those few houses, and dirt paths between them. No roads, no cars… just horses and a wagon here and there.” She pointed beyond the square. “You see those woods off to the right? There are trees there that have been standing for more than three hundred years. It’s believed that’s the last of the forest that the early settlers found when they first came here.”
“You’re really into this, aren’t you? Hard to believe you’re not a native.” He seemed so casual, so nonchalant, yet Vanessa could not fail to notice that his eyes were constantly moving, from the passing cars to other pedestrians.
“I’ve learned a lot from Hal. His family has been here since the early 1700s. Imagine that? Being able to trace your family back that far?”
“I guess it’s easy if no one ever left town. There’d be records in the churches of births, marriages, deaths,” he pointed out. “And depending on how well the town kept records of the deeds changing hands, you could trace that, too.”
“I suppose. But for someone…” She stopped herself from saying someone like me. “… someone whose family records are scattered or missing or inaccurate, or just plain unknown, it’s a revelation to find out that some people even know who their first ancestors were who came to this country, and even what ship they came on.” She shook her head and added, “I’ve never even met my real father. I took Keaton from a step-father, but my real dad… I know his name but I don’t know anything about him.”
“Maggie never told you?”
“There’s a lot Maggie hasn’t told me,” Vanessa said drily.
“Have you asked her?” He stopped at the corner when she did. “About the things you don’t know?”
She shook her head from side to side. “I always figured if she felt like talking about him, she would.” She made a face. “Maybe that’s not really true. Maybe I was afraid to ask because-oh, I don’t know. Because she’d blow me off, or maybe not tell the truth, you know, maybe just tell me what she thinks I want to hear.”
“What do you want to hear?”
“Just the truth.” She was taller in the four-inch heels she wore, but still not eye to eye with him. “I would like to know about my father. I always told her it didn’t matter, that I didn’t want to know, but it does matter. I do want to know.”
“If you weren’t honest with her, why would she be honest with you?”
Vanessa frowned. “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours.” He took her arm when she wouldn’t give him her hand. “If you want the truth, ask for it. Don’t assume people can read your mind. That’s game playing. I didn’t figure that for your style.”
She crossed the street and started walking back toward town, and he kept in step with her.
“Ness?”
“I heard you.”
“I can see that I upset you,” Grady said. “I’m very sorry. But you brought up-”
“I know I did.” She exhaled a long breath. “I’m not upset with you. I’m upset with myself.”
“Why?”
“Why?” She snorted. “Why should I feel annoyed with myself for telling a man I slept with last night all my deepest secrets?”
“If you can’t share something of yourself with the man you sleep with, maybe you shouldn’t be sleeping with him.”
“We don’t ‘sleep with’ each other. We slept. Past tense,” she corrected him. “We just slept together last night.”
“So you’re telling me I was just a one-night stand?” He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “I feel so… cheap. So… used.”
“You’re not funny.” She kept walking.
“What do you expect me to say?” He caught up with her in one stride. “Ness, I don’t do one-night stands.”
“Of course you do.” She brushed him off. “All guys do.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You stayed with me last night. You’re leaving today,” she pointed out. “One night.”
“So if I leave town today, that means I can’t come back?”
“You mean, like once a year? Or whenever you felt like it?”
Grady whistled, long and low. “You really have a low opinion of men, don’t you?”
When she didn’t answer, he said, “Every guy isn’t out to love you and leave you, Ness, or to hurt you if he stays.”
They walked along in silence for a while.
“You are the oddest man I have ever known.” She shook her head, then fell silent again for the rest of the walk back to the center of town.
“Want to stop for coffee?” he asked as they approached Cuppachino.
She shook her head.
“How ’bout we stop in the art gallery across the street and just take a look around?”
“It won’t open for another few weeks. Rocky, the guy who owns it, usually doesn’t come back to St. Dennis until June first. He has a home in Arizona, and he stays there except for the summer. Anyway, don’t you have to get going?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me? Tired of me already?”
“You said you had to leave St. Dennis by three. It’s almost that now, and you still have to go back to the Inn to get your stuff and check out.”
“I’ll get to it.”
They crossed the street, and Vanessa stopped in front of Bling. She hadn’t noticed last night, but one of the side windows must have been cracked, because it was boarded up on the outside. Through the front window she could see the mess. There was yellow crime-scene tape wrapped around the entire building, and she noticed several passersby stop to speculate. She wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself not to cry.
“Maybe they’ll let you go in soon and clean up,” Grady said. “Maybe Hal can speed that up for you.”
“He said tomorrow I could go in. I asked him this morning. After the shock of seeing him walk in with Maggie wore off.”
“That bothers you, doesn’t it? That Hal and Maggie seem to have so much to talk about?”
“How is it that you just always seem to know exactly which scab to pick at?” He’d just played on her last nerve.
She walked ahead of him and turned up Cherry Street without looking at him. He walked alongside her, his hands in the pockets of his Dockers, his dark glasses hiding his eyes.
When they got to her house, he said, “I just seem to set you off, no matter what I say. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry or get into your business, but when you throw stuff out there, you shouldn’t be surprised if I pick up on it. That’s part of the whole conversation thing. You say something, I listen and say something back to you that pertains to whatever it is that you said. Then you say something else, and voilà. A conversation.”
“I’m not used to talking about… certain things… with anyone. I don’t know why my mouth has been so free this morning. I don’t talk about my father, and I rarely talk about my mother, and as for this…” She placed a hand on her scar and shook her head. “So I don’t know what’s gotten into me. You seem to bring out the blabbermouth in me.”
“Sometimes it’s healthier to talk about things, than to not.” He smiled. “You can blabber on to me anytime you want.”
And I probably would, if you were sticking around, she thought.
“Now, here, all this time, I’d been led to believe that you were the strong, silent one. The loner. The recluse.” She snorted. “I swear I never met a man who asked as many questions or who talked about as much stuff as you do.”
“How else do you get to know someone?” Grady shrugged. “Besides, I like to talk to you. You’re not like most of the women I’ve known.”
“Yeah, well, back atcha there, pal.”
He laughed, and she found herself laughing, too.
She tugged on his hand.
“Come on in and get some cookies to take with you for your hike. I must have miscounted my batches, because I had some left over.”
“There were cookies here last night and you didn’t bother to mention it?”
“You were busy checking for intruders,” she reminded him as she unlocked the door.
His hand was on the small of her back while they walked toward the kitchen.
“Coffee or milk?” she asked.
“With cookies? Not even close.”
She opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk.
“Glasses are in the-” She stopped short, her attention drawn to a box wrapped in white paper and tied with red ribbon that sat in the middle of the kitchen table. “Did you put that there?”
His eyes followed her gaze to the table. “No. Maybe Hal dropped it off. Does he have a key?”
She nodded. “He does. Maybe it’s from Beck and Mia. You know, like a thank-you for being their unofficial wedding planner.”
She put her purse on the counter and unwrapped the present. When she opened the box and looked inside, she stood for a moment, staring at the contents.
“What is it?” Grady asked.
She reached into the box and held up crudely torn strips of white eyelet.
“It used to be a dress,” she told him. She dropped it back into the box. She looked up at Grady. “I think I know who broke into my shop. There was a woman in Bling the other day who came in and tried on this dress. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it or not, so I put it in the back to hold it in case she came back.”
“Get Hal on the phone,” Grady told her. “Tell him what you just told me.”
She did, and Hal arrived within minutes of her call.
She wasn’t as happy to see Maggie as she was to see Hal.
“Are you riding shotgun in the cruiser these days?” she asked her mother, who trailed into the house with Hal.
“Don’t be a smart-ass,” Maggie replied. “I have the right to worry about my daughter.”
“Don’t start with me.” Vanessa had led them into the kitchen.
Hal went straight to the box. “Ness, I’m assuming you opened this. Grady, did you touch it?”
“No. I doubt you’ll find any prints on there except Vanessa’s,” Grady told him.
“This was here when you came back from your walk?” Hal asked.
Vanessa nodded. “We came in through the front door-”
“Which I’m assuming was locked?”
“Yes.”
“Any idea how someone could have gotten in?” Hal asked her.
“Back door,” Grady said. “The lock was picked. Expertly done, I might add.”
Grady walked through the small back entry and pointed to the door. “An amateur would have taken out the lower glass pane and turned the latch. The door was unlocked as you see it when we came in, but it wasn’t obvious until we started looking after Ness found the box.”
“So tell me again about this woman you mentioned on the phone. When she was in the shop, what she looked like, any conversations you might have had with her.” Hal took out a pad and pen.
Vanessa ran through the woman’s visit to the store.
“She said her name was Candice,” she told him as she finished up, “but that’s probably not her real name. Oh, and Steffie saw her coming out of Sips yesterday when she-Stef-was on her way to the Inn for the wedding.”
“How did Steffie know who she was?” Hal asked.
“Stef was there the other day in the shop when ‘Candice’ came in.”
“I’m going to want to stop down and have a chat with Steffie, then, see if she can add anything to what you told me.” Hal folded the notepad and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
“She might. I went into the back of the shop for a moment while Stef was there, so they might have had some conversation,” Vanessa recalled. Then, thinking about how considerate she’d been to her would-be customer, she began to steam. “You know, I felt sorry for her. She just looked so… I don’t know, unhappy or downtrodden.”
“Like she was having a bad day?” Maggie asked.
“More like she was having a bad life. I offered to hold the dress for her-and I did, it was still on the hold rack in my office yesterday. And I even offered to give her a nice discount on the price because I felt sorry for her.”
“Why?” Grady stuck his hands in his pants pockets and leaned against the wall.
“Because the dress was a little on the pricey side, and I thought it might make it easier to make the sale.” Vanessa stared at Grady for a moment, then added, “Oh, all right, it was because she wasn’t dressed well and she looked like someone who didn’t have a lot of nice things and she said the dress had looked nice on her when she tried it on. She sort of lit up a little when she brought it back out of the dressing room. I wanted her to have it, okay?”
“Let’s assume for a minute that she was the person who broke into your shop last night,” Grady offered. “If she liked the dress all that much, why wouldn’t she have just taken it with her? Why destroy something she really wanted?”
“That’s the odd part, that she’d take the dress only to rip it to shreds. Why would someone break in, take the dress, destroy it, and then wrap it up and give it back to me? She’d have to know that I’d make the association to her right away.”
“No woman in her right mind would do that,” Maggie thought aloud. “That’d be like painting a big sign on her back: ‘I Did It.’”
“Well, she may have been involved, but I don’t think she was behind it,” Grady said. “I don’t think she was the person who broke into the shop and beat up on the car.”
“Those instincts of yours again, eh?” Vanessa asked, and Grady nodded.
Hal pulled on rubber gloves and replaced the lid on the box.
“Ness, do you have a paper bag?” he asked.
She nodded and got one from the pantry.
“Here you go.” She handed it to him.
He tucked the ribbon into the bag.
“Guess that’s it for now.” He picked up the box and the bag. “I’m going to take this down to the station and see if I can lift some prints. I’ll send someone down this afternoon to see what we can lift from that back door and the table.”
“I’ll bet you don’t find any.” Vanessa followed him from the room. “I’ll bet she wore gloves when she wrapped that box.”
“Was she wearing gloves when she tried on the dress?” Grady asked.
“Of course not… Oh.” Vanessa followed his thought. “Can you get prints off of fabric?”
“Depends.” Hal walked out onto the porch. “We’ll see what we can find.”
“I’ll bet there are prints on that price tag,” Maggie said when she reached the front door. “I never saw a woman yet who picked up something in a fancy store and didn’t sneak a peek at the price.”
“She did. She looked at the tag.” In spite of herself, Vanessa was impressed that Maggie had thought of it. “And she looked at some other things. A pair of shorts… madras plaid. They’re probably still in the shop. There’s only one pair like them. Red, blue, yellow, green, and white plaid, Hal.”
“I’ll stop and look for them. Sue down at the station is real good with lifting prints. If we’re lucky, we’ll find prints on the tag and dress that match prints from the box. And then if we’re really lucky, we’ll find them on record somewhere,” Hal said over his shoulder as he walked toward his car. “I’m going to send Sue over, see what she can get from the door and the table. We’ll get back to you, Ness.”
He stopped midway down the path and turned around. “In the meantime, I’d feel a lot better if you’d stay over at my place.”
“Why can’t you just park a police car in front of my house all night?” She frowned. “I hate that someone could drive me out of my house and I don’t even know why.”
“Well, it’s going to be easier to figure out the why once we figure out the who.” Hal continued walking to his car. “Regardless, you shouldn’t be staying here alone.”
“Vanessa, maybe I could-” Maggie began but Vanessa cut her off.
“Thanks anyway, but no.”
Vanessa waved good-bye and watched Hal and Maggie get into the car and drive away.
Vanessa went down the steps and picked up a few dead tulips she’d missed the day before. She could feel Grady’s eyes on her.
“What?” she asked.
“Hal’s right. The least you can do is have someone stay here with you,” he reasoned. “I guess it’s out of the question that you take Maggie up on her offer.”
She glared at him. “What do you think?”
“I think that narrows the field,” he muttered.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I am so mad at this woman.” Vanessa began to rail. “This ‘Candice.’ Who the hell is she and why is she doing these things? What could I have done to her that she’d want to destroy my business and scare me?”
“Let’s finish this discussion inside.” He held the door for her, and she followed him into the living room, sat when he did.
“Maybe it’s someone you’ve had words with.”
“I don’t ‘have words.’ I hate confrontations. When it comes to arguing, I’m always the one to back down. I’m such a wuss. I’ve apologized for things I didn’t do just to avoid having someone yell at me.” She pulled her feet up under her. “How else to explain not one, but two abusive marriages? I just wish I knew who this woman is and why she’s so angry at me. And after I was so nice to her.”
She tried to think of someone she’d offended in the past, and other than a woman who’d bought a leather bag and returned it because the strap broke after she’d used it three times, Vanessa could not think of anyone who’d be holding a grudge against her.
“You know, maybe your first instinct was the right one. Maybe Eugene did get out early for good behavior or something-hard to imagine his behavior being that good, but I suppose people can change. Maybe the D.A. forgot to let me know. Couldn’t find my address. That’s possible, right?”
Grady put a hand on her shoulder. “I have some bad news about him, Ness. I had someone make some calls this morning.”
“Oh God, I’m right, aren’t I?” Her face went ashen. “He’s here in St. Dennis, isn’t he? He’s been inside my house.” She started to hyperventilate.
“No, no. He wasn’t here, Ness. He couldn’t have been. He’s dead.”
“What?” Both hands flew to her heart. “Dead? Did you say Eugene’s dead?”
Grady nodded. “I’m sorry, I-”
“He’s dead.” She blinked a few times. “Dear God, I feel like one of the Munchkins.”
“Munchkins?”
“Yeah, you know, the little people from The Wizard of Oz? ‘Ding dong, the witch is dead?’”
“Let’s go into the kitchen. I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“I’m fine.” But she let him lead her into the back of the house. “It’s wrong to be happy that someone died, right? I mean, maybe he changed while he was in prison, maybe he found religion and he’s turned himself around. It would be bad to be happy that someone who’s rehabilitated himself is dead.”
“He was in a fight with another inmate and his neck was broken.” Grady turned on the cold-water faucet. “I doubt he was rehabilitated.”
“Oh, good.” She fanned herself. “Because I’d hate to be this happy if he died a good man, and-”
He filled a glass of water and held it to her lips.
“Drink,” he told her. “You’re on the verge of babble.”
She took several long sips, then grabbed the glass from his hands.
“I’m okay. Thank you.” She took some deep breaths. “He’s really dead? You’re sure?”
“Unless someone in the prison system thinks it’s skippy to lie to the FBI, I’d say, yeah, he’s really dead.” He watched her for a moment. “Are you okay?”
“Okay? Gene is really dead.” She shook her head. “I never saw that coming but yes, I’m okay with that. When did you find out?”
“I asked my old boss if he’d have someone check, just to make sure this guy was still behind bars. I honestly thought we’d get confirmation that he’d been released on parole. I had him pegged for the break-in. But I got a call while we were at the brunch this morning. Gene Medford is definitely dead. I didn’t want to tell you at the restaurant, and then later, we were walking, and I was just happy being with you, and you seemed so relaxed. For a while, anyway. The truth is, I didn’t want to bring him along with us. I didn’t want to spoil that time together.” He looked a little sheepish. “Well, I ended up doing that anyway, I guess. But I thought it would be better to wait until we got back here to tell you.”
“You didn’t spoil anything. Sometimes you make me think about things that I don’t necessarily want to think about, but that’s on me, not on you.”
She put her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.
“I’m not sorry that he’s dead, Grady. He made my life a living hell.” She thought of all the times in the past she’d wished that something-anything-would happen to remove Gene from her life. “I used to dream that his car would get stuck on the train tracks and he couldn’t get out in time. Or that he’d be eating lunch at work and he’d choke to death. Stuff like that. And in the dreams, someone would come to my house to tell me, and I wouldn’t cry. I’d just say, ‘Oh, thank you for letting me know. Bye.’ And I’d close the door, and then I’d wake up. I never really thought he’d die, ever. Like someone that mean couldn’t die like ordinary people.”
He wrapped his arms around her.
“But you were married to him. You loved him once. You could cry for him if you wanted,” he told her. “Don’t feel like you can’t cry because I’m here.”
“Are you serious?” She pushed out of his arms and raised her shirt up, then turned around so he could see her back. “One of the ways Gene liked to wake me up when he’d come in drunk was to put his cigarette out on my back.” She looked over her shoulder and met his eyes. “Do you really think I’d waste a tear crying over him?”
“Jesus, Ness.” Grady was visibly stunned. He touched the scars gingerly, as if afraid that they had not healed. “Jesus.”
Vanessa pulled her shirt back down.
“I wasn’t showing you so you’d feel sorry for me. I just wanted you to understand.”
He nodded, but as if still stunned, he didn’t reply. He just held her.
Finally, he said, “Maybe this woman, Candice, maybe she was involved with your ex. Maybe she blames you because he’s dead.”
“Maybe. She had that look about her.”
“What look is that?”
“The look of a woman who’s afraid of being hurt,” she told him. “A woman who’s used to being hurt. Just because he was in prison doesn’t mean he couldn’t have hurt her. He could have just beaten her down with words, the way he used to beat me down.”
“Give Hal a call and run that past him.” Grady stood and took his phone from his pocket. “Meanwhile, I’ll see if the FBI can get a list of all of Gene’s visitors.”
She called the station, and he called John Mancini and had a long talk with him. Grady walked out into the backyard to improve reception, and when he returned to the kitchen, Sue was already setting up to start taking prints.
“It’s all yours,” Vanessa was saying. “Doors, counters, kitchen table, whatever.”
“Thanks. I’ll try not to get in your way.” Sue looked over her shoulder and smiled at Grady. “I’ll be out of here as soon as possible.”
“You won’t be in our way.” Vanessa turned to Grady. “I’m going to drive Grady to pick up his rental car.”
“Oh, and Hal said to tell you he called a locksmith. He’s having your locks changed. He said he’d leave the new keys at the station if you weren’t here when the guy finished up.”
“Great. Thanks.” Vanessa turned to Grady. “You ready?”
He nodded and waved to Sue. Vanessa grabbed her handbag from the counter, where she’d earlier tossed it.
Grady had left Vanessa’s car in the driveway and he now returned the keys to her. They got in and she backed out, maneuvering carefully around the patrol car that Sue had parked a little too close to the end of the driveway. She drove to the rental car’s location on the highway.
“Look at all the pretty cars.” Vanessa pulled into the lot and stopped behind a gorgeous black luxury sedan. “You don’t suppose they’ll let you take this one?”
Grady laughed. “It’s a beauty, but it won’t do me any good where I’m going.”
“Oh, right. Nature man. Wilderness hiker.” She nodded. “I guess you wouldn’t want to leave something that pretty out all by its lonesome while you explore the wild.”
He laughed again and opened the car door. “This might take a few minutes. Come on in.”
“I can wait here.”
“I’d rather have you come inside with me.”
“All right.” She got out of the car and locked it, then followed him inside. While Grady tended to his paperwork, she walked around the reception area. There was a radio playing somewhere in the back of the building. She could hear U2 singing about a beautiful day, and she almost laughed out loud.
Oh, it’s been a beauty of a day, all right.
She stood at the window and looked over the cars in the lot, and tried to pretend that it didn’t matter that he was picking up the car that would take him away from St. Dennis, and from her. She tried to block Candice’s sad face from her mind. She tried to forget that Maggie was in town and spending way too much time with Hal. The only good news she’d had that day had been about Gene. That was one demon she could put to rest forever. It was almost surreal to think she would never have to be afraid of him ever again.
“Got it.” Grady was at her elbow, keys in hand. “Thanks, Ness. Let’s go.”
When they got outside he said, “How about I follow you back into town? I need to pick up some things at the Inn.”
“Sure.” She was still smiling when she got into her car, and when she drove from the lot, waving to him as she pulled her sedan in front of the four-wheel-drive SUV he’d just picked up. But her smile faded as she merged into the line of traffic and forced herself to take several deep breaths.
You knew he was leaving today, he told you that right up front. You knew and you let yourself get involved with him anyway, her little inner voice lectured. And don’t make this more than what it was: a fun weekend. A fling. You used to do flings.
“I don’t do flings anymore,” she said aloud.
Well, you had one this weekend. Let it go. Move on.
Traffic on the highway had built up and the stop and go was annoying her, so she turned off the main road and followed the backstreets. He was still behind her, so she meandered down toward the river side of town, not wanting to end the drive. Once the drive ended, once they were back on Cherry Street, they’d be saying good-bye, and she could barely stand how awkward it was going to be. He’d be saying something like, “Well, I’ll call you,” or maybe, “Hey, the next time I’m in St. Dennis…” but only because he’d feel obligated to. Most one-night stands didn’t run well into the next day the way this one had.
As for his claim that he “didn’t do one-night stands”…
“Bull,” she said aloud. “Guys live for the one-night stand. It’s in their DNA.”
And it isn’t like I won’t have anything to think about after he leaves, she reminded herself. There was her trashed shop, for one thing. Her home, which apparently was no longer her castle, since someone had found a way in, uninvited and intending her harm, for another.
Oh, and let’s not forget Maggie.
Was it Vanessa’s imagination, or did Maggie really have her sights set on Hal again?
Dear Lord, please say it isn’t so…
She was not going to think about Maggie. Or Grady, for that matter. Uh-uh. Not going there.
She drove back to her home then, still not thinking about Grady.
He slowed down when she turned into her driveway, then beeped his horn and waved when she got out of her car. Then, incredibly, he kept on going, and drove past.
Vanessa stood on the sidewalk next to Sue’s cruiser, her mouth open. Had he just blown her off?
She knew he had plans, but still. Damn. That was just unbelievably… unbelievable. Not even to say a real good-bye? That “Thanks, Ness” back there at the car rental place… that was it?
Numb, Vanessa went into the house. Sue was still dusting for fingerprints, but she’d finished the back door and had moved into the kitchen.
“Hal called a while ago,” Sue told her. “He said that he thinks you should reconsider and sleep at his place tonight.”
“I’ll think about it.” Knowing full well she wouldn’t, Vanessa went upstairs and into her room.
The bed was a tangle, the sheets and blanket every which way. She stared at it long and hard before pulling everything off and stuffing it all-the blanket along with the sheets and pillowcases-into a laundry basket that stood near the closet door. She took fresh linens from the closet and remade the bed, taking the blanket from the spare-room bed and exchanging the pillows from one bed to the other.
She stood back to assess the newly pulled-together bed. The blanket wasn’t as pretty as the one in the basket, and the pillows were not the ones she preferred, but the important thing was that there was no scent of him there, no valley in the pillow where his head had lain.
“There.”
She took off the skirt she was wearing and hung it in the closet, and changed into her favorite jeans. She’d just slipped her feet back into her shoes when she heard the front door slam.
“Ness?”
And damn it, didn’t her heart flip just a little at the sound of his voice?
“I’m up here,” she called.
“Got my stuff from the Inn… hey, you look pretty.” He grinned as he came in the room. “Got a hot date?”
He crossed the room and kissed her.
He came back, was all she could think of. He came back…
He looked down at her feet. “Do you have any other shoes?”
She was still trying to catch up to the fact that he hadn’t left her after all.
“You are kidding, right? Of course I have other shoes. Shoes are my life.” She walked to her closet, opened the door, and pointed to a row of shelves lined with boxes. “Shoes.”
“I meant, any other kind. Shoes you could walk in.”
“I walk in these.” She turned her foot to show off the pretty brown leather pumps with their four-inch heels. “I walk to work every day in shoes like this.”
“How ’bout shoes you can comfortably walk a distance in.”
“Oh. Well, sure. I have some really cute flats.” She pulled a box from the shelf. “Aren’t these the cutest? I just got these.”
“Let’s rephrase.” Grady’s mouth twitched at both ends. “What would you wear if you went walking in the woods?”
“Nikes?” She frowned.
“You’d wear hiking boots. Where’s your computer?”
“It’s in the kitchen.”
“Come on. We’ll look up the closest athletic equipment store.”
“We don’t have to look it up. Mickey Forbes has a place right outside of town.”
“Great.” He tugged on her hand. “Let’s go.”
“Well, God knows I’m not one to pass up on a shopping opportunity, but I thought you were leaving to go on your hike.”
“I am. You’re coming with me.”
“What?”
“You don’t really think I’d leave you here, with all that’s going on?”
“You want to take me with you?”
“Sure. You won’t mind roughing it a little for a couple of days, would you?”
“How rough is rough?” She frowned again.
“Not as rough as it could be if whoever is stalking you catches up.”
“As much as I’m sure I’d love roughing it with you-there’s no one I’d rather share a tent with-but I can’t leave St. Dennis. I have to go into Bling tomorrow and figure out what I’m missing so I can meet with the insurance company. We’re coming into our busy season. I have to get Bling open as quickly as I can, or I won’t make enough this summer to carry me through the winter.” She sat on the side of the bed and he sat next to her. “I appreciate the thought, I appreciate you offering to take me with you, but I can’t go.”
Grady nodded. “I understand. I probably should have thought of that myself. In that case”-he leaned over and kissed her-“I suppose I better go get my stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“My clothes.”
“I thought you said you just picked them up from the Inn.”
“I did. They’re in the car. If you can’t come with me, I’m just going to have to stay with you. So until this is over, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Think you can handle sharing your space? Unless you’d rather stay at the Inn-”
“What about your trip? The hike you had planned?”
“The mountain will be there when all this is over.” He started toward the steps. “I want to make sure you are, too…”