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“I’m Everly and I’m good.” I looked into the man’s face. He was good-looking with that perfectly styled blond hair and pale blue eyes. Clean-shaven and fuller in the face. I let down my window just another inch. “I was in a hurry and didn’t check the engine when it made a weird noise a little earlier.”
The man frowned and tilted his head. “It made a noise? What kind?”
“Like a wheezing sound.” I didn’t want him to trouble himself or make things worse. “Anyway, my friend is a mechanic, and she and her brother should be here soon.”
I was not blowing smoke. The reality was that Bex was likely to bring one of her brothers with her.
“That’s okay.” He leaned his denim covered ass against my car. “If it’s all the same with you, I’ll just keep you company while you wait for them. There are all sorts of crazies out there.”
Yeah, that was true. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone waiting with me. Besides he would be outside the car and I would be inside. Granted, I couldn’t just drive away but I was still relatively safe in the event that the perfectly nice stranger turned out to be a psycho killer or something.
In the minutes that followed, I’d gotten to know Trey a little bit. He’d just moved to Marina De Ferrier and was picking up the last of the things from his apartment in San Diego. He had a job interview on Monday and hoped to work with a security company in the area. He’d been in the private security business for more than a decade and before that he was in the military. He wanted a change of scenery and thought moving to the small town was a good idea.
Something about his story felt off. The only security company with offices in Marina De Ferrier was Salinger. Even the businesses in town hired from a company in San Diego and the guards lived in town. None of them hired the Salingers since that was not what the company did.
Then again, the company prided itself on discretion. Still a change of scenery was not a reason to work for a company like Salinger Security.
I never mentioned that I knew the owners and that one of them was on her way to fetch me. In the event he was lying to me, I didn’t want him to get defensive. I also didn’t mention what I did for a living.
Inevitably when people learned I was a singer and songwriter, they wanted to know where they could see me perform. What songs had I written? And had I released anything. That in turn led to the conversation where theypolitely didn’t mention that I was a one hit wonder more than a decade ago.
Not that I was ashamed of how my life had turned out, or the choices I’d made. I would do them again for the sake of my daughter and my own conscience and peace of mind.
Instead, I told him I was a single mom. I spoke about my friend Cassie who was in the Navy and how she and her now husband had snuck off a while back and got married in Vegas. It was a benign topic, but it kept the conversation moving and I didn’t feel impolite for not sharing anything personal. The time passed quickly and before long Nick’s familiar black Escalade pulled up behind Trey’s car. Bex’s car pulled up in front of mine.
Exactly as I had predicted, Bex had brought at least one of her brothers with her. She hopped out of her car and threw a suspicious look at Trey. With her pink knitted top with the sleeves shoved up to her elbows and the dark pink tactical pants she looked nothing like the army badass I knew she was. She said nothing as she motioned for me to open the hood of my car and checked out the engine.
Nick and another man stepped out of his car. They both stalked toward me. I squinted my eyes trying to make out the passenger. He wasn’t one of the Salinger brothers. I opened my car door and stepped out and Trey stepped away. I looked between Nick and the other man. I didn’t know why a stranger would be with Nick. He reminded me a little of —oh my.
Instinctively, I pulled at the hem of my knitted dress and straightened the collar of my denim jacket. My eyes narrowed and I tilted my head to the side as I took in the man walking alongside Nick. He was older, his face a little more drawn. There were wrinkles around his eyes and he was definitely leaner than I remembered. My mind struggled to reconcile that the man I had dreamt of for the last thirteen years was walking toward me.
“Noah?”
I didn’t mean to sound breathless. And I certainly didn’t mean for my belly to flip when he smiled at me.
“Babe.” As he got closer to where Trey and I were standing he frowned again and nodded in my companion’s direction. “Who’s this?”
That made my spine stiffen.Seriously?He thought he had the right to question me? How was he even on Highway 1? He was supposed to be off being a hero or something.
I must’ve stared at him too long when Trey stepped forward. It was then that I noticed that he was about six and half feet tall and broad as a house. “Eve, do you know this man?”
Noah’s shoulders stiffened and Nick looked ready to back him up.Hell no.
“Oh.” I looked between the two men and the frown on Nick’s face. “Sorry. Noah, Nick, this is Trey. Trey, that is my friend Nick, and this is… Noah.” I turned back to the man who filled my dreams. “What are you doing here?”
“Long story. I’ll tell you on the way back.”
Trey smiled. “I recognized Nick Salinger. He’s who I’ll be having my interview with on Monday.”
Nick nodded and shook the other man’s hand but didn’t return his smile. “Trey Gosling. I recognized you from your picture I have on file.”
Noah’s scowl never left Trey. “Bex, can you see the problem?”
“Yes.” Bex walked away from the front of the car. “You guys can go. I’ll make sure the tow-truck takes it back to the farm.”
“Come, babe.” Noah’s hand dropped to my lower back. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Babe?
