“That goes both ways.”
“We’re both going to be okay.”
“You don’t have to convince me of that. I’m proud of you, Natalie. You have more guts than I do.”
We’ll see.Almost giddy with excitement, Natalie got up. Sheila slugged back the rest of her wine, and then the two of them walked out to the car.
Natalie got in, and parade-waved as she backed out of the driveway. “To new beginnings,” she yelled out the window.
Chapter Eight
RANDY SHUFFLEDthrough the case files. His caseload was impossible to keep up to date during regular hours, so he spent many nights like this trying to catch up on the paperwork.
The phone on his desk rang, interrupting him for the fourth time tonight.Seriously?Sometimes he wished he could take it off the hook so he could catch up. He glanced at the paperwork stacked on the corner of his desk with a sigh.
He pressed the speakerphone button and begrudgingly answered, “Detective Fellowes.”
There was an awkward beat of silence, then a tentative, “Hello, Detective.” Another momentary pause was chased away by a giggle. “Um, sorry, I expected to get your voice mail tonight.”
He’d recognized her voice immediately.
“It’s Natalie Maynard,” she said.
That antagonistic mood evaporated. A smile spread across his face. “Hey there.” He laid his pen down and picked up the phone. “It’s good to hear from you. How are you?”
“Doing good. Thank you. I was calling for… well, I was hoping you could do me a favor?”
“If you’re going to ask for a favor, you could at least call me Randy.” He heard her sigh across the line. Not like he hadn’t asked her to do that a hundred times since he was put on her case.
“Fine. You’re right. Hi, Randy.” Her response held a playful lilt.
“Better.” He sat back in his chair and spun to the left.Call it a victory lap.“Thank you. Tell me you changed your mind about dinner, and you’ll make my night.”
This time, the nervous giggle came across the line more clearly, giving him an inkling of hope.
“No,” she said. “First, I want to thank you. I took your advice. I’m moving out of Sheila’s house and going to refocus my energy on something positive.”
“That’s great. Good for you.”
“You’re to thank. My husband had a hunting cabin up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s paid for, furnished, and just sitting there.”
He straightened in his chair. “Wait? You’re moving?” He hadn’t meant for that to happen.
“Not too far away. Fulton County.”
“Just like that? Wow. You’re moving fast.”
“No time like the present. In fact, I’m on my way there now.”
One man’s hunting cabin could be another woman’s palace, possibly. Or not. Maybe it wasn’t as small and primitive as what was in his mind right now, but deer heads on the wall and a woodstove for heat didn’t seem her style. Not that she appeared high maintenance, just girly in a way that was hard to imagine in flannel, handling mousetraps.
He knew it was none of his business, but he had to ask. “Are you going alone?”
“Yep. Just me. I’m going to take some time and get back up on my feet, and start looking for another job in nursing.”
“You sounded like you really loved that career.”
“I did.”
