This was someone circling me.
The sound of a truck engine cuts through the quiet. Still enough to make my shoulders loosen just slightly.
I don’t move right away. I stay where I am, watching the headlights sweep across the back field before cutting out completely. The engine goes silent, replaced by the soft crunch of boots on gravel, then the solid, unmistakable rhythm of Holt crossing the yard.
He doesn’t rush. He never does. Even when he should. Even when everything around him says urgency, his movements stay controlled. Deliberate. Like he’s learned the hard way that reacting too fast gets people hurt.
The back door opens without hesitation.
“You left the lights on,” he says, his voice carrying easily into the kitchen.
I don’t turn.
“You noticed.”
“I notice everything.”
“Not everything.”
His boots stop just behind me. Close enough that I can feel the heat of him, the shift in the air as he steps fully into the space.
I turn then, meeting his gaze. He looks the same as he did this morning—steady, composed—but something else is underneath it now. Something tighter around the edges. Something that wasn’t there before.
“You’re late,” I say.
His brow lifts slightly. “Didn’t realize I was on a schedule. You okay?”
I shrug, pushing off the counter and crossing my arms loosely over my chest. “I heard something earlier.”
His expression sharpens immediately. “Where?”
“Back of the house. Probably nothing.”
“Probably isn’t good enough right now.”
“I checked.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“I know what it means,” I cut in, more sharply than I intended.
Silence falls between us.
“I handled it,” I add, quieter now.
His jaw tightens just slightly. “That’s not the point.”
“It is when I’m the one standing here.”
“And you don’t have to be the only one.”
I hold his gaze, something shifting in the space between us, something that has nothing to do with the noise I heard earlier and everything to do with this.
“I think she’s not just watching the property anymore,” I say slowly. “I think she’s watching me.”
“Yeah,” he says.
The agreement lands harder than anything else.
