She grinned. “I know.”
I read. She was asleep in five minutes.
23
LENNON
“Nice of you to make an appearance,”Amos groused. “Thought maybe you’d quit without giving us your two weeks’ notice.”
“I can’t quit a job that I was never hired for in the first place.” I breezed past him, heading straight for the sink to wash my hands. “You don’t even pay me. In fact,Ipayyoufor the privilege of frying bacon and playing cowgirl. I mean, I pay the ranch. And the ranch pays you.”
Amos grunted but didn’t argue. I grinned, drying my hands on the towel. He narrowed his eyes and pointed his metal spatula at me. “You’re on biscuits, city girl.”
“No problem.”
“Where were you yesterday?” Cecily asked. “Andwhatare you wearing?”
“A pipe burst in my cabin’s bathroom.” Feeling guilty about lying, I dodged her gaze and reached for the flour. Sheriff Sherwood had told me it would be better to say nothing about the postcards unless I absolutely had to. Stalkers wanted attention, and even negative attention might encourage him to keep going. Jeremiah had pointed out that everyone would notice I had moved into the lodge, so we agreed on a cover story. “I had to move my stuff to the lodge. I should have called. I’m sorry. As for my outfit…” I twirled, showing off the ankle-length skirt. “Do you like it?”
“Um.” Cecily rolled her lips together, clearly struggling to find something nice to say. “It’s pretty,” she ventured. “But it’s not veryyou.”
I laughed. She wasn’t wrong. From what I found in her drawers, Hannah favored long, flowy skirts and cardigans, whereas I preferred clothes that showed off my figure. “That’s because it’s not mine. It’s Hannah’s.”
“Hannah?” Her brow furrowed.
“Jeremiah’s sister. I’m staying in her room. I meant to do laundry yesterday, but with…um…everything, I never got around to it. Jeremiah lent me some of Hannah’s clothes.” I measured out the sugar and added it to the flour, along with the baking powder and salt.
“That’s awful. About your cabin, I mean. You’re not thinking of leaving the ranch early, are you?” Her eyeswent wide. “You can’t go yet. I was hoping you might decide to stay longer. Lots of guests stay the whole summer.” She wrinkled her nose. “I promise I’m not just saying that because we’re down a man and need the help.”
I laughed—but could I? Could I stay longer? Benny was out on bail, and his trial was scheduled for August. His murky business associates were still keeping close tabs on him to make sure he didn’t cut a deal with the feds. Why not stay in Wyoming for the rest of the summer?
“I’m not leaving early. I’m paid up through July, so I might as well get my money’s worth.” Not to mention, I had nowhere else to go. “And the lodge is nice. I don’t mind staying in Hannah’s room until they fix the pipe.”And find my stalker.
“But Jeremiah’s there. That’s gotta be awkward, right? I mean—” She cracked an egg with too much force. Pieces of shell crumbled into the bowl. Frowning, she tried to fish out the slimy white flecks but quickly gave up and emptied the bowl into the trash. “Shoot.”
“Stop yapping and focus on what you’re doing,” Amos said. “We’ve got cowboys to feed.”
Jeremiah had toldme to stay put at the lodge and he’d come get me after his morning chores, but I was feeling better about everything after making breakfast with Amos and Cecily. I couldn’t imagine either of them writing those creepy postcards. Hell, with the exception of Brian, there wasn’t a single person on this ranch I thought was capable of it—and I doubted Brian had the tolerance for a long game. The more I thought about it, the safer I felt.
Safe enough to walk to my cabin by myself in broad daylight to grab my earbuds, anyway. I wasn’t stupid enough to go out after dark without Jeremiah or someone I trusted.
I ran up to Hannah’s room to change out of her bohemian prairie chic skirt. I’d given it a fair try, but she was narrower through the hips than I was, and I had a few inches of height on her, so the skirt hit at an unflattering point two inches above my ankles. Laundry remained undone, and I wasn’t going to rectify that now—if death by stalker was inevitable, then I wasn’t spending my last few hours on this earth doing my least favorite chore—so I changed into my last clean outfit, a short white dress with blue flowers.
I hummed to myself as I headed down the quarter-mile dirt path that led to the cluster of guest cabins. Considering yesterday’s upheaval, I was in a remarkably good mood today. And why shouldn’t I be? The sun was shining, the air was fragrant with wildflowers andponderosa pine, birds were chirping, and I still wanted Jeremiah’s dick.
Yes, I was in danger. Probably. Maybe my postcard stalker just wanted to talk. Regardless, that same danger had existed two days ago, too. The only difference was that I wasawareof it now. I couldn’t actually do anything about it, and what did I do when I had problems I couldn’t do anything about? I pretended they didn’t exist. It wasn’t lying to myself. It was procrastinating the truth.
So that’s what I did.
I pretended I wasn’t scared of every shadow darkening the sunlit path.
I pretended I didn’t feel someone’s stare on the back of my head.
I pretended that I was looking behind me for a friend, not a murderer.
I did pretty well pretending until my cabin came into view and the partly open door stopped me in my tracks. Someone was in my cabin. Someone was?—
A cart loaded with rags, disinfectant sprays, and a bucket pushed across the braided rug, guided by an unseen hand.
