Chapter 14
Garrett kept an eye on Reese from where he was sitting with the guys. She seemed to be getting along well with the other women. He’d overheard her talking to Orly when he walked by them earlier, and he was pretty sure Orly was telling Reese about her gift. He hoped that helped break the ice between them. It was one of the reasons he’d wanted to make this gathering happen sooner rather than later. He wanted Reese to have friends that she could relate to, and his friends’ women were the absolute best.
“How’s Skyla doing with the estate sale and Madigan’s?” Caden asked Blake, interrupting Garrett’s thoughts. They were sitting on Adirondack chairs on the dock. Tanner and Martin were skipping rocks seeing who could make their rock skip more times. Luke was scrolling through something on his phone, and Blake and Caden had been comparing notes about their women, making sure that both of them were getting on as well as possible after their shared trauma.
“Good. Her father’s estate sold last month, and she’s actually putting some of the money toward buying the building where Madigan’s is after convincing the landlord to sell instead of hiking up the lease.”
“That’s great,” Caden said. “Sounds like staying busy is working for her. I know Hallie has been throwing herself into The Mystic Cow lately, which I’m actually not sure how I feelabout. I mean, I love her shop, but sometimes I wish she would just relax a little more. Take a day for herself, just read or go to a spa.”
Garrett smiled, remembering how the guys had helped arrange for Orly, Hallie and Skyla to have a girls’ night out, complete with spa treatments and a night at a nice hotel. “We could get them another night at that hotel,” he suggested.
“I would love to,” Caden said, “but I don’t think Hallie would get much sleep.”
“Neither would Skyla,” Blake added.
“They’re still having nightmares?” Luke asked.
The other men nodded.
“How’s Orly doing with everything?” Garrett asked.
They’d all had a front row seat to Orly’s incredible gift when she connected with Hallie while Vivian was torturing her, all in the name of keeping Skyla under her control. It was awful, and hearing Orly scream out in pain, knowing she was feeling what was happening to Hallie, made it even worse.
“She’s hanging in there,” Luke said, staring out into the darkness. “I think there’s a lot she doesn’t tell me, and she’s a pro at keeping things from me, even when I’m in her head.”
“Then get her to talk to you,” Caden said. “Or if she doesn’t want to talk to you, encourage her to talk to someone else. It could be one of us, or I can give you the number of the therapist Hallie has been seeing. The important thing is that she doesn’t keep it all inside.”
Luke nodded. “Thanks, I’ll let her know and see what she says.”
Garrett hated that his friends and their women were going through a hard time, but after everything they’d survived, he was just grateful they were all here, alive and well. Even though Reese wasn’thisper se, at least not yet, he already felt himselfthinking about her more often than not, wondering if she was okay.
Having her living with him definitely made things between them more intense. Kissing her was like heaven, and he liked the feel of her in his arms a lot. Waking up to a sleeping Reese this morning was definitely the highlight of his day. “You think Orly told Reese that she’s the woman that talked to her back in Desert Cove?” Blake asked.
“I know she wanted to,” Luke said. “I think meeting another person she’s helped and connecting with them in real life might actually help her through this funk she’s been in.”
Caden nodded.
“What about the other thing we don’t want to bring up?” Blake asked.
“Reese filed a restraining order on Marcus Dowell this morning,” Garrett said.
“He got out?” Luke asked, anger lacing his tone.
“Bail,” Blake said. “Asshole found himself a lawyer not even Skyla’s father could afford before he lost everything.”
“How? With whose money?” Luke asked.
Garrett shook his head. “Don’t know yet.”
“I’m working on it,” Blake said. “But I do know the license plates were lifted off a Honda CRV. Owner is clean. No record. Doubt she has anything to do with Russell or the kidnapping.”
“Now, we just have to worry about Russell making yet another comeback,” Caden bit out.
“If only we could figure out what he wants with Reese,” Garrett said, mostly just thinking out loud. It didn’t make sense for the man to be hunting her like that simply because she can see the moment of people’s deaths.
“I think I figured it out,” Reese said. The women had walked up onto the dock with the men barely noticing.
All eyes were on them now. “Figured what out?” Garrett asked.
