JESSALYN
Greenway Park lay on the outskirts of Reverence, population two thousand and change.Warrenton was a fifteen-minute drive to the south, easily commutable once I got this damn car fixed.The needle was a hair’s breadth away from the red as I turned into the development.Was that steam coming from the engine?
“C’mon, we only need to make it another half mile,” I muttered.“At least, I think so.”
The development looked new, and the map on the car’s built-in satnav was out of date.When I had Wi-Fi at the grocery store in Leesburg, I’d screenshotted the layout, but everything looked different in the dark with only streetlights to show the way.We set off on a voyage of discovery, looking for number forty Linden Avenue.
The area was as nice as the subdivision I’d lived in back in Maine.Neatly trimmed lawns and well-maintained streets, tidy trees and no trash in sight.The houses on Linden Avenue were larger than the others I’d seen, set back farther from the road, all with double garages and immaculate lawns.I turned into the driveway of number forty and pulled up next to a big black pickup with planks of wood sticking out of the back.Not the type of vehicle I’d imagined Tiffany driving, but maybe she liked DIY?Or had a boyfriend visiting?Or she’d borrowed the truck?
I checked my hair in the rear-view mirror—a little lank, but I’d be able to take a shower soon.Should I leave Shiro in the car?Tiffany had sounded keen to meet him, so I clipped a leash to his collar and let him hop out beside me.
“No jumping, boy.We have to make a good impression, okay?No, no, don’t pee on the freaking truck!”
He trailed me to the door, and I rang the bell, trying to calm the butterflies that beat my insides with fragile wings as I waited.And waited.And waited.Nervous but happy, the way I’d been on my first day of college.Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and I tried not to stare through the mottled glass panel at the top of the door as a figure approached.Staring was rude.
“What did you forget?”A man started speaking before the door had fully opened.“Your eyelash curlers?A pair of shoes?”He wore nothing but a white towel slung low around his hips.Water dripped from chocolate-brown hair, down a well-muscled chest, over a six-pack, and slid into two deep grooves that ran from his hips to his—Don’t think about it, Jessie.“Or the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s definitely me’ talk?”
Who the heck was this guy?Tiffany’s boyfriend?His irritation turned to puzzlement as he looked me up and down.Too late, I realised my jaw had dropped and hastily closed my mouth.Why was he missing half an eyebrow?
“Who are you?”he asked as Shiro dropped to his belly and began licking the stranger’s feet.Oh, hell.
“I’m here to meet Tiffany.”
“Who’s Tiffany?”
“Uh, just…Tiffany?”
That was the name she’d given me for the money transfer.
“You have the wrong house.”
He tried to close the door, but Shiro was in the way, eighty-five pounds of furry stubbornness when he didn’t want to move.
“This is forty Linden Avenue?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“That’s the address I was given.This is Greenway Park?”
“That’s what the sign says.”
“Then I’m in the right place.Who are you?Are you with Mandy?Or Kendra?”
“You’re in the wrong place because I don’t know any of those people.”
Maybe Tiffany had made a mistake in her message?Phone keyboards were so tiny, and people didn’t always read over their words before they hit “send.”Perhaps she’d meant number forty-nine?Or fifty?Or thirty?
“They might be some of your neighbours?Three women sharing a house?It belongs to Tiffany’s parents.”
“I know the names of all my neighbours.Is this a joke?Did Melanie send you?”
“Who?I don’t know any Melanie.”
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?Who are you, and what are you doing here with a dog?”
He stooped to scratch Shiro behind the ears, which Shiro must have appreciated because when the guy stood, Shiro sat up and offered a paw.The paw caught on the towel, and I watched in horror as it came undone and slid to the ground in a damp heap.No, no, no, no, no!Out of habit, I bent to pick it up—I was so used to cleaning up after Ridge—and found myself at eye level with…holy hotness.I let out a squeak and froze, then fell on my ass as Shiro began licking my face in concern.
“Fuck,” the guy muttered as he bent to grab the towel.
