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“We just started seeing each other.”
“And?”
“And we just started seeing each other,” I repeat, and she sighs.
“Believe me, I lied to myself about my feelings for Kolter for a long time, too, but in the end, it didn’t change anything. It sure didn’t change how I felt about him. You’ll figure that out for yourself eventually.”
“I guess,” I murmur, then change the subject and ask how she’s feeling and when her next appointment is. While we chat, I unpack and repack my bag to take with me over to Wyatt’s, and by the time that we hang up, my laundry is ready to be transferred over to the dryer, so I do that, then carry the stuff from the dryer to my room. As I’m beginning to put it away, I hear something above me and pause what I’m doing to listen. I know that I might be crazy, but it seriously sounds like there is someone in the attic. Walking into the hallway, I tip my head back and see the rope for the pull-down hatch.
Jumping up, I grab the thin rope, and as my feet hit the floor, the hatch opens with a creak.
“What the hell are you doing, Genevieve?” I ask myself right before a bunch of sticks, dirt, and god knows what else is thrown down at me. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I let go of the rope, and the hatch slams shut. Then I do what any sane person would do and run out of my house screaming and calling 911.
It feels like forever that I’m waiting outside in the cold without my jacket, but I would guess it’s only a few minutes until I hear sirens approaching. As a sheriff’s department cruiser pulls up and parks and I see the man behind the steering wheel, I realize how stupid I am.
“The deputies are here,” I tell the dispatcher, who told me to stay on the line with her while I waited for them to arrive.
“Are you okay for me to let you go?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” I watch Wyatt get out of his car, his face a mask of confusion and worry as he approaches me. Another cruiser pulls in to park.
“Someone is in your attic?” he asks, cupping my face in his hands while his eyes search mine.
“I . . . I think so. I opened the hatch, and something threw dirt and stuff in my face.” Oh gosh, I sound like an insane person.
“It’s all right.” He drops a kiss to my lips. “Come wait in my car.” He walks me around to the passenger door of his cruiser and settles me in the seat. “Stay here while Cole and I check things out.”
“Okay,” I whisper, my voice shaking. After he talks to Cole, the two men pull out their weapons and walk toward my house, then disappear inside while I sit with a pit in my stomach. I don’t know how long they are inside for, but it feels like time slows down as I wait for them to reappear.
Wyatt is the first one to step out onto my porch, but soon Cole walks out behind him, and the two men look at each other and laugh. I open the door, get out, and walk toward them, feeling annoyed.
“Why are you laughing?” I glare at Wyatt as he walks toward me, still chuckling, and Cole doubles over. “Seriously, what’s so funny?” I look down when Wyatt holds out his phone between us.
It takes a second for the image on the screen to register, but before long I realize that the eyes surrounded by black fur staring back at me belong to an adorably fluffy raccoon, who also happens to have an entire family behind him or her.
“Meet your ghost.”
“Wait, that’s what has been living in the ceiling?”
“Yep, and it looks like they have been there for a long while.” He wraps his hand around the back of my neck, grinning. “You probably scared them when you opened the hatch.”
“So I’m not crazy. There was something in the attic.”
“No, you’re not crazy.” He chuckles, kissing my forehead. “I’m going to get ahold of animal control, and while I do that, go finish packing your bag. Just because you don’t have a ghost doesn’t mean you’re not going to sleep next to me tonight.” He pulls me up to my tiptoes and touches his mouth to mine. Yeah, Anna is right. I have fallen for Wyatt, and if something happened to him, I would be devastated, but I would be more devastated if I missed out on the opportunity of finding out what the future holds for us.
Chapter 26:
A Storm Is Coming
Wyatt
Standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand, I listen to the weather report coming from the radio on the counter. We are due to get five feet of snow throughout the day and overnight, with temps set to drop to negative one before daybreak tomorrow.
The conditions would be treacherous in the best circumstances, but with two kids possibly hiding in the woods and no assurance that they have a shelter or proper gear to get them through, my concern for their safety has changed to true fear. For days we’ve had search parties and Storm out looking for them. Only on two occasions could I have sworn that Storm was on their trail, but just as quickly as he found it, he lost it to the rain that hasn’t seemed to let up for more than a day. And we do know the two of them are together after logging in to Romey’s Roblox account and finding her chat log with Ezra. The two of them have been in contact for much longer than anyone knew, Romey constantly checking on Ezra to make sure that he was okay. And he had been for the most part, until recently, when he was moved in with a foster family that was not doing right by him.
“Everything okay?” Genevieve asks, dragging me from my thoughts, and I turn to watch her walk into the kitchen wrapped in a short robe, the silk material clinging to the tips of her breasts, with her hair down.
“Sandie was able to get me a shirt of Ezra’s, so I’m gonna take Storm out this morning for one more look before the weather gets bad. Maybe he can pick up on his scent.”
