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“What? No…” Chloe immediately waved her hands, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “It’s not that serious. He’ll get over it and move on soon enough. I mean, seriously. I don’t think we went on five dates, and he didn’t get anywhere past second base, anyway.”
Vaughn leaned toward me, murmuring, “What’s second base again?”
I only shrugged.
“I don’t want to overreact if he’s not dangerous. What if he’s just another harmless, pathetic weirdo. Like Beau?”
“Hey, I heard that!”
“Oh, you’re going to file a complaint against him,” Julian told Chloe as he closed her phone and looked up. “I’m taking you to the police department myself, in the morning, to report this psycho.”
“But—”
He pointed at her. “Don’t make me tell Dad what’s going on.”
Heaving out a defeated breath, Chloe finally grumbled, “Okay, fine. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Exactly. Nia had some asshole trying to pick her up when she worked the front counter at the library. And when he turned too persistent for her comfort, we got a restraining order against him.”
“Oh my God,” Chloe shrieked. “Why didn’t I know that?”
Julian lifted a shoulder. “It turned out to be nothing. The man apologized, not having realized he was scaring her so much, and she never heard from him again.”
“Well, let’s hope that’s what happens for me too.”
“Amen,” I murmured just as Beau clapped his hands together across the yard. “Alright, Merrill,” he announced. “I just got confirmation that the last load has taken off with Maverick and Cress, so you are officially packed and moved. Want to take a final walk-through to see if we missed anything?”
I glanced up at Vaughn in time to see the first uncomfortable expression I’d spotted tonight cross his features.
“Sure,” he said, however.
“Great.” Beau circled his finger in the air as if rounding up his crew and he started for the back door. “Let’s do it.”
When Vaughn fell into step with him, I quickly tossed the empty plate in my hand toward the pile of pizza boxes and trailed behind them.
Teagan and JB looked like they were completely immersed in all things Ava, so I left her outside and caught the door behind Vaughn before it could shut.
He glanced back in surprise, not having realized I was there. “Oh! Sorry.”
“No worries.” I smiled. “I just thought I’d tag along.” That uneasy expression he’d flashed a moment before was still concerning me. I didn’t want him to have to do this alone.
Er, alone with Beau, that is.
“Sure,” he told me, smiling in a way that I swear looked slightly relieved by my presence. At least, that’s what I was going to believe it meant.
Then he turned back to the interior of the house and jarred to an immediate halt. “Whoa.”
The kitchen was completely cleared out and empty, save for the cabinets and counters, plus a few appliances Vaughn had chosen to leave behind.
I studied the shock on his face, not yet certain if it was the bad, regretful shock or just, you know, surprise about how much my family had gotten done in one day.
Leaning toward him, I murmured, “It’s not too late to change your mind.”
His eyes found mine. They looked sad and lost, even as he said, “I don’t want to change my mind. This place hasn’t felt like home in a long time. Now, it finally looks how it feels.”
That explanation broke my heart, and I patted his arm in comfort as I willed myself not to get teary-eyed in front of him.
“If there’s ever anything you remember that’s been left here,” Beau was saying as he moved from the kitchen and into a short hall that led toward the front room, “Like your secret stash of porn or—”
