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“Cracking. Popping. I don’t know.” What she described didn’t sound like a burglar to him.
“Can you come over and look around? I hate to ask, but...”
He sighed from the depths. She didn’t sound frightened but inquisitive and a touch desperate. She wasn’t afraid. She wanted to see him. And given the nature of the texts from earlier this week, which had revolved around her being sorry and saying that she missed him, this entire situation was damn fishy.
“Veronica, if you believe that someone is in the house you need to lock the bedroom door, call the police and wait for them to arrive. If I left now, I wouldn’t arrive for at least forty minutes.”
Silence stretched between them before she spoke again.
“I checked the camera system. And the alarm. Neither of those have tripped.” She admitted it sheepishly, like she knew if she’d started the conversation that way she’d be talking to dead air. He cared about her well-being; he did not care for being manipulated.
“If you’re afraid,” he reiterated, “call and have an officer come to the house to take a look around.”
“I just... I thought if you were here...we could talk.”
“We don’t have anything to talk about. Especially when Julian isn’t there.” Her texts had been hinting at some sort of resolution between them, which he didn’t see the point of. He didn’t love her and he didn’t trust her. He cared about her, though, which she must’ve known or else she wouldn’t have baited him into this call.
“Look, I’m on a date, so I’m going to go.”
“Who are you on a date with?” she asked, sounding wounded.
He took a breath, debated telling her, then decided to tell her anyway. “Sabrina.”
“I knew it.” There was venom in her voice, and the ugly, petty tone compounded with her next comment. “You two have always had a thing for each other.”
“We never had a thing for each other. I had a thing for you.” He walked to the exit in case this call required him to raise his voice. “You exclusively. There was a time when you had a thing for me, too. Before you had a thing for Julian.”
Pain seeped in without his permission, so he covered it with anger.
“Since Julian’s your guy now, I suggest you call him in a panic.”
“I was worried someone was in the house,” she snapped.
“Well, the someone who will not be in that house tonight is me.”
He ended the call, glaring down at his cell phone’s dark screen.
“Everything okay?” Sabrina’s tender voice asked from behind him. He turned to find her holding her clutch in both hands. “You were gone awhile so I closed our tab. We probably shouldn’t attempt to reenter that club given how much crap the comedian gave us both for leaving.”
“You don’t have to miss the show.” He regretted his ex-wife snaring him in such an obvious way. “I shouldn’t have taken the call, but her text sounded...” When he met Sabrina’s gaze, he noted a dash of surprise.
“Her? You mean Veronica,” she stated flatly.
“She’s at Mom’s estate and was afraid someone was breaking in. I told her to call the cops.”
Concern bled into Sabrina’s pretty features, magnified through the lenses of her black-framed glasses. “If you need to check on her...” She winced like she didn’t want to continue, but then she did anyway. “It might not be a bad idea to make sure she’s safe.”
God. Sabrina. So damn sweet. She hadn’t liked Veronica before, and liked her less now that she and Flynn had divorced for the ugliest of reasons.
“You’d let me end our date to go to her?”
“If it would ease your mind, I would. And hers, I guess.” She quirked her mouth. “I want her to be okay. I just don’t want her to hurt you anymore.”
Ah, hell. That got him.
He tucked his phone into his back pocket and grabbed Sabrina and kissed her, losing himself in the pliant feel of her lips and the comforting weight of her in his arms. When they parted, he shook his head. In the midst of the unluckiest time of his life, he was lucky to have her at his side. “I’m sure Veronica’s fine.”
Sabrina must’ve heard the doubt in his voice. She pulled her coat on and flipped her hair over the collar. “There’s only one way to be sure. We’ll go check.”
