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Should she go in?
If Owen were with her, she probably wouldn’t.
But the reason that she’d mentioned Friday when she had been so angry and upset when she’d been out on Tuesday night was because Ty and Louise Hanson had volunteered to keep Owen and take him to ball practice Saturday morning so she didn’t have to leave the store at her busiest time.
Owen was staying over with several other boys, and she wouldn’t need to worry about getting him until three o’clock when her store closed.
Ty and Louise had volunteered to do that throughout the spring practices, and Peyton had been grateful.
Although a little sad, too, because the idea of facing Friday night, long and dark, without her son, made her feel lonely.
Maybe that’s why she volunteered to spend Friday night at the mansion, cataloguing books.
It gave her something to do.
Maybe. After all, for the last twelve years, her Friday nights had been occupied with her son. The idea that he was growing up made her feel sad.
She focused back on the doorknob under her hand. She’d twisted it but had not pushed the door open. From somewhere in the house, she could hear the dogs barking, but they weren’t right by the door. Why not?
Should she open it?
He could be hurt; he could need her.
So, without allowing herself to think about it anymore, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
She could tell from the outside it was going to be big, but she was surprised at the immensity as she walked in, closing the door behind her. The foyer had cathedral ceilings, with windows the whole way to the top, letting in sunlight so it looked bright and cheerful. Or it would have, if it hadn’t been so drab and unkept.
Apparently, the foyer wasn’t one of the areas where he had had work done.
She’d love to talk to him about the house. Was he getting the whole thing refinished? And where was the library? And should she go directly to the library, trying to find it, or should she look around for Bryce?
“Mr. Shaker?” she said, her voice sounding hollow and thin.
“Mr. Shaker?” she said louder, realizing that there was some type of thumping coming from down the hall.
She lifted her voice as loudly as she could without yelling. “Mr. Shaker?”
She took several steps, and the thumping stopped.
She froze.
She wasn’t doing anything wrong. Not really. Other than letting herself into someone’s house without permission. It was kind of like trespassing, only he knew she was coming so... It wouldn’t count as trespassing? Right?
She wasn’t quite sure how the law played out in that type of situation, but she liked to think she stayed on the right side of it.
Maybe not this time.
She wasn’t going to let that get her down, though, so she lifted her voice and tried to speak like she belonged there.
“Mr. Shaker? I’m looking for the library.”
Something that sounded like a growl came from around the corner, and Peyton was slightly tempted to run upstairs or back outside. But she figured if she left this time, she wasn’t coming back. Not ever. And she had a library to organize.
She had a hunch the library wasn’t upstairs though, so she held her ground, lifting her chin like she’d been practicing all week and pasting a smile on her face.
Love. We love hard people. We love angry, bitter, mean, hurt people.
She almost laughed at herself. He wasn’t that bad.
