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Chapter Three
Terri chewed her thumbnail, a nervous habit she had developed sometime between marrying Randy and leaving him. She did it now because she was worried. What if Randy was coming to get her? The safe world she had built at the edge of the cliff could finally be about to plummet over the side. She always knew this day might come. Now, she just had to hope he wasn’t lurking in the shadows somewhere waiting to pounce.
Luke pulled into the short driveway and cut the engine. They sat together quietly, looking up at the squat ranch-style house.
“Nice place,” he commented, his head nodding slowly.
“Thanks.”
It was a very nondescript house, only nine hundred square feet. It had a slab of concrete for a porch, box hedges under each shuttered window, so overgrown they blended together, making them appear as one giant bush. She hadn’t trimmed them in ages. A plastic bag, stark white against the deep evergreen, sat tangled in one of the branches, moving lazily with a soft breeze. The yard was little more than a strip of grass, plain and unremarkable.
“You should trim those bushes,” Luke told her. “It’s a good hiding place for someone who wants to break in.”
Terri’s stomach fell. She had never thought about that, but now that the idea was planted she knew she wouldn’t get any rest until the problem was taken care of.
“I’ll cut them,” she assured him. Maybe even tonight, she added to herself.
Luke’s head swiveled around, and he regarded her with a serious expression.
Dropping her hand, she covertly wiped her wet thumb nail off on her skirt and searched for something to say. What kind of conversation can you hold with your boss anyway? she wondered. “Well.” Terri smiled awkwardly and reached for the handle. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She was all the way out of the car when Luke stepped out to join her.
“I’ll see you inside if you don’t mind.”
He was already moving toward the house, leaving her with little choice in the matter. She was actually kind of relieved. Nothing was more unsettling than coming home to a dark, empty home.
Walking alongside Luke, Terri peered at the darkened windows and wished she would have had the foresight to at least leave on a lamp.
“You shouldn’t come home to a dark house,” Luke remarked, echoing her thoughts.
Terri smirked, bypassing him so she could fit the key in the lock.
“Dangerous, right?”
Pushing open the steel-clad door, she stepped inside and flicked on the wall switch. Light flooded the living room, illuminating the adjoining hallway that led to the back two bedrooms.
Luke came in behind her and performed a cursory glance around the tight space.
“I know.” Terri immediately began apologizing for the state it was in. “It’s a little cluttered, but it’s not dirty.”
“No, it’s not dirty,” Luke agreed slowly. “Just a lot of furniture.”
Terri took in the oversized sofa and loveseat, the recliner and two end tables, the coffee table and finally, the entertainment center, all crammed into the restrictive room.
“I couldn’t afford a storage unit after the divorce, and I didn’t have the heart to let everything go,” she confessed, then immediately zipped her lips. She hadn’t intended to share her past with anyone. The more you revealed about yourself the more likely the past would come back and haunt you. And Terri’s past was better left secret.
“You were married?” Luke sounded surprised.
Terri wasn’t sure if she should be offended—as if a woman like her wasn’t capable of securing a husband—or embarrassed that she was standing here talking to her boss about her personal life.
“Still am, actually. But the divorce will be final at the end of the month,” she went on.
Of course, that’s what her lawyer had told her. It had been the same song and dance month after month for nearly a year. At first she thought it would be a quick process, but it turned out to be more complicated than that. Randy had disputed one thing or another all the way, resulting in several postponements until things could be worked out between their lawyers.
Luke nodded slowly, his gaze sliding around the room. “Must have been something bad for a woman like you to call it quits.”
Terri frowned. “What do you mean?”
