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“Jesus Christ, could you at least give me a couple of days before you start in, Dad?”
I wasn’t sure why I was feeling so uneasy, or if it was particularly healthy to be talking out loud to my dead father, but sane or not, it made me feel a little better to at least acknowledge the feeling, to gain a little space and perspective from the memory-or-spirit-or-aura-or-whateverthat the apartment held.
Two things were for certain, though.
First, I was going to need a little more time than I’d anticipated to go through everything—hell, I was going to need time just to psych myself up for the task.
And second, there was no way in hell I was spending the night in this apartment. Not this night, anyway. Maybe I’d manage it in a day or two… or three. But right now?
Hell-to-the-no.
The place was dark and confining enough in the daylight, and while I didn’treallybelieve in ghosts or think that my dad wasactuallywatching me, I also wasn’t in any rush to put those beliefs to the test.
No, better to just stay at a hotel for a day or two—maybe even a week. That way, I could take my time getting the place organized and cleaned out. I’d burn some fucking sage if I needed to—whatever it took—but I’d get through it somehow.
Hopefully.
Starting tomorrow, though. Tomorrow, I could deal with all of it. The apartment, the flower shop, whatever Joanne wanted to show me—although, God, maybe I could keep my fucking foot out of my mouth the next time?
Maybe not give Joanne the impression that I was a raging asshole?
Maybe?
All of that shit could wait until tomorrow, though. For the moment, for today, I just wanted out.
Out of the apartment.
Out of the unwanted obligations my dad’s death had thrust upon me.
Out ofCastle Falls.
Chapter Nine - Joanne
I didn’t normally waste time sitting in my car before work, but there had been nothing normal about the past twenty-four hours. Now, rather than rush in to unlock the door and get a head start on my day like I usually did, I found myself hesitating.
Even though I’d been mentally preparing for Brady to arrive ever since Henry passed away, it had still come as a shock to actuallyseehim there, up close, in person.
In the blink of an eye, Brady’s presence had changed the whole comforting dynamic of running the shop, disrupting a routine that had finally started to feel familiar to me and Naomi even though Brady hadn’t set foot back in the shop for the rest of the day.
Now, working with—workingfor—someone new wasn’t just a thought, or a hypothetical, one-of-these-days kind of thing. It was reality. It was fact.
It was happening, and I wasn’t sure that I was completely ready.
And I certainly hadn’t been prepared for Brady to be so… hot. To have the sort of primal magnetism that had immediately sent a jolt straight to my pussy.To be stuck in my head ever since the moment we’d met.
Then again, I hadn’t really been prepared foranythingthat had happened over the previous few weeks.
Somehow, though, I’d managed to keep going anyway.
And now, just when I had started to feel like I was maybe finding my balance again, Brady had come along and thrown me for a loop.
There was no denying that there had been some kind of… spark or chemistry orsomethingthat had passed between us when he had first walked into the shop. I hadn’t imagined that hot look in his eyes… had I?
No, that had happened.
Almost certainly.
Well… probably.
