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Fake it ‘til you make it. I am one hundred percent determined to wipe Kevin out of my life and my thoughts. Now that I have Brennon, that should be easier.
We spend some time discussing the situation, but I really don’t want to give Kevin the satisfaction of talking about him. And I have a more important topic to bring up with Stacey. It’s time I was honest with her.
She’s been back from San Diego for a couple of days, and she’s still constantly talking about what a great experience it was. And how there are so many more opportunities in the big city for the kind of beauty artist she wishes to be.
“Stace,” I say. “There’s no good way to say this, so I’m gonna just say it . . .”
Her eyes turn serious again, and she’s watching me very intently.
“I’ve been thinking of moving to LA,” I say. “Me and Brennon are really hitting it off, and I would like to see where it leads. And now that Kevin’s out of prison, I just don’t want to sit around the house alone, being a target for him . . . What?”
I was speaking fast, wanting to break this painful news to her quickly . . . but instead of looking sadder and sadder, she’s actually starting to smile wider and wider.
“How long have you been sitting on this idea without telling me?” she asks, still smiling widely.
“Since I got back from LA,” I admit, still confused as hell by her reaction.
“I have a confession to make, too,” she says. “I’ve been thinking of closing up shop here and moving to a bigger city, too, since I got back from the class in San Diego.”
I just sit there with my mouth gaping open. But why am I even surprised? Stacey and I have been perfectly in sync our whole lives. Why should it be any different from this?
“You know my business isn’t doing so great here,” she says. “It’s because what I offer is too modern and hip for the population here. I love them all, but they’re just not glamorous enough in Julian. As much as I love our hometown, staying in business here would be the end of my business.”
“So LA would be perfect for you, too,” I say and smile just as wide too.
“Yes, it would,” she says. “So let’s do it. Let’s move to LA!”
“Yay! Let’s!” I say and hug her tight. “It’ll be such an adventure.”
This is the best news I’ve had in a while, and I’m already thinking about how Brennon and the MC can help her find premises for her salon, and maybe the ol’ ladies can be her first customers then help spread the word among their friends.
I’m halfway done explaining all those plans to her, both of us growing more and more excited by the minute when my phone beeps shrilly. I don’t recognize the noise right away since I haven’t heard it in so long.
But then I do. It’s the sound of my alarm system app, and when I take my phone from my purse, there’s an ominous notification across the screen: Movement detected at the front door.
My heart is racing again, the tuna salad I had for lunch threatening to come up again. Stacey is asking me what’s wrong, but I can’t speak. So I just show her the notification.
When I click into it to see the camera feed, it’s just a black screen, as though someone disabled it.
“Come on, let’s go chase that bastard away,” she says, standing up. “I have my gun with me today.”
“Maybe it’s nothing,” I whisper as I stand up. I’m trying to take deep breaths to calm down, but not much air is moving past my constricted throat.
“Maybe,” she says. “But let’s go see.”
She waves the waitress over and pays.
By the time we reach her car, my panic is somewhat subsiding. There have been no more notifications from my alarm system, and the app is telling me everything is up and running. Maybe it was just a glitch because the thing hasn’t been switched on for so long.
My house looks just as quiet and boarded up as I left it, and as I walk up to the front door, I’m actually starting to believe it was all just a false alarm.
Then I see it. A white box with a pink satin bow is sitting on my doorstep.
“Shit,” Stacey says and pulls her gun from her purse. Being a business owner, she has a conceal-and-carry permit, and she’s never been shy about assuring me that she’s perfectly ready to use the gun on Kevin the first time she sees him threatening me.
I can’t see him anywhere now. But it’s entirely possible, even very probable, that he’s hiding somewhere nearby, watching me. It was a bright and sunny day with almost no shade anywhere, but he could always be counted on to find the shadows.
My hands are shaking as I pull on the bow to untie it. I don’t want to know what’s in the package, and at the same time, imagining the contents is much worse. I tell Stacey as much when she tells me to leave it and wait for the cops to get here.
