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“What time is the baby shower?” I asked Abbey.
“Eleven-thirty.”
“Let’s tell him noon. That way, we can be far away when this goes down, and you’ll all be at the shower.” My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
“That’ll work,” Liam said.
Abbey: I can come on Sunday around noon. Send me the address.
Jeff: Fine, but don’t be late. You know how much I hate that.
Abbey: I’ll be right on time. See you Sunday.
Jeff replied with the address for the hotel, and I made note of it in my phone.
We all took a deep breath. Phase one was in motion. He agreed to meet us. Now we had to work on backup in case anything went sideways. Even though I was a sheriff, there were still rules that needed to be followed. We had the restraining order, but I couldn’t deliver it alone. I was too involved.
Pulling out my phone, I shot Thomas a message.
Duke: We think the intruder is after Abbey. An ex of hers who followed her here.
Thomas: How do you want to handle it?
Duke: We want to set a trap for him, but we’re going to need some help.
Thomas: What kind of help?
Duke: Police from town. We want to serve him the restraining order, but when we do, I’ll also need to question him about the ranch.
Thomas: Do what needs to be done, but make sure we don’t draw too much attention to the ranch. Tell me the place and time. I’ll be nearby to make sure he doesn’t try to cry foul.
Duke: Got it, boss. Thanks.
Now that I had Thomas’ approval, I wanted to move forward. I’d call the station in the morning and work out the details. Tonight, Liam and I would spread the word to the men around the ranch about what was going on, and hopefully, with more eyes on watch, nothing else would occur. That was our biggest fear—that Jeff would figure out we were playing him and he’d retaliate.
I was itching to round him up immediately, but I knew we had to wait. Even with Abbey safely with us in the house, I still wasn’t settled. I wouldn’t be until the guy was behind bars for hurting my woman.
After a restless night, I called the station and set up a meeting for the afternoon to discuss a plan. Liam and I wanted to get with the other guys before I left to fill them in on everything.
“Are you going to Blake’s?” Abbey peeked into my office.
“Yes. We’re going to fill Gavin and Travis in on what’s going on. I have the meeting this afternoon in town. I’ll have more information to give everyone else.”
“Can I come with you? I want to see Blake and pick her brain about something.”
“Sure. I’m leaving in a minute. Are you ready?” I strode over and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“Ready when you are.” She beamed. My heart filled with warmth. Seeing her smiling and not so hesitant was everything. She was my world. Why I wanted to fight it those first few days was beyond me. I couldn’t imagine my life without her now.
ABBEY
Istared at the pregnancy tests in my hand. The little pink plus signs had my stomach churning. When I met with Blake last week, I realized when we were pouring over our planners and talking about schedules that I’d missed my period. I was three days late.
I tried to tell myself it was no biggie.Except I’d never been late in my life. The guys and I still hadn’t had the conversation about whether or not we all wanted to have kids.
Randomly going into town might bring questions I wasn’t ready to answer. I also didn’t want to stress Liam or Duke out before they met with Jeff. I’d told Blake I needed to borrow a sweater of hers yesterday when me and the guys had stopped by. When she went to grab it, I excused myself to use the restroom.
Weeks ago, Blake had jokingly asked what to do with all the leftover pregnancy tests she hadn’t used. The rest of the girls told her to keep them for next time and laughed. I was forever grateful I knew they even existed. I dug through Blake’s cabinet until I found a box.
