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Zoe reread the message several times, her eyes wide. To Maximus, she murmured, “She’s certainly a woman of action.”
Leaning back against the chair with her cat curled on her lap, she was shocked to realize hours had passed when she opened her eyes.
The light over her front door was flashing crazily and Mandy stood in the shrubs outside her living room window. It startled a scream from her before she started laughing hysterically.
Setting Maximus gently in the chair she vacated, she made her way to the front door and started to apologize when Nate grabbed her in a painfully tight hug.
Mandy wrapped her arms around Zoe’s back and the father and daughter held her firmly between them.
They eventually let her go, shut and locked the door, and led her to the sofa in the living room. Mandy turned on the light in the corner.
“Are you both alright?” she asked with a frown. “Did Jessica do something? What happened?”
Nate closed his eyes. “That you have to say that woman’s name makes my heart hurt, Zoe.” Meeting her gaze, he said, “Noel texted me. Sent me a copy of your email. Bill is bringing them on Sunday. We’ve been trying to reach you. Right now, we’re going to keep you company. Mandy can sleep with you and I’ll take the couch.”
“That’s not necessary, Nate. You can’t sleep on the couch! I’m fine. She made threats against you and Mandy. I wish you’d go stay at your place above your mom’s gallery for the weekend.”
Mandy took one of her hands as she lowered to the coffee table in front of them. “With Jessica, you can’t run. You have to face her like you did today.”
“I didn’t. She scared me to death, to be honest.”
“Beth saw her grab you, shake you. You didn’t cry or back down. You asked No-No for advice. You’re a different kind of badass, Zoe.”
Glancing back and forth between them, she frowned. “What’s going on? You’re both shaking and pale.”
“We were scared. About a year after Dad divorced her, she tried to take me out of school even though she had to have supervised visits. A couple of years after that, someone in a mask beat up this lady Dad dated a couple of times. We knew Jessica was in town but the police called it a random incident. She’s psychotic and dangerous.”
“Um.” Zoe swallowed and looked at Nate. “I probably provoked her.” She quickly told them about her conversation with Jessica. “Some of the things she said hurt my feelings but then she threatened you and Mandy. I just wanted to get a minute to think, to figure out how to handle her. I accidentally fell asleep.”
“We’re not letting you out of our sight.”
“Nate…”
“No, Zoe. There’s always a hidden agenda with her. Your relationship with us is a bonus game but it’s not the main reason she’s back. It just synced up with her overall plans.”
His eyes flicked to Mandy and back to her quickly enough that his daughter missed it. Zoe’s hand tightened around his.
“Stay here tonight but you can’t sleep on this couch, Nate. Seriously. It’s about a foot too short.” Smiling at Mandy, she asked, “Would you be scandalized if your dad slept in my bed?”
“Horrifically and forever,” she shot back with a grave expression that made Zoe snicker. “Way less than if he woke up broken tomorrow from sleeping on your little person piece of furniture.”
“Beth is covering the library so we’ll work everything out. Let me see what I have for dinner…”
Nate leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “Keep it simple. We can order pizza and binge on movies.”
Smiling, she nodded. “Alright then. Prepare for your first sleepover and to have Maximus crawling all over you while you sleep. I’m sure he’s going to be incredibly curious.”
“Not as much as he’ll be when we eventually move him out to our place. Then, he’s unlikely to ever stop exploring.”
Zoe’s lips parted but she couldn’t manage a word.
Mandy squeezed her hand. “That’s our end game. Having you with us all the time. It will be awesome. Dad says it will be best for him and I explained I’d make out way better than he would.” She shrugged. “We’re mid-argument so I’ll let you know how it turns out. Could go on a while.”
Looking back and forth between them, Zoe tried to figure out if they were saying what she thought they were.
Nate winked. “One thing at a time but you’re not misunderstanding.” Then he took out his cell phone and ordered a pizza.
Her eyes followed Mandy as the young woman walked to the kitchen and proceeded to feed Maximus for her.
