Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I walk back to the kitchen in search of my other car keys when the phone rings again, and I pick it up and see it’s Jacob.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?” he asks, and I can hear in his voice that he’s frantic.
“I’m home,” I answer, stopping what I’m doing. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got off the phone with Savannah.” His voice goes tight. “Someone just trashed her house.”
Chapter Ten
Savannah
“Don’t touch anything!” Jacob says loudly. “Grady is going to be there in five minutes.” I close my eyes and sit on the step in front of my house. “Did you call Beau?”
“No,” I say softly. “He’s on a date, and I don’t want to disturb him,” I say, ignoring the burning in my stomach and wondering if I can wake up and have a redo of this day. Actually, if I can have a redo of the past week, that would work also. I mean, not the whole week because I don’t want to take back the kiss. The kiss that I’ve been waiting for all my life, the kiss to end all first kisses. To say that I was in shock is an understatement … and then when he told me he’s wanted to do that for a long time? My heart went pitter-patter while my stomach did the wave as I tried to think of how to respond. I should have just come right out and told him that I have also wanted to kiss him for a long time, but instead, I stood in the middle of the dance floor just touching my lips. “It’s fine. Grady is going to be here, and we’ll handle things.”
“I’m so sorry I’m not there,” he says softly. “If you want, we can come back. I know Ethan would understand.”
“No,” I snap. “This is going to be good for Ethan to enjoy the mountains. He doesn’t need to be here for this shit.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind …” he says.
“Thank you, Jacob.” My voice is still low, and I’m trying not to sound or feel defeated, but at some point, you just have to say fuck this shit and move on. It’s becoming very clear to me that this is the line. Forget that my bar was trashed but now someone has broken the front windows of my house. I just got off the phone with the insurance agent, and he basically told me that I’m not covered with my bar since the alarm was tampered with, and I could have done it. “Not just for this but for—”
“No need to thank me. I’ll call you when I get the report from Grady,” he says and hangs up. I sit here on the step, looking out at the other houses around. I’ve been here for seven years, and none of my neighbors have ever smiled or waved at me. Let’s not forget how they go out of their way to come out and wave at Ethan when he gets here. But me? Nada.
I hear a car approaching and see that it’s Grady. He gets out of his truck, and I see a couple of people come out of their houses and stop to stare. He walks up the drive, smiling in his deputy’s uniform and aviator glasses. “If you wanted to see me again, all you had to do was call,” he jokes, and I shake my head.
“Guilty,” I say, holding up my hands. “The jig is up. I did all this just to get you to come to my rescue,” I joke with him and laugh as I stand.
“So what happened?” he asks, taking off his glasses and looking around.
“I was walking up the step when I got home, and my foot cracked on glass. When I looked up, I saw that the window over there”—I point at my big bay window—“was busted, and then when I got closer to the door, I noticed that the window on that side”—I point at the other side—“was smashed, too. I called Jacob, and he told me not to go in until you got here.”
“He’s right. Did you hear anything?” he asks, walking to the side of the house. “I’m going to go check the back.” I nod my head and wipe the tear from my eye. When he returns, he says, “You have two more busted windows in the back.”
“Great.” I take a deep inhale and let it out slowly. “Just freaking great.”
“Let’s check out inside,” Grady says. “I don’t think anyone is inside, or they would have left already,” he says, coming up the steps and waiting for me to open the door. I click open the door, and so far, everything looks the same except I see a brown brick right in the middle of the room where my bay window sits. Grady walks around me and picks it up and looks down at it, and he hisses.