Page 26 of Hurry Up And Wait

“Maybe,” she said mockingly. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you could move so fast. We weren’t even in his presence for five minutes and you managed to pull him back into your web.”

“I don’t have a web.”

“Sure you don’t,” she laughed.

“It’s not a web! Is it my fault that we hit it off right away?”

“It doesn’t hurt that he’s insanely attractive now. Did you know?”

“That he grew muscles on top of muscles and has looks that would devastate half the female population? No, I didn’t know that. I just…wanted someone familiar.”

“Well, he most definitely is not familiar.”

“Come on. It’s time to go shopping,” I said, jumping up from my swing.

She groaned, flopping it across the seat dramatically. “Do I have to? It’s still so early!”

“It is not, you big baby. Now, let’s move before the day gets away from us.”

“It can’t actually get away from us,” she shouted as I headed inside. “It’s a day, not a person!”

I chuckled and ran upstairs to get dressed. I was determined to have a great day, and that started with finding just one piece of furniture that would brighten my room and make this house feel like a home.

For three hours, I dragged Riley around the flea market twenty minutes from town. Every stall was just as disappointing as the last, and when Riley complained about an imaginary flea chasing her around, I decided to call it quits and end the charade of finding something magnificent. There had to be other flea markets we could go to. I just had to find the right one.

“Thank God we’re home!” Riley shouted, falling out of the car onto the sidewalk in front of our house. She hugged the ground, pulling at the grass. “I missed you so much!”

“Dramatic much?” I asked, walking past her and leaving her on the ground to sniff the grass.

As I climbed the steps, a prickling feeling touched my neck and I reached out to rub away the unease. The gray car was back. I knew it as soon as the hairs on my neck stood on end. But that wasn’t the only thing that was here. A box sat on my porch, but there was no return address. Only my name.

I picked it up and studied the box. There was nothing special about it. It was just an ordinary shipping box.

With no sender.

“What’s that?” Riley asked, peering over my shoulder.

“A box.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Thanks, Captain Obvious. I’m so glad you told me. I never would have figured that out on my own.”

“Well, since there’s no name on it other than mine, how would I be able to tell you anything else?”

“You could have said that,” she pointed out. “Are you going to open it?”

“I don’t know.” I got an itchy feeling just staring at it. I had a feeling it was from Shawn. The handwriting was similar to his, and I wouldn’t put it past him to send me something cryptic like this.

“There’s no address,” she added.

“I realize that.”

“No, what I mean is that this wasn’t delivered by the post office. Someone left this on the porch for you. They were here.”

My eyes flashed to the gray car, but it was gone. Riley followed my line of sight and sucked in a breath. “Holy crap. The car.”

“It wasn’t Shawn. He doesn’t have a car like that. It was too fancy.”

“You think this is from Shawn?” she asked.