Page 26 of Return to Cheshire Bay
The karate kid was waking up and stretched,pushing against my dress with a noticeable bump. I rubbed it untilit smoothed out, trying to calm myself down. But it wasn’t working.The longer the air cackled between Parker and I, the harder myheart pounded.
Parker was in my apartment. He’d been to mywork. What else was he capable of?
“You know, since you haven’t been home or towork, I’ve been trying to figure out where you are.”
A cold sweat built across the back of myneck.
“And that’s when I had a moment ofbrilliance.”
The audacity of Parker having any smarts waslaughable. What had I ever seen in the guy? He was gorgeous andamazing in bed, but other than that? He had an entry level positionwith a marketing company and zero desire to move up. He spent hisfree time–
“So, I contacted Beth.”
I laughed. “As if she’d tell youanything.”
“You’re right, she refused all my calls.”His breathing was heavy, calculating, and it caused the hairs tostand upright on the back of my sweaty neck. “Turns out she’s awaythis weekend. Catching a flight to the island?”
A weight of a thousand nightmares sat on mychest, rendering me speechless. I gazed across to Eric’s house, asone by one the lights flickered to life. Thank god he was home.Knowing that meant the world to me.
“So, I did some more digging.”
A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky,the static echoing over the phone before a clap of thunder nearlyrendered me deaf. Long gone was the fight instinct, instead it hadbeen replaced by the flight portion. I pushed the end button andstormed back into my house, securing the patio door.
I checked the guest suite and bathroom,ensuring all windows were closed and locked tight with the lightsall on, before heading downstairs and repeating my security checkthere. After a long while of pacing, which did nothing to calm myracing heart, I finally gave up and sat on the couch.
Maybe Parker had been baiting me, hoping tofind out where I was? Beth sure as hell wouldn’t tell him, and itwas unlikely her admin would’ve said anything.
It should’ve put me at ease, but it didn’t.It only made things worse.
A deep vibration rumbled under my cheek, andI blinked myself awake. My phone buzzed again, and I pulled away myhand, the phone still tightly gripped in my hand. It wasn’t theImperial March, so I hit the answer button.
“Where are you?”
I shot up and rubbed my crusty eyes to readthe name on the display. “Beth?” My throat was raw, as if I’dswallowed razor blades.
“I’m about to board the plane. You stillgoing to pick me up?”
I coughed to clear away the frog. “That wastoday?”
“Yes.”
The note of distain in her voice was alittle too much for me, especially since I’d yet to have a coffeeand had managed a few shitty hours of sleep, if I were beinggenerous.
“When do you land?”
“Forty-five minutes?”
“I’ll be there. Don’t you worry.” She hungup before I had the chance to say goodbye. It wasn’t much time toget ready, but it would be enough.
I gave a quick glance to Eric’s house,wondering what kind of night he’d had. His lights shut off beforemidnight, and a couple of times he made it out onto the deck butretreated after a few breaths. I managed to sneak out onto my ownback porch for a moment, hiding in the shadows as he glanced overto my place. Sadness settled over his features, but I wasn’t tooupset by that. He deserved it for bringing up my past and throwingit in my face.
Was he going to be Beth’s pilot? It was agood thing they didn’t know who the other was, Beth would make hisflight unbearable. Normally, that would’ve made me smile, but now,it caused untold worry.
Eric wasn’t a bad guy, the opposite in fact.He’d been the first one to welcome me back, and to make CheshireBay a home. He was a reason for me to stay and enjoy my time here.Without asking, he’d helped me settle in and offered his hand, andhis heart, more than once. But like everyone else, he couldn’t letmy past go.
Why did things need to be socomplicated?
I pulled up outside the green building, onlyslightly bigger than three of the beach houses combined; hardlyairport sized. Pacing outside and fanning myself as the humiditylevels were reaching the unbearable stage, I headed into theair-conditioned building for reprieve.