“Alexa.” Kate held up a hand and counted slowly to ten. “Your sister’s private life is just that—private.”
“What private life? Why the man’s been dying to get inside those baggy jeans she wears since he laid eyes on her.”
“How do you know he hasn’t?” Jo shot back.
“Because,” Lexy said with a slow, feline smile, “once he has, you’re going to be a whole lot more relaxed.”
“If all it takes to relax a woman is a quick roll, you’d be comatose by now.”
Lexy only laughed and turned her head back into the wind. “Well, I’m sure feeling serene these days, honey pie. Which is more than I can say for you.”
“Lexy, that’s enough.” Kate spoke quietly, then rose. “And we’re not going to the mainland to shop. We’re going because your sister’s got troubles. She wanted you to come along so she could tell you about it, so those troubles won’t touch on you.”
“What are you talking about?” Lexy straightened. “What’s wrong?”
“Sit down,” Kate ordered and picked up the envelopes Jo had stowed. “And we’ll tell you.”
***
TEN minutes later, Lexy was going through the photos. Her stomach was tight, but her hands were steady and her mind was working. “He’s stalking you.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it that.” Jo kept her eyes on the water, on the faint haze that was the mainland.
“It’s exactly that, and that’s how you’re going to put it to the police. There are laws against it. I knew a woman up in New York. Her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t leave her be, kept popping up, calling her, following her around. She lived scared for six months before they did something about it. It’s not right you should have to live scared.”
“She knew who he was,” Jo pointed out.
“Well, you have to figure out who this is.” Because the pictures spooked her, Lexy set them aside. “Did you break up with anybody close to the time this started?”
“No, I haven’t been seeing anyone in particular.”
“You don’t have to think it was in particular,” Lexy reminded her. “He has to think it. Who were you dating—even one date?”
“Nobody.”
“Jo, you had dinner with someone, went to a show, had a quick lunch.”
“Not dates.”
“Don’t be so literal. Problem with you is everything’s just black and white in your head. Just like your pictures. Even those have shades of gray, don’t they?”
Not entirely sure if she was insulted or impressed by her sister’s analogy, Jo frowned. “I just don’t see—”
“Exactly.” Lexy nodded. “You think up a list, then you think of another for men you turned down when they asked you out. Maybe somebody asked you a couple, three times and you figured he gave up.”
“I’ve been busy this past year. There’s hardly anyone.”
“That’s good. It’ll make the odds better on finding the right one.” Lexy crossed her legs, put herself into forming the plotline. “Maybe there’s someone in your building in Charlotte who tried to draw you out, make conversation when you bumped into each other in the hallway. Open your mind now,” Lexy said impatiently. “A woman knows when a man’s got an interest in her, even if she’s got none in him.”
“I haven’t paid much attention.”
“Well, pay attention now, and think. You’re the one who has to stay in control here. You’re not going to let him know he’s got you scared. You’re not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he can put you in a hospital again.” She reached over, gave Jo’s shoulder a hard shake. “So you think. You’ve always been the smartest one of us. Use your head now.”
“Let me take the wheel, Jo.” Gently, Kate pried Jo’s tensed hands away. “You sit down, take a breath.”
“She can breathe later. Right now she’s going to think.”
“Lexy, ease off.”
