I held my hands up. “It’s Ford’s code. Not mine.”
Ford made no move to deny it, but pointed a finger at me. “666.”
“No.” I laughed. “What if Mom shows up and I need to let you know? Then you’ll be confused. And you’ll show up, guns blazing. You’ll give Mom a heart attack.”
“Fine.” He huffed. “Text 911 then—if you hear, see, or smell anything suspicious.”
“Smell?” I said. “What would I smell?”
Holden shrugged. “Your house on fire. You never know. People are crazy.”
Ford looked around the room and gave his head a little shake. “Where’s your Christmas tree?”
Holden pursed his lips.
I grunted.
“We’re putting a tree up tomorrow,” Ford said with one nod of his head.
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved himoff.
As soon as my brothers were gone for the night, I sat down at my computer. Like a bedtime ritual, I surfed to my Incognito account page and clicked on Tally’s and my message thread. Not a peep.
I checked the timestamp of her last log in. Still July 24th. The day before our wedding. The disappointment hit me square in the chest as it did every night. And like every other night, the disappointment turned to red hot anger. Maybe it was irrational. Maybe she deserved it. I just didn’t understand how she could leave me the way she did.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wedding band. Usually I put it on as soon as I was home, but tonight I stared at it. What was I doing? Pining over this woman all day, every day. She’d left me like it was nothing. Ripped my heart out and never looked back. I’d searched every Reddit thread, hoping to find some kind of coded message from her. She could’ve contacted me somehow. But she hadn’t.
Well, I’d had enough.
I opened the drawer of my desk, dropped the ring inside, and slammed it shut. Then I sauntered to the living room and promptly changed the security code on the alarm keypad. Tomorrow, I’d let Ford change the gate code too.
Back in my bedroom, a blip of light caught my eye through the window, in the woods behind the house. Or so I thought. It was just a reflection from my monitor. Even still, I stood and pulled the blackout blinds down. Then I powered off the computer, crawled into bed, and curled around Tally’s body pillow as if it were her. And promptly stared at my ceiling, wide awake.
Same old. Same old,I thought.
Until I heard someone come quietly through the front door.
twenty-six
TALLY
A very little key will open a very heavy door.
— MARK TWAIN
I’d carefully thought it all through. Entering the code at the entrance of Ford’s ranch was simply a precaution to get you through the gate. It didn’t alert Jeff or Ford. It was mostly to keep out crazy fans or nosy neighbors.
I’d rented an electric vehicle so no one would hear me coming up the driveway. I didn’t even know if Ashton would be here. He might’ve moved back to Sweet Grass. But I was banking on him being at the little house. It’s where I’d be if he’d left.
When I got closer to the turn off, I cut my lights, grateful the moon was almost full. One more dip and then I rose over the last hill. My stomach whooshed as I dropped down into the valley. And there it was. The home I ached for every day.
My stomach tightened—a mixture of elation and fear—at seeing Ashton’s truck in the driveway. He was here!
I put the rental in park. It was well after one a.m. Not thetime for visits or happy reunions. I reached up with a shaky hand, opened the visor, and checked my reflection. The shoulder length hair and blonde highlights were going to be a shock to Ash, but Special Agent Moore thought a change in appearance was necessary with Trevor on the loose. And the twelve inches of hair I’d chopped off was the least of my worries.
I got out of the car and padded to the porch, praying the locks hadn’t been changed. As luck would have it, when I got dressed the morning after the wedding, I just happened to put on the shorts that had my house key in the pocket. Or maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe it was providence. Looked like I was about to find out.
When I turned the key and the door popped open, I sagged with relief. Providence. I took it as a sign that I was doing the right thing. I quickly stepped inside, locked the deadbolt, and jogged on tiptoe to the security control panel on the wall. I had sixty seconds and three attempts to type in the code before the sheriff’s office was alerted.
