“You don’t have to keep apologizing to me,” he told her in a gentle voice. “Why don’t you have another sip of coffee? Seems you had an eventful night.”
How did he know about any of this? She couldn’t imagine that Ravina would have called and told him.
So there was only one way he could really know, right?
“Which one told you?” she asked with a sigh.
“Which one?”
“Which Jones brother? It was Eli, wasn’t it?”
“Ahh, yes. He sent me a message around one in the morning.”
“Oh, he didn’t call you this morning?” she asked casually.
Although his eyes seemed to narrow. So maybe she hadn’t sounded as casual as she’d intended to.
“No, he didn’t call me this morning,” Jake replied. “I was actually surprised not to find him here with you. He said he was staying here as well.”
“I guess he and Kellan got called away by something.”
“Did they?” He gazed over her shoulder for a moment. “Well, here’s the thing, Ms. Bridges?—”
“Arabella,” she interrupted him. Then she winced.
Her father had hated being interrupted.
“Arabella,” he said with a nod. “Do you still want to move here?”
“Yes, if I can. I do. Really. I do.” Great. Now she sounded desperate.
He smiled. “Good. When you were emailed the rental agreement, you also had to read up on some information about Haven and agree to it, right?”
“Yes, right,” she replied, wondering where this was going.
“That information included that all women in Haven have guardians. A husband or father usually. But for everyone who doesn’t have an assigned guardian, well, I watch over them. That doesn’t mean I go around telling you what to do all the time. It just means that I’m here to keep you safe. With a few added extras. If you feel unsafe, you call the police. But I will also do my best to ensure that you don’t put yourself in danger. And if you do, well, we’ll have a few words. Understand?”
His voice was soft and he wasn’t being condescending or rude. But she still got the feeling she was being scolded.
“Right.”
“You just got here so you’re given some grace, but, Arabella, I would consider sleeping in your car in a public park putting yourself in danger.”
“I don’t understand. What did you want me to do? I looked for somewhere else to stay. I didn’t want to sleep in my car.”
“I get that. And you probably didn’t realize that you could call me at any time, but you can. I’m not upset and I’m not scolding you. But if that happens again, call me. I’ll give you my number.” He drew out a card and handed it to her.
“Thanks. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to find another rental at such short notice. It was difficult to find that one.”
He nodded. “Places don’t come up that often in Haven. And the council has preferences about who houses get rented to.”
They did?
Was that normal? She hadn’t rented a house before but she was certain that it wasn’t. Maybe it was a small town thing.
“But the good news is that everything is arranged for you to move into your original rental. I called Mrs. Taylor before I came to see you. She said she has no problem with a dog as long as you promise to have the house professionally cleaned before you leave at the end of the rental term.”
“I, yes of course I will. Is that . . . is that really true?”
