“Arabella? Where are you?” he demanded.
Horse bounded up to him with a growl.
“Hey, Horse, it’s me. Remember me?” he said, holding out his hand for the big dog to sniff.
After a couple of sniffs, Horse grew closer, pressing himself against his legs before running off.
Eli followed him, his concern growing. “Arabella?”
The sound of a door slamming led him to the back where he saw her shuffle inside with a rusty-looking tool box in her hand.
What was she doing? Where was her coat? And why was she all hunched over as if she was in pain?
“What’s going on? Are you hurt? Why were you out in the rain?” he asked.
She let out a small scream and dropped the toolbox, narrowly missing her foot. With a gasp, she placed her hand on her chest. “What the heck are you doing? Why are you in my house? How are you in my house?”
“Your door was unlocked,” he told her. “And we’ll be discussing that later.”
“Discussing what later?” she asked, sounding bewildered as he walked over and picked up the tool box.
“Your safety. Or lack thereof. What are you doing with this?” he asked, setting the tool box down on the table and taking a long look at her. “And why did you step outside without a jacket? There’s a storm outside!”
“I know there’s a s-storm outside!” Her teeth were chattering as she glared at him. “I was just out in it. And n-now I’m soaked. Why are you h-here?”
“Why are you all hunched over? Is something wrong?”
“I hurt my b-back. I went t-to get the t-tools from my neighbor b-because I don’t h-have any. I w-would have put my c-coat on but it wasn’t r-raining when I left and I took l-longer than I thought b-because he couldn’t f-find his tool box.”
“Okay, stop talking.” Every word she said upset him more. “You need to get into a shower. Now. Before you get sick.”
She looked a bit like a drowned rat with her soaking wet hair hanging around her face. She brushed it back with her hand and glared up at him.
“I k-know that. I was h-heading there. But then you b-broke into my house.”
“I didn’t break in, the door was unlocked,” he told her.
“That s-still doesn’t mean y-you can walk in. Would you like it if I d-did that t-to you?”
“My apartment is always locked. And if it wasn’t, then you would be welcome to walk in. Come on, I’ll run the shower for you.” She was alarmingly pale and her lips were starting to turn blue.
She didn’t argue as he placed his hand around hers and led her to the bathroom. But she wasn’t moving fast and she seemed to be in pain.
“What did you do to your back? Did you hurt yourself carrying the toolbox?” It hadn’t been heavy, though.
“N-no. I did it l-lifting the boxes i-inside,” she said through chattering teeth.
“Lifting the boxes?” He stilled, turning to her.
“Bathroom is o-over t-there.” She waved her hand further down the hall, obviously thinking that he’d stopped because he was lost.
“You lifted those boxes inside yourself?” he asked incredulously as he continued to move down to the bathroom. Walking in, he turned on the shower, then he turned to her. “Why? The delivery guys should have done that.”
“I g-got home and they’d b-been left out f-front. I couldn’t leave t-them there with the storm c-coming.” She shrugged then winced as that obviously hurt her back.
“I can’t believe they did that. I’m going to need the name of the company that delivered them.”
She eyed him. “No.”
