“Morning.” He yawned. “Listen, if you’re going to your grandmother’s later, I think you should be reasonably safe, but you need to understand that someone will be hanging close. Either Mo or Donovan will be nearby. And Randall will be on-site.”
She sent Mo what she hoped was a laser beam of annoyance, but apparently she got it wrong because he smirked at her. Smirked! His eyebrows raised, his head cocked, his look said, “What are you going to do about it?”
Who needed words when they could communicate with body language?
“Cal—”
“Not optional, Beep. Mo has more digging to do. We have to get this sorted. Deal with it. Go about your business. Do what you need to do. But don’t be surprised when you have company.”
“My grandmother won’t accept that.”
“She can’t stop Randall from being nearby. He works security. You can sell that.”
“Is there any point in arguing?” She spoke to Cal, but her eyes were fixed on Mo as she said the words.
His response was to turn back to his computer.
“Not really.” Cal’s response was gentle but firm. “Beep, you’ve stepped in yellow jackets, and those buggers are mean. Give us a few days of paranoia. If Mo can sort it out and we’re sure you’re secure, we’ll let it go.”
His voice dropped into a low whisper. “We aren’t taking chances. There’ve been too many close calls the last couple of years. Give us this. Please.”
He had a point. Landry and Eliza, Cal, Cassie, Meredith ... there’d been too much drama for anyone to press on naively believing everything would work out.
“Fine.”
Mo’s shoulders dropped in relief. Cal’s relief was audible. “Thank you.”
“But I’m not sitting around like some kind of princess in a tower being guarded by a dragon.”
And why did the image of Mo as a dragon fit so well?
“No one expects you to. That would be suspicious, and we don’t want anyone more on alert than they already are.”
“Fine. I’m going for a walk. I need to breathe. I need some sunshine and fresh air. Then I’m going to come home, then go to Grandmother’s for brunch.”
“Fun.”
“Yeah. Fun.”
“What’s after brunch?”
“I don’t know.” She closed her eyes and blew out a slow breath. She was the one who’d called in reinforcements. She’d asked for help. For a moment, she let the terror from a few nights ago sweep over her and appreciation swamped her irritation. “I’ll let you know. Okay? I do have work to do.” She always had work to do. “I’ll probably be in my office.”
“Okay. Sounds good. Enjoy your walk. And brunch. Tell Grandmother hello from me.”
“Sure.”
“She likes me.”
“Since when?”
“Since I married Landry.” That was probably true. “She thinks bringing Landry to The Haven is the best thing you’ve ever done. We have that in common.”
“Huh. Well, okay. I’ll tell her.”
Cal’s humor faded away. “Beep, maybe don’t tell her that.”
“Why not?”
