She went back into her bedroom and crawled under the quilt again. Almost immediately, she fell asleep, but a hot dad haunted her dreams by pursuing her. When she finally woke, not rested at all, she had to untangle herself from the bedding so she could use the restroom.
Sandra stared at her face in the mirror, her hair a tangled mess, dark circles under her eyes. She looked terrible. And yet Eb had kissed her. Passionately. Her knees went weak just thinking about it.
No. It was probably from hunger. There was no way he had the power to make her knees shake.
Except he totally did. And then Eb had haunted her dreams. Her adorable hot dad friend. He was a kind man and a loving father. Whose ex-wife had rejected and lied to him.
And now Sandra had hurt him too. It’d been a long time since she’d dropped her guard enough to show her emotions like that. She could tell he’d misunderstood the look on her face. The disappointment had been in herself. But good grief! After all these years, his kiss had brought out feelings she’d thought were dead. Feelings she couldn’t allow herself to have.
As wonderful as the kiss had been, as much as it had revived her heart, she should never have given in. It had sent the wrong message.
Sandra went out of the kitchen and found the breakfast he’d made. What a sweet guy to watch out for her. A good friend. Who obviously wanted to be more. And, if her circumstances had been different, she’d have wanted it too.
She sighed. Who was she kidding? She totally wanted it. Wantedhim. But she couldn’t let it happen. It wasn’t fair to Eb.
As punishment, she ate the cold oatmeal and didn’t even add sweetener to it. Normally, she prided herself on having a good poker face. She’d had to develop the skill in Hollywood while handling so many people with inflated egos. Evidently, she’d lost the talent following sickness and a kiss powerful enough to raise the dead. And now she lived right across the hall from him and his darling daughter.
Ugh. Sandra had to stop thinking about Eb.
She went back to her shower to get her hair wet again. Dressed, she made her bed and then found her laptop. Since her internet didn’t work, she used her phone to get into her email. It wasn’t nearly as full as she’d expected, meaning Walt had been going through it. If he had questions about anything, he’d let her know. She just hoped he hadn’t committed himself to anything without writing it down.
When Sandra got too tired to think straight, she considered taking a nap but worried she might not sleep at night. She found someone had connected her television to the complex’s cable, so she started flipping through channels to distract her from thoughts of Eb.
Her phone pinged, and she put the remote down to check it. Walt had sent her a cryptic text.
Walt
Turn on the local news.
The channel she’d stopped on was a local one. A newscaster had interrupted a soap opera with breaking news about a local shooting. It had her sitting up and fumbling for the volume. Huckleberry Falls had little crime, and most of it came from people doing stupid stuff when they were drunk or high.
Sandra had missed the first part of the announcement. It sounded like one of those workplace shootings. Her stomach tightened. She didn’t know if Carlisle would have been at the resort today. He only went there for meetings. Why would Walt want her to see this if it wasn’t someone she knew?
The camera operator turned from the reporter to scan the Edelweiss administration building. Sandra thought she might hurl the oatmeal she’d eaten.Whohad been shot?
Please don’t let it be Eb.
Emergency personnel were coming out of the building now, carrying a stretcher. Sandra clutched her stomach, her body cold. Then she glimpsed burgundy-colored hair on the injured person. Long hair.
Flopping back on the chair, Sandra let out the breath she’d been holding and wiped her wet eyes. Itwasn’tEb. She sent Walt a text.
Sandra
Is Eb all right?
His response came back quickly.
Walt
All we know is he was shot, but it’s not serious.
Shot. For a second, Sandra couldn’t make her brain focus. Someone had shot Eb—but Walt had said it wasn’t serious.
Sandra
Are they taking him to the hospital?
Walt
