She shrugged. “That’s kind of in limbo, I guess. I finished the job I was working on before I left and haven’t taken any new ones on my schedule. I pulled out a bunch of cash before I came here and I have savings to fall back on, but I’ll probably have to get something going again soon if I want to find a place of my own. My cash won’t last too long. Trixie hasn’t even charged me anything yet. And I’m sure she won’t want to keep me as a guest forever.”
“I wouldn’t be so worried about that.” I smiled. Stella wasn’t the only one who’s demeanor had brightened in the few days she had been here. Grandma Trixie also had a new found pep in her step every time I saw her recently. She lovedhaving guests in her home, and Stella was no exception. “It’s harvest season now, justgive her a hand out in her garden and I’m sure she’d call it even.”
Stella smiled. “I don’t know much about gardening, but I would love to learn. The flowers around here are stunning. I’ve never seen some of these wildflowers before, and the flower boxes outside each storefront…so cute!” She basically squealed the last part, and the sound of it made me chuckle.
“That would all be thanks to Gloria. She owns Love in Bloom and takes care of all the flowers down Main Street. Her and Grandma Trixie are best friends, so I’m sure you’ll get to learn a lot from them both.”
“Amazing.” She smiled wistfully, but it faded quickly as we rounded the bend in the road that came up to the old rail house. The farther we walked from town, the darker it got as the moonlight casted eerie shadows along the trees.
Stella’s hand suddenly grabbed onto mine as she eyed the rail house, obviously remembering her bear encounter. She must have surprised herself with the reaction because she tried to pull her hand away, but I gently tightened my grip to keep hold of her.
“I’m sorry, it’s such a beautiful building in the daylight. I guess I’m still a little spooked at night.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You have your bear spray, right?” I asked.
She nodded and patted her purse. “Ever since you gave it to me.”
“Good.” I smiled reassuringly at her. “Then we’ll be okay. Plus, we’re making noise. Right now, it’s very likely that anything out there is more scared of us than we should be of it.” We spent the next few minutes walking back to the bed and breakfast talking about outdoor and wildlife safety while I relished in the feeling of her fingers laced with mine.
Just as Grandma’s house came into view, and I thought the threat of bears was behind us, Stella gasped and her other handshot up to cover her mouth as I squeezed her hand clasped in mine tighter on instinct.
“My car,” she breathed out.
I looked to where her car was parked on the side of Whispers of Love and saw red—as bold as the spray paint that still dripped from her car. There were hideous words likewhoreandbitchandslutscrawled all over it, and as we got closer it looked like all four tires had been slashed.
“What the fuck?” I growled. Stuff like this didn’t happen in Love—it was calledLove,for crying out loud—and especially not on my property. I hadn’t the first idea who would do something like this.
“It’s Nick,” Stella whispered, her eyes shone with unshed tears and my heart cracked at the sight.
“Who?” I needed to know. I needed to fix that look on her face and bring her smile back once again.
“Nick, my ex. He’s the one who sent the flowers. The note…” She shook her head. “I knew it was him. I can’t believe he’d go this far, though.”
“How would he know you’re here? It’s only been a couple days.”
“Who knows?” She laughed, on the verge of hysterical now. “He’s always had his connections. He always gets his way. Fuck, he probably had a tracker implanted into me one of the times I was in the hospital or some bullshit.”
She wasn’t making sense anymore with what she was saying, so I did the only thing that made sense to me at that moment and pulled her into my chest. Wrapping my arms around her, I felt her shuddering breaths and made sure to control mine so she could copy them as she had before.
Eventually, her breathing matched my slower pace, and I tilted her chin up to meet my gaze. “We’ll figure out who did this,” I promised.
She nodded, but the magic of the night was already lost. “I’mjust going to go up to my room and get ready for bed. I’ll call a tow truck first thing in the morning to get that moved out of here,” she assured me as she put distance between us. “I’d hate to have anyone seethatoutside Whispers of Love.” Shame filled her entire being as she walked away from me.
That would be the last thing Grandma Trixie would be worried about. Thankfully, she was at seniors’ bingo tonight and would be spending the night with Gloria, as they did most Fridays. Unfortunately, we had no neighbours to call on any witnesses. But nevertheless, I was glad Gram hadn’t been all on her own out here if someone had been on the property.
All I wanted to do was pull Stella back into my arms and hold her against my chest, but I knew that wasn’t what sheneeded right now. What Icoulddo was move her car, so she didn’t have to deal with it in the morning.
Once she was safely inside, I followed behind and went into the kitchen to use the house phone. I called my buddy Sean, who was an incredible mechanic, to assess the damage. After I explained the situation, he promised me he could come pick it up first thing in the morning.
“Thanks, man, I really appreciate it. I’m going to move it up to my place right now, so that’s where it’ll be in the morning.”
After hanging up with Sean, I called Patrick. Maybe he should’ve been the first one I called, but I wanted to be sure Stella wouldn’t see the car when she woke up in the morning. Everything else we could deal with as it came.
Patrick and I didn’t normally call each other, so he picked up on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?” he answered, his serious tone a stark difference from how he had sounded when we were at the bar together just a few short hours ago.
I explained to him how we found Stella’s car when we came back this evening, and he hung up hastily after he said he was on his way.
