“I didn’t really tell you anything though, right?” He winked.
“That’s right. You barely spoke on this walk over here. I simply have an intuition about such things.” Juliana smiled at the thought of people gossiping about Diesel and hisoutsidergirlfriend. However, she also considered the incident of the apple with the bite taken out of it that had so troubled Diesel.
“Do you know Alice very well?”
He shrugged. “I guess so. Why?”
“Would she be the kind of person to threaten someone?”
“Nah. I don’t think so. It’s not really like her.”
“Are you sure?”
“What are you really asking?”
She debated about two seconds before spilling. “I found an apple on my doorstep with a single bite taken out of it. Diesel seemed rather upset about it. Actually, it happened twice. The first time was the day I met him and the second time was right before Diesel came to my apartment on Friday.”
Axel’s reaction was immediate. He stopped, grabbed her arm and stared into her eyes. “That’s sort of a threat.” He paused and looked all around the completely empty area where they stood.
“I know. Diesel told me. I find it interesting, but not threatening. He said it was a mild romance-related threat, but that he didn’t have any other romance and he seemed to calm down.”
“And you think Alice did it?” He looked back the way they’d come as if to ensure they weren’t being followed.
“Well, shewasa mean hag to me last night when I came into the store asking for Diesel. She interrupted us twice when we were about to kiss before we left.”
Axel flashed a grin. “Is that so? Go, Diesel. I’ve never seen him so—” He paused as if he couldn’t find quite the right word, finally settling on, “—engaged with any woman. The truth is I don’t keep up with any of my brothers’ love lives. However, the few dates I ever saw Diesel on, he always seemed bored or like his thoughts were elsewhere. And that’sallI’m willing to share.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah. That’s Diesel all right. He’s interesting.” He sounded distracted. He looked at the trail behind them again and said, “Come on. Let’s get going.”
“Why are you so troubled?”
“I’m not troubled. The info about the apple is just unexpected, that’s all. Let’s get you to Diesel’s house, okay?”
Axel hustled her at a rapid pace to the end of the wooden boardwalk. They went down a couple of steps to cross several yards of grass and an empty space between two houses. Axel looked over his shoulder repeatedly.
They took a left when they reached the sidewalk, hurrying past three more houses along the tree-lined street. It was peaceful and warm and Juliana had a sudden desire to live here tucked away and gloriously happy.
Axel kept them moving at a brisk pace toward the end of the street. It wasn’t a cul-de-sac, exactly, and didn’t end with a circle and houses all around it. Instead, the street abruptly ended at a large two-story house with a wide porch running all the way across the front. It was blue with black shutters and had a dark cherry-red door. She loved it immediately and wanted to climb onto the very inviting porch swing and curl up with a good book.
“This is Diesel’s place,” Axel said. He guided her along the path in the lush green front yard that smelled recently mowed, headed for the porch.
“This is beautiful. I love it.”
Axel tested the knob of the carved wooden front door. It opened right away. It hadn’t been locked. Axel gestured for her to enter first. There was a light on in the hallway, but it wasn’t needed. Probably Diesel had left it on for them last night, and they’d never gotten over here.
Instead, she’d been rather insistent they spend the night in his old room. He’d been easily convinced. Juliana had not a single regret, but she enjoyed seeing Diesel’s home now.
She stepped across the threshold and onto hardwood floors set in a lovely two-story foyer. To her left was a charming wooden staircase leading straight up to the second floor, sporting a carpet runner in predominantly dark blue with some sort of pattern in the center.
To her right was an opening to the formal dining room with a lovely table and ten chairs. She could see another open doorway in the dining room, leading into a kitchen.
On her left, past the wall next to the staircase, was a living area with comfortable seating parked perfectly around a tall stone, wood-burning fireplace. Juliana breathed in the lingering scent of wood smoke in the air and smiled. She loved everything about a crackling fire, whether camping or simply in a fireplace, even when it was already warm enough.
Directly in front of her and to the right of the staircase was a straight shotgun hallway to a back door.
“It’s older, but Diesel restored a lot of it himself over the past few years in what little spare time he enjoyed. What do you think?”
