And yet the feeling lingered.
The feeling that she wasn’t alone. That someone was watching her.
Her chest tightened as she started forward again, her steps quick and uneven now.
Don’t run.
Running would make it real.
Running would mean she wasn’t in control.
But every instinct in her body screamed at her to do exactly that.
A faint crunch sounded behind her—too distinct this time to ignore.
Hadley spun. “Hello?”
Her voice carried, thinner than she intended.
There was no answer.
She swallowed hard and turned back again, her pace breaking now into something closer to a jog despite her resolve.
The outline of the clinic came into view ahead, a welcome sight.
She was almost there.
Hadley didn’t look back again.
She didn’t dare.
She reached the door and fumbled as she unlocked it and darted inside.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had been following her.
That evening, Max turned onto Main Street again and slowed as he approached Hadley’s clinic for the second time that day.
He’d left earlier than necessary to pick her up for dinner. He told himself it was to make sure he wasn’t late. But the truth was, he was looking forward to spending more time with Hadley. He wanted to see her with his own eyes and make sure she was okay.
His thoughts drifted back to earlier—to when he’d seen her walk out of Ember & Oak with Kendra. The two of them had appeared comfortable together, and they’d been talking like they were old friends.
Something about it still didn’t sit right with him, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was nothing strange about two women having lunch together. He knew that. He just had a weird feeling about it.
Max adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and forced himself to let the thoughts go.
But that opened up a window to thinking about something else.
Hadley’s hug.
He hadn’t expected it. One second they’d been talking, and the next she’d stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
The action had caught him off guard—in the best way. If he was honest, he might admit that he’d liked the embrace more than he should have.
That was the problem.
It was too soon.
He and Kendra had only broken up a few weeks ago. Not that the relationship had ever felt right. He’d known after the first month that it wouldn’t work. The two of them didn’t fit together.
