I frowned. It was a faint ringing, not on my side of the house, but I could still hear it. I heard Luna bark softly and then nothing for a moment.
The doorbell rang again.
More barking ensued, and then a few more moments of silence before it rang three more times.
“Who in the world?—”
I listened for Jay, hoping I’d hear his footsteps or some indication that he was going to get the door, but of course, there was only Luna’s barking.
“Okay! I’m coming!”
I shoved my hair into something vaguely resembling a messy bun, still in my pajamas, and padded downstairs. The bell rang twice more during my descent, each chime more aggressive than the last.
Luna was jumping all over the place, and with some gentle cooing, I herded the little marshmallow to the back porch before going to answer the door.
When I finally swung the door open, breathless and slightly irritated, I was met with a familiar face that immediately melted all my irritation away.
“HELLOOOOOO, Sunshine!”
Emily stood on the porch holding an iced coffee in one hand and a tote bag in the other. Her red curls were sporadically coiled around her face, and she was grinning from ear to ear with her classic ready-to-summon-chaos expression.
I blinked. “Emily?”
“In the flesh.” Emily stepped into the foyer and immediately pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug.
“Oh my gosh,” I mumbled into my friend’s shoulder. “You’re actually here.”
“Of course I’m here,” Emily said, squeezing me once more before pulling back. “Let me look at you.” Her smile quickly faded when she began her perusal of my appearance and landed on the stitches by my eye. “Oh my gosh. What happened to you?”
“Oh, uh. I sorta fell down some stairs yesterday. But it’s really not a big deal. I’m okay now.” I gave a weak laugh, and Emily shook her head, giving me a knowing look.
“You’ve always been such a klutz. You really need to work on your balance.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks. I’ll try to fit it into my schedule.”
Emily gave me a sympathetic little pat on the shoulder before she stepped past me into the entryway. Her head tilted as she took in the vaulted ceilings, the dark wood floors, and the panoramic view of the lake through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“You live here? Oh my gosh, Hope. This is insane.”
“Well, I don’t live in this part. I live in the apartment above the garage,” I clarified.
“Still,” Emily said, her eyes wide as she continued to take in the cabin castle.
“How did you even find me?” I asked, shutting the door. I was still trying to wake up and stifled a yawn.
Emily dropped her tote bag onto a chair. “Well, you said you weren’t staying at the cabin anymore last time we talked, and then you also said Jay offered you his rental apartment. I figured when I hadn’t heard back, it was safe to assume you took him up on the offer. I mean, whowouldn’t? So I drove up here, found your little cabin, and then just looked for the closest mansion. This is the only one within a mile radius, so it wasn’t really that hard to find.”
I fought back a smile. “Right. Okay, Nancy Drew.”
Emily thrust an iced coffee into my hands. “Here. You look like you need it.”
I’d just had half a cup already, but I wasn’t about to waste a perfectly good iced latte. Plus I was wallowing. I could have some more caffeine than usual, couldn’t I? I took a long sip as we wandered into the kitchen. “So how were the arches?”
But Emily wasn’t listening. Her eyes were wide and suddenly fixed on the windows behind me.
“Umm… Hope?”
I turned, worried there was something wrong. Another bear, maybe? My fear of bears was still very real after the incident with the garbage cans.
