Page 46 of Still Afraid

“Of course. Is everything coming together for the wedding?”

“Yes! Ten days.”

“Woohoo. It’s gonna be great. And I’ll let you know when Miss Montego is totally gone.”

“Thanks.” Once Sami left, he grabbed a yogurt from his lunch bag. As he ate it, he decompressed, directing his thoughts into prayers.

A moment later, he got a text from Chloe’s dad.

Heads up that there’s a storm front headed in our direction. It might not be much but worth keeping an eye on.

He responded:

I appreciate the warning. Thanks.

He lifted a prayer to the Lord for Chloe. Hopefully, they’d be together before the storm hit in all its fury.

Chapter Seventeen

Chloe climbed into her SUV and allowed her body to relax. What was supposed to be a quick last-minute showing at eleven this morning had turned into a five-hour marathon of house-hunting with a couple who weren’t nearly as agreeable as Jerry and Joann. Today’s clients argued about everything. As far as Chloe could tell, the husband wasn’t even consistent on what he wanted, and the wife seemed to disagree with him simply for the sake of disagreeing. It was going to be a headache to find them a house.

But it was finally four o’clock and she could call Josh. Once she turned the car on and got the air conditioning blowing, she dialed his number. The ringing of the phone echoed through the car’s Bluetooth.

He answered right away. “Just the person I want to talk to.”

“Fun day, huh?”

“You have no idea.” He proceeded to tell her about Breana’ showing up for an appointment. The words hit Chloe like a whiffle ball to the chest. It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good either. Perhaps a mix of jealousy and irritation, but she was confident in her trust of Josh. In fact, he sounded more annoyed than flattered. At that realization, amusement became the forefront emotion.

“She is something else.”

“If she keeps this up … I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“I’ll march right over and give her a piece of my mind.”

Josh laughed.

“What? You don’t think I can take her down?”

“I have no doubts in you whatsoever.”

“Good.” She turned down the street. “Poirot and I were having a great time at the dog park this morning.” It was her turn to tell about her bizarre interaction of the day. “After that, we were headed home when the difficult couple called and wanted to see another house right then. So I dropped Poirot off at your house since it was closer.”

“Ten days and it’s our house.”

Her heart did a quirky little bounce. She was beyond ready to be his wife. “Yay!”

“Will you be there when I get home then?”

“Maybe. I’m going to run to the grocery store. I ate my last bowl of cereal this morning, and I don’t want to starve tomorrow morning. I need to grab a few things, then I’ll take them to my house. Once they’re put away, I’ll head straight to you.”

“Maybe I’ll beat you home then. I have a bit more charting to do, after which I’ll head out.”

“Will you feed Poirot? He’s probably already annoyed.”

Josh laughed. “Can’t have that. So, yes, I’ll feed him.”

“Thanks.”