“I’ll have to argue that,” Carrie Ann mumbled. “But it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you will still be a giant-ass surprise for Julie when we arrive because I guarantee you she’s going to be blown out of the water.”
* * *
Troy sat in his car just out of sight of the cabin. He slammed his head against the seat rest three times, then smacked the steering wheel. Beating the shit out of his car wasn’t going to accomplish much, but he had to hit something. Almost four hours of waiting had turned him into a raging basket case. Four hours was usually considered a short wait time, but when the waiting revolved around Julie, every tortuous second hurt.
He had limited options. Find a hotel. Go to Zach’s place or stay here in the car and keep watch over the cabin from a distance. But no one knew they were here so it wasn’t like he needed to keep a physical eye on the property. Unless Julie tried to leave. Which, because she was so ticked off, she might. That knowledge killed him. The fact that he’d pissed her off enough to leave, enough to go back home alone and risk her life, ate him up inside. But she hadn’t bolted so far and if she was going to, then she probably would have by now.
He should’ve seen this coming, been more prepared. But shit, this exact thing was what he’d been trying to avoid. Seeing how badly she hurt—how badly he’d hurt her—made him want to crawl under a rock.
Sitting here for more hours beating the shit out of himself and his car wasn’t getting him anywhere. Julie hadn’t bolted like he thought she might. He needed to do something constructive like find out if the police in L.A. had a lead on the shooter and flower sender, but his cell phone had zero bars in this patch of the forest. The cell tower signal crapped out this far from the house and reception sucked. Every minute he spent here was another minute he could be helping to find the suspect.
Okay. Julie was a big girl. She could be in the cabin on her own for a while. Maybe a little distance would help her sort things out and Troy could make some calls and do some digging on his own. He’d been letting the police handle this, because his priority had been Julie. Now it was time to get some facts and get to work.
Twenty-five minutes later, Troy knocked on Zach’s door. His uncl—father opened up almost immediately, a large smile on his face.
“Hey, there. I never heard back from you so...” He caught the look on Troy’s face. “Everything okay?”
Didn’t he wish. “Not really.”
At Zach’s gesture, Troy walked into the small, but comfortable home he remembered well. It hadn’t changed much, unlike the cabin. The same wood paneling lined the walls and worn beige carpeting softened his footsteps. On the left, a large brown leather recliner and sofa faced the fireplace and big screen.
Troy got right to the point. “Julie and I had a fight. I’m giving her some alone time.”
Zach considered that for a second. “Booted you out, did she?”
Clearly his P.I. gene came from this man.
Gesturing toward the sofa, Zach sat in the recliner. “Happens to the best of us. What’d you do?”
Too antsy to sit, Troy paced. He didn’t see a reason to keep it secret. “I may have lied to her about my occupation.”
“May have?” Zach’s brows lifted. “Seems like either you did or didn’t. So you aren’t a bodyguard?”
“I’m a private investigator.”
The words registered with Zach and he looked up to the ceiling and sighed. “Of course you are. Because that’s what I needed to find you all those years.” He laughed ruefully. “And she’s pissed because...” Zach let the sentence trail off.
“Because I was hired by another man’s wife to prove Julie was sleeping with him.”
“And she just found this out?”
Troy nodded.
Zach rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue. “I guess everybody fucks up at one point or another. So, what’s your plan?” He lifted one bushy eyebrow. “You do have a plan, don’t you?”
“I’m going to let her cool off a little more, then go back.”
“She can’t stay mad at you forever. Didn’t she say you saved her life? She just needs a little reminder of that and she’ll get over being mad.”
Troy stopped pacing. “You honestly don’t know who she is?” he asked. At