Her voice was soft as she pointed out, “You could have one now.”
His eyes flashed to hers. “You’re right. I never considered it before, but you’re right. I could totally get a dog now. Maybe, after your plants grow, we could go find us some puppies.”
“I like that idea. Maybe we could get puppies from the same litter. That way they could visit each other.”
“Sounds like a plan, but first you need to get your flowers to growing, so get back to work.” He watched her work, not willing to let go of the moment. He didn’t want to face his empty house for the evening. “When you’re done, clean up and come over and I’ll put some steaks on the grill, if you don’t have other plans.”
“I don’t. That sounds good. Thanks, Chris.”
Chris began to head into his house but then paused, turning back to her. “Um, Julie, I’ll admit that I don’t know much about gardening, but I don’t think the holes need to be quite that deep for just the seeds.”
“Really?” She frowned down at all the foot-deep holes.
“Um, yeah, I think the seeds just need to be two or three inches down.”
She frowned and her mouth twisted to the side as she considered what he said. “Really?” She looked up at him questioningly.
He nodded at her. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
“Oh, okay.” She looked around at all the really deep holes. She had such a forlorn look on her face that he wanted to give her a hug.
“The good news is that you have mastered the hole-digging part of gardening. You’re going to rock this.”
She nodded distractedly. “Maybe I should go in and check the internet for exactly how deep daisies need to be planted.”
“That’s a good idea, because honestly, I could be wrong about this. I’m gonna go start getting things ready for dinner, okay?”
“Sure, I’ll be over in about an hour. Does that work for you?”
“Perfect. See you then.”
* * *
As Chris entered his house, he flipped through the mail. Mixed in was an unmarked envelope. That was weird. He opened it and a slip of paper slipped out.
That was your warning shot. Stay away from her.
A cold trickle of dread snaked down his spine. What the hell?
Stepping out onto his porch he re-examined his busted porch light. Jagged edges of the lightbulb and globe remained, but what caught his examination in the light of day was the small hole in the wall to the side of the fixture. Goddamn, that looked like a bullet hole. Someone had shot at him last night using a silencer.
Chris put the call into the police station, and then headed back into the yard to delay their dinner by another hour. Luckily, Julie didn’t question why which was good because he sure didn’t want to tell her that someone was taking pot shots at him.
* * *
Two hours later, Julie exited her house and was surprised to find Brian leaving Chris’s. With her house so close to his, it was easy to hear their conversation while she stood in her doorway, transfixed.
“We’ll run the ballistics on the bullet and see if there’s any DNA on the envelope or note. In the meantime, be careful and stay vigilant about your surroundings,” Brian said.
“Always, Detective,” Chris responded, but then he spotted her and his jaw visibly clenched.
Whatever was going on here, he didn’t want her to know about it. And unfortunately, she’d spent enough time with Detective Brian Barnes over the last year to understand that the sinking in her gut was probably not unfounded. Something was happening with Chris and it was probably dangerous. Bullet, Brian said. Her stomach took a nosedive.
Brian turned away from Chris’s door and spotted her standing there. His footsteps faltered for a moment, before murmuring, “Good evening, Julie,” and continuing toward his car.
She folded her arms across her chest as she met Chris’s gaze. “Are you gonna share with the class about what’s going on?”
He watched her for a moment and several emotions flitted through his eyes… reluctance, regret, even a bit of anger before he seemed to make a decision. He waved his hand at his shattered porch light. “Some kid was having fun and shot out my light.”
There was no way that was the whole story, not with Brian coming by. But was it her place to pry? Chris obviously didn’t want her to. They were supposed to be just friends, but friends would press for an answer, right?