I help you?” The middle-aged salesclerk greets us with a wide smile.
I walk away from him, thankful for the save. I know I won’t be able to avoid the conversation forever, but at least we won’t have to have it right now.
Chapter 23
Rocker
I wish I could say it’s a coincidence that I’m outside of the specialty baby store that Jinx and Simone just happen to be in, but that would be a lie.
Ending up at the same location isn’t happenstance when I’ve practically been stalking her for the last two weeks. I’m a creep. I fully admit it, but it won’t change anytime soon.
Just because I don’t have the balls to interrupt their happy little family moments doesn’t mean that I’m going to walk away. I tried that. It lasted a day and a half.
What can I say? I’m a weak man when it comes to her.
Jinx has urged me to go see her, but I think doing that would only complicate things further.
The smiles on both their faces when they walk into the store hits me hard in the gut. His smile doesn’t surprise me. He’s been regaling me with all the information he’s learning from the internet and the damn baby books he’s been reading for the last two weeks. It’s like once he accepted the idea of being a father, he jumped in with both feet and has no intention of looking back. I’m ecstatic for him. Simone deserves someone who is willing to step up. I knew he would, just like I know I’m wasting my time sitting in the parking lot trying to catch glimpses of them in the windows.
Simone’s smile as she walked inside surprised me. I never took her for the type to get excited about expensive baby shit. I know just how costly the stuff in that store is. I visited it once before the test results came in, when I still held out hope that I’d get to convince her to let me buy things there for our baby.
How can I feel such a loss over something that was never mine to begin with? I feel this way about both her and the child.
I haven’t seen either of them for twenty minutes, so I let my eyes wander around the parking lot. I don’t register the unmarked cop car pull up beside me until Matthews begins to roll his window down. I look over at him, waiting to maintain my power before hitting the button on the door to lower my own.
“Stalking is against the law.”
“I’m just sitting in my truck.”
“You’re backed into a spot, glaring at the front of the store that Miles Alexander and Simone Murphy just walked into,” he counters.
“Is there a reason you’re in my business?”
It bugs me that he’s not only aware of what I’m doing but that he’s close enough to be doing the same damn thing.
“Jeremy Murphy.”
“Is dead.” I turn my attention back to the front of the store.
“Senior.”
My eyes snap back in his direction.
“Exactly.”
“What about him?” I growl.
“He’s been calling the station. He’s not very happy about the district attorney’s decision to reject the case.”
“And what does that mean for Simone.”
“Other than a possible civil suit? Nothing.”
“The man doesn’t have a damn penny to his name,” I say, then hate myself for disclosing that I know a damn thing about that idiotic man.
“I know. He’s got a lot of chatter, but I don’t think he’s going to be an issue.”
“But you’re following her, anyway?” I don’t hide the accusation in my voice.
This man all but confessed his love for Simone’s dead sister and his regret over not being able to save her from her abuser; his sniffing around Simone makes me uneasy.
“I was eating lunch at the Lucky Dragon and saw them walk inside. I’m not the one sitting in my truck like a psycho.”
“I’m not a psycho,” I counter.
“Are you afraid for her safety while she’s with your boy?”
I roll my eyes. “That’s absurd.”
“So, it’s jealousy then?” I don’t answer him. “Am I going to have to worry about a disturbance happening in the parking lot when they walk out. Maybe I should stick around to make sure.”
“Surely you have better things to do. Crimes to fight and all that.”
“I still got fifteen minutes on lunch.”
Just like he threatened, Matthews turns up the radio in his car before bopping his head along to the Luke Combs songs playing from the speakers.
I’ve seen this man more in the last month and a half