You have to get rid of her.”
Silas raised his eyebrows.
“That’s not what I mean!” Marnie said. “I wasn’t asking you to kill her, just, you know, run her out of town once and for all. There has to be a way.” With that she stood. “Y’all have phone calls to make. Get busy.”
Gabi paced. In the living room, through the dining room, into the kitchen and out again. Repeat. She could not sit still!
Ten minutes after Silas left, she was wishing she’d insisted on tagging along. Even though it was after Mia’s bedtime, even though he hadn’t asked her to go with him. Their relationship, no matter what it was, was too new for her to need him this way. She’d been determined not to need any man ever again, but then she hadn’t planned on Silas.
It got dark too early this time of year. She preferred summer, when the days were long and the sun shone well into the evening, when there weren’t so many dark shadows in her yard, just beyond the windows. There had been a time when she didn’t mind the dark, when she’d actually enjoyed walks after dinner, no matter how dark it might be. That had been before Blake. Before she’d learned to be suspicious of shadows where anything, anyone, might be hiding.
She didn’t often wish for a phone. Most days, she had no one to call. But at the moment she wished for a phone to call Silas. She wanted to hear his voice, wanted to know what time he’d be home.
Home. In that second, she thought of this house as his home, as well as hers. It wasn’t. It was much too soon to even consider such a thing, and yet, there it was.
Maybe tomorrow she’d walk to the grocery store and buy one of those disposable cells. She could program Silas’s phone number in. Cindy’s, too.
Another sign that she was getting far too comfortable here.
After cleaning the kitchen and checking on Mia and Judge not once but three times, Gabi settled in her chair with a book. Not that she was capable of paying attention to the words on the page, but she made an effort. How long did it take for a man to check on a pack of dogs? She hoped nothing was wrong. Not only for the animals, but because she wanted Silas to return sooner rather than later.
She missed him.
If she was smart she’d get out of town tonight. Silas would be disappointed to come here and find everyone gone, but she’d made it clear from the get-go that she wasn’t permanent. The fact that she felt as if Silas could be more was terrifying.
All she’d have to do was get to Montgomery, maybe Birmingham, and catch a bus headed north. Away from this place, far away from Florida. She was pretty sure she couldn’t take Judge on any bus, so where did that leave her? The bloodhound had been hers for three days, but he was already a part of the family. Leaving Judge behind would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done.
Damn it all, she wasn’t ready to leave Mystic Springs just yet. She’d just found Silas! Not that she had any intention of keeping him; she didn’t have that luxury. But there were nights to be spent in her bed or his, stories to be told, laugher to be shared. Maybe she couldn’t keep him, but that didn’t mean she had to give him up so soon.
The scratching sound at her front window startled Gabi so much she jumped. She set the book aside, giving up on it for now, and knelt on the couch to pull the curtains back a few inches. Nothing.
She heard Judge enter the room. He didn’t bark, but he did make an odd snuffling sound. The noise at the window hadn’t been loud enough to wake him, not from his bed in Mia’s room, but something had the bloodhound on alert.
Gabi sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. Her insistence that the new dog stay off the furniture hadn’t lasted long at all. Judge jumped up, and as she had, he peered at the window.
“Nothing there, boy,” Gabi said as she scratched behind Judge’s ear. She was glad to have his company. He continued to stare at the window, and finally gave one sharp, alarming bark. She pulled the curtain back again, to reveal a familiar pale face peering in.
She instinctively fell back and