Blackstone Ranger Guardian - Alicia Montgomery Page 0,34

you.”

J.D., Anna Victoria, and her other friends had been taking turns coming over every morning to help her clean up, dress, and prepare her some food for the day until Angela arrived after work.

“Dutch—”

“I know you’re busy at work,” she interrupted. J.D.’s phone hadn’t stopped ringing since she arrived, and from the snippets of conversation she heard, it sounded like they were in the weeds back in her garage.

“One of my guys has gone AWOL,” she said, a frown marring her pretty face. “No one’s seen the old birdbrain in days. But … that’s nothing you need to concern yourself about. I can handle it. And I told you, it’s no bother, Dutch.” The blonde mechanic plopped herself down across from her. “We promised we’d take good care of you. You scared us, you know.”

Her gaze dropped down to her lap. “I don’t know if I deserve that, after how I’ve been acting the last few months. Flaking out on plans. Ignoring calls and messages. Not to mention, I almost ruined Anna Victoria’s wedding—”

“Stop it.” J.D. held a hand up. “You didn’t ruin anything. The wedding pushed through; you were just a little late.”

Actually, she had been a few hours late. She was supposed to be at J.D.’s place at nine the morning of the wedding to deliver the wedding dress, but she’d slept through her alarm. When she woke up at eleven, she had a ton of missed calls from J.D., Anna Victoria, and her other friends. She raced to get to them on time, but she hadn’t finished making the adjustments she was supposed to do since the last fitting, so it took another couple of hours for her to hand sew everything.

“How are you feeling?” J.D. asked.

“Okay, I guess.” It was the same answer she gave every time anyone asked her. Her body was healing, but at a glacially slow pace. Her arm and shoulder felt stiff, her ribs still stung when she overexerted herself, and doing something as simple as going to the bathroom left her exhausted. At least the stitches had come out. The puckered scar on her torso was a reminder of her weakness and her current state. Why? she asked her vixen. Why are you doing this? But no matter how many times she asked, it wouldn’t answer her.

“No, no, no.” Tendrils of messy blonde hair escaped from under the trucker hat as J.D. shook her head vehemently. “I mean, how are you feeling? And don’t give me these bullshit answers, Dutch. I know something’s wrong.”

Her head snapped up to meet luminous light hazel eyes. Being a shifter, J.D. could read her and her fox and could probably sense there was something not quite right.

The loud and boisterous tomboy hadn’t been one of her original friends when she moved to Blackstone, but the two of them had been roped into many a girls’ night with Sybil, Kate, Amelia, and the rest of their close-knit family. Being the only two single girls, they had gravitated toward each other, especially when everyone became busy with their lives.

“I just—” A knock on the door saved her from having to evade the question or outright lie to her friend.

J.D. blew a breath out. “I’ll go see who that is.”

“Thanks,” she said, relief pouring through her. Her ribs were starting to hurt again, so she leaned back and closed her eyes. Her hearing could pick up the sounds of J.D. opening the door, talking to someone, and then shutting the door.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“Delivery.” J.D. held up a small box wrapped in brown paper. “You expecting something?”

“No.”

J.D. set the package on her lap gently. “Is there a card?”

“Doesn’t seem to be one.” Curious, she tore away the packaging, then opened the box and peered inside. Huh?

“What is it?”

She took out the object from within—a glass snow globe, the size of a grapefruit. Holding it up, she waited for the white flakes to settle, revealing a small log cabin nestled between pine trees covered in snow. Her heart skipped a beat.

“A snow globe?” J.D. wrinkled her nose. “Who is it from?”

She knew who it was from, of course. But why send this?

“It’s from him, right?” the mechanic said smugly. “I can tell from the look on your face. It’s true then? That guy … is your mate?”

Not like she could lie now. “How did you guess?”

“It’s obvious. At least, Anna Victoria said so. The way he wouldn’t leave you while you were recovering from surgery. Even when you