third ring. “It’s me. I wanted to tell you how everything went today. And bring you up-to-date on a few things. I’m at the house, so call the landline. You know how bad the service is out here. I’m going back to my condo in a couple of hours. Before dark. I don’t want you to worry. Oh, and if I don’t answer right away, it’s because I’m outside. Now I sound paranoid.” She laughed and then had to stifle the urge to tell him she loved him.
When she hung up the phone, she realized how easy the thought rolled through her head.
She’d fallen in love with Dameon Locke. He’d somehow become the person she wanted to talk to every morning and every night. There wasn’t a single red flag warning her that loving him was wrong. She smiled into the thought.
She walked over to the thermostat to turn up the heat and decided against it. She wouldn’t be in there long enough to need it. And that disappointed her. She’d actually looked forward to staying the night, even if Dameon couldn’t be there with her. Being in his space and seeing the few memories she’d shared with him made her feel more connected. Like she belonged.
But Carson’s advice sounded in her head. “You wouldn’t be the first person to get harassed after filing a lawsuit . . . Tell Dameon. Tell your family.”
Grace stared at her phone and thought of who she should call. It was the middle of the day, so she knew Colin was working. She was pretty sure Matt was home, but telling him about the car thing would go straight to Erin. And yeah, Grace didn’t need the pregnant woman worrying. So Grace called Parker.
“How did it go?” Parker asked the second she picked up the phone.
“They want to give me my job back.”
“That’s great.”
Grace sighed. “I don’t know if I want it.”
“That’s fair.”
“Listen, I’m at Dameon’s. I have about an hour of work to do here, two at the most, and I’m headed back to my place.”
“I thought you were going to stay through the storm.”
“I was, but I don’t think it’s wise to be out here by myself right now.” She took a few minutes to tell Parker about the car that followed her and was quick to say that it hadn’t happened twice.
“That’s scary,” Parker said.
“I don’t want to be paranoid, but I really don’t want to be stupid.”
“I think you’re smart to get out of there long before dark,” Parker told her.
“Yeah. I’m still sensitive after Erin.” Although Grace had to admit, if only to herself . . . Erin’s ex and all the insecurities he’d created were fading into her past. She had to credit Dameon for that. For showing her that there were good men out there.
“We all are. I have you on Friend Finder. Call before you leave the house.”
“I will. And I’ll call when I get home,” Grace said.
“I’ll keep my phone handy.”
Grace hung up and bundled into her rain gear.
She took a good look around once she stepped outside. There weren’t any strange cars parked on the road or driving by. In fact, there weren’t any cars on the road directly in front of the drive.
She walked through the mud and the rain off Dameon’s fenced-in property and onto the larger part of land he would be developing. It was raining enough to run down the hillsides and into the uncontrolled wash. She kept her distance to avoid being swept away. Unlike other places in the valley where rain funneled into flash-flood danger zones, this particular area wasn’t that dramatic. But that didn’t mean it didn’t come with its own set of challenges. Grace took pictures from every angle she could manage. She used voice-to-text to write notes for herself. Controlling what Mother Nature brings would have to be a high priority for Dameon’s project. More than once she really wished he was there to see firsthand what the property looked like during a storm.
In addition to pictures, she let a video run for quite a while.
It had been a little over an hour before she traversed the route back to the house.
By now the rain was pounding the already soggy roads, and she’d taken on enough water to resemble a duck.
She shook off her rain gear and hung it on a hook by the front door. Her mud boots stayed on the tile.
A message from Dameon was waiting for her on his answering machine.