Finding Summer - Suzanne Halliday Page 0,224

coalesced in a tight ball deep inside. She went on the run because of fear. Fear ripped her life in two, but a funny thing happened along the way. Now, she was jaded—as in, she’d had enough. If the evil trolls who set all this in motion wanted to come at her, then bring it on. Maybe when she was pregnant, Summer had been a bit of an easy target, but those days were gone. She was more than ready, willing, and able to kick ass without taking names.

Confidence surged. This was a part of what being a mama was all about. You fuck with my kid, and it’ll be the last thing you do.

Yeah. She was ready to take her life back.

Her eyes went to the shadow box. The subtle glow she noticed before was still evident—maybe only to her eyes, but they were her treasures, so it made sense.

Remembering everything about the day she tested Arnie with a grueling hike over what was essentially an obstacle course, she felt even more confidence pour into her system. It had been a bold move on her part to be so assertive. It was Arnie’s influence. He made her feel infinite.

She didn’t understand why any of this was happening, but she was absolutely certain of one thing. Arnie stood on the other side of whatever this was. If she wanted to be with him, it was time to confront the threat.

Conscious of what she needed to do, Summer’s head filled with a thousand threads—all of them loose ends. Putting them in order was next to impossible.

She felt Arnie’s energy but wasn’t sure if it came from the baby.

Someone was out to harm her and Ari—these were facts.

Plain and simple—whoever probed into her brother’s military life had balls. If it turned out to be Arnie, she was sure it was another sign.

Like a sudden down blast of stormy weather, something new dawned on her. What if her annoying neighbor Todd and his way too curious interest in her life was in some way connected? Connected to what? She grimaced. If only she knew.

A chill danced up and down her spine.

Was creepy Todd responsible for the shadows she saw moving in the night? It would make sense. After all, he was right next door.

Next door. Hmm. He’d moved in after she’d taken up residence in Bud and Lynda’s guesthouse.

Oh, my god. Was he watching her?

She recalled Bud’s angry reaction to the drone he was convinced had a nefarious purpose. Was it possible the drone was Todd getting a look at the back of the Gerry’s property?

The threads wove together. Her tension turned to panic. She’d inadvertently exposed herself and Ari to the very thing she’d been carefully trying to avoid.

And then her brain nearly exploded.

The woman she saw at Todd’s? The one with the back curls? The way she tilted her head had struck a chord in Summer. It hit her like a thunderbolt. Maleficent. The woman who tried to intimidate her and take her baby. She tilted her head the same way.

Holy fuck.

Jolting into action, she lifted the baby from her playpen, deftly nestled the sleeping child into a baby sling, and ran to the apartment door.

She looked back right before her hand reached for the doorknob. There was a popping sound and then another. The backyard floodlights went out. Shadows moved outside the guesthouse window. Holding her breath, she silently slipped out the door and closed it.

Summer knew leaving the house to get in the car made her and Ari easy targets. Sticking to the plan in her head, she unlocked the vestibule door to the driveway and created a false trail by cracking it open slightly. Then she backtracked, and using her key, she quietly slipped into the main house.

Finding a hiding place in someone else’s house wasn’t easy. The last thing she wanted to do was end up trapped without an escape route. There was a small den next to the master bedroom. It had a door leading to Bud and Lynda’s private patio in the side yard. If she had to haul ass and make a run for it, slipping away through the side yard gate was a solid plan.

She spied a chair in the shadows and went to it. Her foot kicked something as she sat down. A box of tile samples Lynda was considering for a new backsplash sat open by the leg of the chair.

Tile samples? Summer blinked. She reached into her pocket and took