Forever Saved - Kathleen Brooks Page 0,61

safe.

The visit to Jimmy had made her cry with relief. Her sweet boy had thumped his tail and licked at her tears. Katelyn had assured her all was well with Jimmy and that she could come visit anytime.

Jace held her hand as he drove her home and then reality crashed into her. Seeing her home again brought back the nightmares.

“Want me to go inside and pack your bag?” Jace asked her as he pulled to a stop by her garage. There was now a large board nailed across her front door and the windows there.

It would be so easy to say yes, but Stella was determined not to let fear win. Not when she had love. “Let’s go in together.”

Jace led the way and Stella forced herself to look over at the broken glass as she walked upstairs. Who would do this to her? Cody Gray was going to meet her in thirty minutes. Yet try as she could, she wasn’t coming up with any names.

“I’ll wait here while you get what you need,” Jace told her as he stood in the doorway looking back down the hall toward the stairs. It simultaneously made her feel comforted and fearful. Was she really living a life in which someone wanted to hurt her?

“What can I do to help out today?”

Stella paused as she was putting a stack of clothes into her suitcase. “What do you mean?”

“It’s the weekend. I have the day off. I want to help at the nursery.”

“Jace, you don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to. I grew up on a farm and I like working outside.”

“Well, that will leave Nolan and me to answer questions, so if you could ring people up and carry plants to their cars, that would be a big help.”

“Is your family coming out today?” Jace asked as she finished packing.

“I don’t think so. Honestly, I haven’t told them about what happened to Jimmy. I know my brother will have a fit. I should tell him. I don’t want April to be in danger by being out here with me.”

Stella hefted the bag up, but Jace immediately walked in and grabbed it from her. “They’re safe in Keeneston. No one would let anything happen to them.”

“I’d like to believe that, but look what happened to Jimmy. If someone really wants to hurt me, they know April, my family, is where I’m most vulnerable.”

“I guess you need to tell them what’s going on. Let them make up their own mind.”

Jace was right, but it wasn’t a call she wanted to make. Jace put her bag in the back of his SUV, and as he drove toward the garden center, Stella called her brother. It wasn’t an easy conversation. Karl was upset that she didn’t call him last night and insisted that they’d be there in thirty minutes.

“Ugh. What is it about brothers not listening?”

“I’m the wrong person to ask. I’d move heaven and earth to help my sisters. Now, let’s talk business rivals.”

20

What a day! Stella smiled as the rush died down and she was finally able to sit. Her center was still packed even as closing time approached. Her sister-in-law and Piper were running the cash register while Jace, Nolan, and Karl helped with the customers.

April was happily shrieking and running around with Cricket. Tammy and Karl were talking as he carried more flowers to her minivan. Nolan had helped secure a deal to supply the flowers for Main Street. The city bought them and she’d plant them next week in the large bourbon barrel containers and hanging baskets that lined Main Street.

Cody had taken her short list of business competitors and went off to investigate that morning, but Stella knew that nothing would come from it.

At nine, Blythe had shown up. She’d chatted with Stella for a while and then just walked around . . . for eight hours. She only sat down when Aiden stopped helping Jace and began wandering around. Stella had a feeling they were her personal bodyguards, but everyone had just agreed to pretend they weren’t. However, it was hard to miss that they were on one-hour shifts.

A sleek black extended SUV pulled into the parking lot as dusk began to tease the sky. Nolan took over the customers as Jace joined her. The door opened and one long slim leg in a tight knee-length skirt and bright red high heels came out first. Then a second before Veronica stepped fully from the front passenger side