On My Way - Eve Langlais Page 0,31

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Creak. The handle on the door turned. Squeak. A floorboard compressed at my rear.

I couldn’t help but cast a frightened glance over my shoulder. Where had the eyes gone?

Ding-a-ling, the cheerful bell sang as the door swung open.

Oh shit. I whipped to face forward again and saw a big looming shape.

I didn’t just scream. I reeled and managed to trip over my own two feet.

9

I hit the floor and scrabbled to my feet, expecting to get killed at any moment when I heard a tentative, “Naomi?”

The relief at hearing an actual voice, and one I knew, almost brought a sob to my lips. “Jace, thank goodness it’s you. You have to help me.”

“What happened to your lights?”

“Forget the lights. There’s some kind of giant rat in the back.”

“A what?”

“A rat, I think, a big one. And my cat, Grisou, went after it. You have to do something.” I pulled on his arm, my fear disappearing at his appearance. I was probably setting the feminist cause back a dozen years, standing behind a big strong man. I really didn’t care.

“Why is it so cold? Fuck.” The expletive left his lips, and then he darted away from me, deeper into the shop, heading for the back where the sound of battle had ceased.

“Grisou?” I said tentatively. What did the silence mean? Where would I find a vet this time of night if my poor kitty was injured?

The lights flickered and came back on. The shadows vanished, and my shop became once more just my shop. Jace emerged from the back with my cat in his arms and dangling partially from Grisou’s mouth, a mouse.

“Gross!”

“So much for the giant rat, eh?” Jace taunted.

“It seemed a lot bigger in the dark, and I swear, it had friends.” I felt more than foolish now.

“They’ll think twice about attacking now, I bet. Good little hunter you’ve got,” Jace said, petting my cat, who didn’t look too impressed.

“I didn’t even know he could do that.” Then again, didn’t felines have an instinctive hunting sense? Whereas I had an overactive imagination.

“Cats are predators by nature and are especially keen when it comes to protecting their territory.”

“Meaning I should bring him with me more often.”

“Him or someone else to protect you.”

Was that supposed to be a dig? “I’m sorry I panicked. It’s just the power went out and I heard some noise. And this after I thought I saw something in the alley.”

“Maybe you should rethink working by yourself at night if you’re going to scare yourself.”

“I was fine until I lost the lights,” I grumbled. “How did you fix them?”

“Just flipped the breaker. Given we didn’t have a storm, and you have nothing big plugged in, you might want to get an electrician in to check and make sure there is no issue.”

“It’s the first time I’ve had a problem.”

“Better to handle it early before it becomes a major problem. Bad electrical can start fires.”

The very idea had me hugging myself.

He mistook it for being cold. “While you’re at it, you should also call a heating professional to tune your furnace. And invest in some caulking. Winter is coming, and you wouldn’t want to freeze or have to pay an exorbitant bill.”

All kinds of things I’d never thought of. Just more proof I had no idea what I was doing.

My cat squirmed and demanded to be put down. Jace set him on the floor, and Grisou spat the mouse at his feet before going into a grooming rampage.

The bells on the door jangled, startling me. I whirled as Darryl entered, his expression going from concerned with his exclaimed, “Naomi, are you okay?” to an annoyed, “Sorry to interrupt. I didn’t realize you were busy.”

Was that jealousy in his tone? Over me?

It might have made my smile a tad wider than necessary. “Darryl! Thanks for coming so quick. Jace was just leaving.”

“As a matter of fact, I was. But I assume you want me to dispose of that first?” he asked, pointing to the mouse at his feet.

Since the alternative was touching it myself, my answer emerged as a vehement, “Yes!”

“Don’t worry about it. Get going. I’ll handle it,” Darryl offered.

“I don’t care who does what, just get it out of my store.” I kept hugging myself and grimaced as Jace pulled a handkerchief from his pocket—which was super weird because who the heck in this day and age kept a nose rag in their pocket—and picked it up.

“Do you need me to follow you home? Just in case