On My Way - Eve Langlais Page 0,49
at least one day?
It seemed every time I took a step forward, something slammed me back. I was getting mighty tired of it. I wasn’t leaving. My life in Cambden was a thousand times better than what I had before. How dare someone try and ruin it. I couldn’t let them win.
Letting the tiny spark of anger fuel me, I scrubbed at the murder scene on my sign, stripping not only the red but the creamy layer underneath. I exposed the wood. It didn’t look half bad distressed. Maybe I’d leave it.
“Utterly stubborn,” Jace muttered.
I peeked down at him again. “How am I being stubborn?”
“Because you are obviously upset.”
Despite my precarious perch, I swept a hand at the sign. “Can you blame me?”
“Never said you shouldn’t be, but I do think you need to take a moment and step away from the mess.”
“I need to finish.”
“You’re done.”
“No, I’m not.” A glance showed the sign as readable, despite the spot I’d scrubbed clean.
“Get off that ladder. Right now,” Jace ordered.
“Or what?”
He grabbed it and shook it.
For obvious reasons, I grabbed tight and squealed. “Stop that.”
“Get down.”
“You’re psycho,” I huffed as I hit the pavement. And then almost slid on a patch of ice. Stupid sneakers. I really needed go into town, the bigger one a half-hour over, and buy some boots. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning. If I didn’t move my butt, winter would be here and I’d be wearing plastic bags inside my shoes to keep my feet dry.
“Was that so hard?” he replied.
I glared. “I could have been hurt.”
“But you weren’t.”
“Not the point. Why are you bugging me?”
“Because you and I need to have a chat.”
“About?” I crossed my arms and tilted my head.
“I’ll tell you over breakfast.”
“How about you tell me now?”
“I’ll give you a hint. It’s about the company you keep.”
I arched a brow. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”
“Watch yourself with Darryl.”
“Excuse me?”
“Stop seeing him.”
Had he just seriously warned me away from another guy? Would he try and pee on me next? “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Darryl isn’t who he seems.”
“You mean he’s not a rude jerk like you?” I sassed.
“You should stay away from him.”
“I’d say that’s my decision to make, not yours. And tell you what, if you don’t like seeing me with Darryl, then don’t be wandering onto my property uninvited.”
“I wasn’t on your land.”
“Close enough. Do you spy on my place often?” Again, I couldn’t stop the runaway words. I accused him, and he gave me an unexpected reply.
“Only when I can’t sleep.”
“And how often does that happen?”
His lips quirked. “Every single night.”
I blinked. “Why can’t you sleep?”
His shoulders rolled. “Dunno.”
“Usually when I have insomnia it’s because I’m stressed.”
“A possibility, especially since you won’t listen to reason and leave this place.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you seriously going to start with that again?”
“Just trying to keep you safe.”
“From who?”
“I think we both know.” He turned and began walking down the sidewalk, only to pause when I didn’t follow. “Are you coming or not?”
Stupid, bossy man. I should say no, and yet this was the longest conversation we’d had. I still wanted to know what he intended to reveal to me at breakfast. “I can’t just leave this stuff lying around.” I pointed to the ladder and bucket of dirty water with its stained rag.
“Who is going to steal it? Besides, Brigda is here. She’ll keep an eye out for miscreants.”
Sure enough, as we argued, Brigda had arrived. She crossed the street, toolbox in hand.
“Brigda, watch the shop, will you?”
She grunted.
“I’ll just be at the diner getting a coffee,” I explained.
“As if I care,” she muttered. Brigda slewed her gaze to Jace then back to me, her expression sly. “My, but you get around.”
An insult that I had no time to reply to, as she entered the store.
It was rude, and yet not entirely untrue. I did seem to have an unseemly amount of men around me. I could argue they were friends, and in Darryl’s case, that would be true, but Jace barely seemed to tolerate me most of the time. As for Kane… I still struggled with my feelings for him.
At this hour of the morning, the diner didn’t have many people sitting in booths, nor did I see Marjorie, just Orville. I leaned over the counter and shouted in the direction of the kitchen, “Do you need a hand?”
Orville stuck his head out the pass-through window. “Nah. JoJo will