This time, she chuckled. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Finally, her shoulders drooped.
“Plus,” I added, just to frost the cake. “Justin just called me before I came back in and found Seiko.”
“Does your phone ever stop ringing?”
“No.”
She laughed again, but I had been totally serious.
“He's on his way back. Was helping Meg do some home improvement things and went to visit his Mom or something. I don't know. That means Atticus will be back too. Not only will Atticus be helpful for the little kitty we've adopted, but also for any strangers. Atticus is a tank. He'll keep you safe too. If anyone comes to Adventura, we'll know. Justin is the gladiator and a stud. Nothing could get through him. He can't out-lift me, but he tries,” I tacked on, just to be gracious.
Not to my surprise, she did seem a little more relieved. More trusted eyes—and canine ears—were only a good thing. I leaned forward, ready for the grand finale now.
“Besides,” I added smoothly. “Justin will let Atticus sleep in the cabin with us.”
Her eyebrow rose. Enough that I could tell the tension had gone out of her face. I grinned my biggest smile.
“Us?” she asked.
“Because Seiko just rented your cabin for the next three days and she wanted the dining hall.”
“What?”
“She's going to stay at Adventura for a few days in the quiet to get ready for her tour, then bring the band in for two days of rock metal jamming.” I leaned back to pretend an electric guitar solo, smug that I hadn't spent a single dollar in advertising but still landed a booking.
“Take that rock music, big kitty,” I said as I leaned back.
Stella managed a real smile this time.
I motioned for the waitress to bring the check. “We're going to head to the cell phone store, then head back. I think it's time you had a phone again.”
“But—”
“No buts. It won't be that expensive to add to our family plan. Justin's on it too, for what it's worth. Which he thinks gives him the rights to date my sister, but we’re still debating that point. Besides, Joshua won't be able to track you through my family, right?”
A look of relief crossed her face when she nodded.
“Thanks, Mark.”
I winked at her. “You save me, I save you.”
17 Stella
A blue-eyed, brown-haired man with broad shoulders and a quick smile met us when we returned to Adventura. Laugh lines framed his tanned face when he smiled. I felt a little swoony under his masculine mein.
“Justin,” he said as he shook my hand with a firm grip. “It's good to meet you.”
At his feet sat a muscled black dog with a charming quirk of his ears. He looked like a German Shepherd without the brown coloring. Big dogs had never really been my thing. Grandma preferred the little yappers. But the moment Atticus licked my hand, I adored him. He whined and shifted, as if he wanted to move closer, but didn't budge.
A good sign.
“The gladiator returns,” Mark cried as they slammed into a hug. “Took you long enough, brother.”
“It's not too hard choosing your sister over your ugly mug.”
Mark laughed, hands spread in surrender. “Fair enough.” Then he knelt down, giving Atticus a full scrub on either side of his rib cage. Atticus licked his face with what I figured was a happy whine, because Justin laughed.
Already, my nerves felt more settled. Back in the folds of the mountains, away from people, felt much safer. Atticus would not only alert us to the mountain lion, but people, as Mark had pointed out. And the likelihood that Joshua would search here for me was low anyway.
This will work out for the best, I told myself again, desperately searching for Grandma's natural positivity.
My muscles unwound a little bit while Mark and Justin started to talk. I couldn't even lie to myself about it: I felt better because I was with Mark. Although I didn't understand exactly how, I knew that he'd notched up in my mind. Gone from client to friend to . . .
Something.
Friends had never made me feel physically safe before. Not like Mark. Nor had they talked me out of my darkest, most frightening moment without a single thought to their own safety or situation.
No, Mark was something else. The question that haunted me was what.
Mark and Justin, now lost in conversation about the mountain lion, headed back to the house. I followed not far behind, then slipped a hand into my to-go box, grabbed a slice of leftover bacon, and pulled it out. Atticus trotted faithfully at Justin's side, then suddenly stopped. I grinned as he whirled around and trotted over, then gobbled the bacon up and remained next to me, nose to the white styrofoam.
Before we made it all the way in, I gave him one more slice with a mental note to order some really delicious dog treats the next time we bought groceries.
Strategic alliances at the ready.
Seiko arrived the next morning.
A long night of restless tossing and turning kept me up until 4:00 a.m., when I finally slipped into a jagged sleep and woke up at 6:00, bleary-eyed and frustrated by dreams of Joshua and orange parkas.
With a growl and pathetic attempt to get into a better headspace, I packed up all my things and moved into Mark’s cabin. At his insistence, I had the entire attic at my use. He'd stripped the bed, replaced the sheets, and cleared off a table that I suspected had once held all his unfolded clean clothes. The attic smelled like an alluring mix of aftershave and pine. The perfect scent combination to describe Mark.
It soothed me for a moment, but five more emails from Joshua brought my energy right back down to a witchy level. As usual, I left them unopened in my inbox. I could block them, but for some reason, they made me feel like I had some visibility on him. Like it kept a tab
