“Grandma, Joshua is . . . he's not my boyfriend. He's . . . a delusional man that I used to work with.”
“What?”
The confusion in her voice cut at me. This is exactly what I wanted to spare her from. Following me was one thing, but my grandma? I licked my lips and fought for control.
“What did he say to you while he was there?” I asked instead.
Flustered now, she fumbled around. “Oh, we talked about you and your job and how much you love numbers and how you were taking a little sabbatical to be in the mountains for a bit. He helped me program your new number into my phone.”
My eyes closed. The sneaky, nasty devil. He must have been there days ago, got my number, and somehow tracked me here. He clearly had access to my clients' information. Had he known I was at Mark's? Made a wild guess, then confirmed it?
“I see,” I murmured.
“Stella Marie, is something wrong? Is he not your boyfriend?”
“No, grandma. Joshua is a sick man that's following me. I left my job to get away from him, in fact. It's why I'm in the mountains.”
“Oh, dear.” Horror filled her tone. “And he was here. I talked about you. Was that wrong? I didn't know, I—”
“Grandma, you did nothing wrong.”
“Are you safe, Stella Marie? Have you called the cops or—”
“Yes. Very safe. Mark, my real boyfriend, is here with me all the time. Where I am is safe and you don't have to worry about that. Has Joshua called or come back since his first visit?”
Dismissing the fact that I easily called Mark my boyfriend—and felt about ten years old for it—was easy. Mark was a natural part of my life now. Horrifying circumstances aside, I couldn't wait for him to meet grandma.
“No. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it to you,” Grandma said. “He came a week or so ago. Maybe more? It just . . . it slipped my mind. You know how things are slippery these days and—”
“You did great,” I said firmly. “Thank you for telling me now.”
“I'm worried about you, my girl.”
“No need!” I forced a bright tone. “I'm quite happy and safe, grandma. But thank you. How is the Bunco club?”
We moved onto safer topics while Atticus roamed the reeds along the lake edge at my back, caught a scent, and nosed his way into the trees. Grandma didn't recover her usual vivacity. I could feel the burden in her responses.
Silently, I cursed Joshua over and over again in my head. How dare he?
How dare he?
For the first time, I wanted to get my hands on his neck and have my own revenge. He'd intentionally frightened me both at work and here. He'd stalked me. Made my work life miserable, my home life frightening, and tried to get me to commit fraud. Now he wanted to clutch at whatever happiness I'd created without him.
My fingers were tight on the phone. My heart raced in my chest. We spoke for longer than usual as I tried to change topics and get the relief back in grandma's voice. By the end of our conversation, she sounded more reassured, but wary.
“You're really okay?” she asked.
“Really okay,” I murmured. Heat warmed my cheeks. “I love Mark, grandma. Really love him, like Mom and Dad loved each other.”
The truth thickened my throat, but not with fear this time. Mark had brought life back to my world. Light. Intensity. He splashed a palette of colors into a gray storybook. This was real life.
This was love.
The sound of a little yelp from Atticus drew me back to the present. I glanced behind me to see a quiet, tree-lined bank but nothing more. He often nosed himself into a bone he couldn't reach or something sharp.
“Well, I better get going,” I said as I tried to find Atty's dark coat amongst the shadows of the trees. The sound of Mark talking to Benjamin in the distance gave me a modicum of comfort, even though the quiet had become oddly quiet. Still, I couldn't wait for the day when all of this wasn't necessary. When I could just live and breathe and run without fear.
“Okay, Stella Marie.” Grandma sighed. “Well, send me a picture of this hunky Mark, please? And I'll let you know if I hear anything else from this Jonathon character.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too, grandma.”
Once the call ended, I pushed the phone back into my pocket. The cold seemed to drive into my bones as snow thickened in the air, falling in fat flakes that obscured the other side of the lake. A warm fire would feel most welcome right now. I couldn't wait to get back inside.
But first, I had to find Atticus again.
“She was a lovely woman, you know,” drawled a quiet voice just behind me.
My spine froze into icicles as I slowly spun around. Joshua stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets. A little wind stirred the golden hair on top of his head.
The past few weeks hadn't been kind to him. Stress had ravaged his face into gaunt lines and sallow skin. With no news from the company and no friends I could really poach updates from, I had no visibility into what had happened to him. Did the CEO find out about the federal investigation and fire him?
Had Joshua realized what I'd done and run away before things got ugly?
His brow furrowed into the same dark intensity that captured my attention at the grocery store. For some undeniable reason, I had the feeling that he expected me to pay for his sins, and I couldn't fathom why.
“You've been a most inconvenient woman for some time now,” he murmured. “I think it's time to stop playing chase.”
Too startled to respond, I could only stare as he closed the distance between
