Lily scowled at the missed call from Detective Mendelson. It was Saturday, her busiest day of the week, and she could not deal with his bullshit right now. Every time a car approached, her head jerked up to see if he was back. The audit was enough for her to worry about. One damn crisis at a time.
Not that the audit had gone badly. It had gone fine. She and Gretchen had even clicked a little, she thought. Or maybe Gretchen was extra nice to people who might be losing their job.
At least Everett had finally had a peaceful night, though Lily hadn’t. This time, she’d woken up at 2:00 a.m., sure she’d heard a sound outside her window. It had probably only been the cat. Or possibly the family of raccoons she’d spotted just that morning on camera.
But she’d been too busy to be tired today. There’d been four new renters and almost that many moving out. Summer season had arrived early this year.
She glanced at the clock. “Five thirty!” she called out to Everett. “Are you ready? Barbara will be here to pick you up any minute.”
“I know! Josephine messaged me on Discord.”
Lily rolled her eyes, realizing she’d lost that battle by declining to fight it. Oh well. At least Everett had been in a great mood today. His hormones were surging in the right direction for once.
“She’s here!” Everett called as he hurried out of the apartment and raced for the outer door. “See you later!”
Lily’s hormones were not surging in the right direction. Once Everett left to get burgers and shakes with Josephine and her mom, she felt strangely unmoored, wandering around the apartment, touching a book, straightening a lampshade. She was wound tight and aching with tension, and she was still obsessing about that damn audit.
Gretchen had assured her it was routine, but they’d never audited her before. If she was in trouble, if they’d noticed the discrepancies in her security feed . . .
But they weren’t tech wizards or hackers, and Gretchen hadn’t even checked any video files. Why would she? Nothing was missing and her books were in order. Beautifully in order. Facing even one tiny financial error felt like risking a scarlet letter in this town, so Lily triple-checked her numbers every month.
Still, this all felt too coincidental, and she was half-convinced Detective Mendelson had alerted the company to Lily’s past, the part that wasn’t included in the credit file, like the extent of her ex’s theft and all the terrible things they suspected of her.
“Stop it,” she muttered to herself as she refolded the moss-green throw blanket and arranged it more neatly on the couch. She was used to being alone here during the day, but it felt odd in the evening as chatter and noise from the business park tapered into silence.
Lily glanced at the clock. It was six now. She was free. Barbara had told her to enjoy her night off, and Lily had played along, as if she might do something fun. Now she felt pitiful because she had no idea what to do with a night off. If she stayed home and sat at her table alone with a tuna sandwich, she wouldn’t even be able to deny to herself that she’d turned into a hermit.
Mouth set in a grim line, Lily grabbed her car keys and decided to run a couple of errands to fill the time. Still, setting off toward town didn’t feel relaxing. That wordless encounter with Cheyenne at the café replayed in her mind as she drove toward Main, watching for any familiar, unfriendly faces.
Had she stayed in Herriman to prove something to Cheyenne? She hadn’t really thought about it that way, but now . . . it almost made sense. Lily had loved Herriman as a kid, and then one day her dad hadn’t wanted her or her mom anymore and they’d been shunted aside. Cast out.
Maybe taking that job from Cheyenne had been a childish tantrum on Lily’s part. A refusal to be tossed away again. Maybe this had all been a stubborn, selfish mistake and she should have taken Everett and gone anywhere, even if it meant instability.
Or maybe she was just feeling sorry for herself.
Sighing, she pulled into an open parking space on Main Street and turned off her car to sit for a moment.
They were doing okay, weren’t they? It was just that life was supposed to be easier by now. Jones was supposed to be far behind her, the police should have forgotten her, and she desperately wanted to be normal and boring.
At least she had the boring part nailed down even if she’d never be normal. Time for a hot Saturday-night trip to the hardware store. Jesus, she was really going to have to find a few hobbies before Everett left for college in six years.
She lingered in the hardware store, but it still took only a few minutes to grab a couple of lock hasps and a pack of wood screws. She threw in a new paintbrush for some touch-up work she’d been putting off. Then she was back out on Main, tucking the receipt carefully into her billfold to file for expenses later.
She hesitated on the sidewalk. Maybe she could get a puzzle at the dollar store. Would doing a puzzle on a Saturday night be worse than doing nothing at all?
It could be relaxing, though. She could have a glass of wine and listen to music. Put on that old Brooke Waggoner album, maybe, and remember how normal her life had been before she’d met Jones. How she’d slept with fumbling college boys and smoked a cigarette or two with friends at keg parties off campus.
Life had been hard then, young and unsupported by family, but she’d felt capable in her own body. She’d felt strong enough to risk everything for her dreams. She wasn’t sure she’d risk anything these days.
“Lily?”
She startled at the sound of her own name and whipped anxiously toward whoever had spoken it.
“Hey!” Alex Bennick called, letting go of the open door he’d been holding. “How’s it going?”
How was it going? She had no idea, so she just shook her head. “Hi.”
He walked toward her, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans and ducking his head a little. “I’m going kind of stir crazy tonight. Thought it’d be nice to get out and grab a real dinner.”
“Hotels can be a little claustrophobic.”
“Yeah. That’s true. Is this place any good?” He gestured up to the sign.
“Absolutely. Mia’s Taqueria is one of the best.”
“Would you . . . ?” He raised his eyebrows. “Would you want to grab dinner with me?”
“Oh, I’m . . .” She held up her bag, and he glanced at it with a puzzled look on his face.
“Shopping?” he prompted.
“Yeah. Running a few errands.”
“Well, if you’re busy . . . but I’d really love some company. I’ve been talking to myself way too much this week.”
“I . . .” She glanced at her phone, about to say that she needed to get home. But somehow only twenty-five minutes had passed since she’d set off in her car for an evening out.
And he was kind of cute. And watching her hopefully. And he was also leaving town in a week or two, which meant he was safe. She was safe.
“Sure,” she finally said. “Dinner would be great.”
Grinning, he swept an arm toward the door. “Let’s see if we can get a table.”
There was a large group standing inside the entry, but the host walked them right through to a table for two. Lily felt stupidly thankful it was tucked near the back and not in the middle of the room. Alex didn’t know anything about her, and she wanted to enjoy being unknown.
“Any recommendations?” he asked, and then she was grateful they got through the first few minutes discussing only the menu, and she had time to calm her racing thoughts.
The server arrived to take their orders, and Lily liked that Alex made clear he was only having one beer since he was driving. She ordered a margarita to go with her enchiladas, though she would’ve happily had the special gigante version if not for her own drive home.
“So you live here in town?” he asked.
“I . . .” She winced but decided everyone else knew exactly where she lived, so it was hardly a secret. “I actually live on-site. It’s one of my responsibilities. There’s an apartment inside, and you can’t beat the commute.”
He tapped the table. “I forgot about that! I covered a case once that involved trafficking and a city official’s storage company. That seems like a cool place to live.”
Lily laughed. “I guess you could say that.”