“Which is what I was going to come talk to you about,” Grayson added, strolling down the hall. “Since it’s not busy, I thought maybe Lara and I could split early?”
They had been working loads of overtime. It was the least I could do. “Sure, go ahead. I have a ton of things I need to finish up.”
Squealing, Lara hugged me tight. “Thanks, sis. It’ll be nice to have a night off.”
“It might not be a bad idea to close down for a couple of days like other restaurant owners do,” Grayson suggested. “I don’t want to get burnt out working all these hours.” Lara agreed, nodding.
“If that’s what you both want, we can do it. Our sales have tripled in the last month, and even before that we were doing great.”
“So we’ll cut back?” Grayson asked.
I pushed them toward the back door. “Yes, we’ll cut back. Now get out of here and have some fun.”
After they left, I circulated through the restaurant and said my goodbyes to everyone finishing their meals. Once the place cleared out, I told the rest of the staff to head home as soon as everything was cleaned up. With the doors locked, I turned on the radio behind the bar and poured myself a glass of wine. There was still some work left to be done in my office.
I sat down in my chair and took a sip of my wine, glancing at my cellphone out of the corner of my eye. Groaning, I snatched it up; it was dead. What the hell? No wonder I hadn’t heard from Evan. The music blared from the bar, but it didn’t mute the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.
“Grayson?” I called. Getting up from my desk, I opened the door and peered out. Nobody was there. I walked into the dining area and all around the restaurant. It was empty, or at least I hoped it was. To be on the safe side, I shut off the music and held my breath; there were no sounds of movement. It was most likely paranoia over recent events.
In my office, I sat down and drank the rest of my wine, feeling its warmth as it pooled in my belly. Most of the time, wine helped me work better, but this time it wasn’t my friend. My vision started to blur and my heart raced in my chest. What was going on? Everything began to get really heavy, including my arms and my head. All I wanted to do was crawl on top of my desk and pass out. The light faded and darkness began to creep in. Before I passed out onto the floor, I heard a voice shout my name and a set of strong arms lift me up in the air. That was the last thing I remembered.
—
Eyes closed, I could feel the bed beneath me and it was familiar. The smells reminded me of a place I hadn’t been in a while. It was home, or, rather, the place that used to be my home before I took the plunge and moved in with Evan. Opening my eyes, I snuggled into my pillow and sighed. I’d missed my bed. Maybe Evan would let me put it in one of his guest bedrooms.
“Evan?” I called. Sitting up in bed, I noticed I still had my dress on from earlier, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten home. I remembered working in my office and that was it. “Evan, are you here?” I started to get up but then heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. I smiled, thinking Evan was going to be the one to greet me, but it wasn’t—it was Philip. “What are you doing here?”
Dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark T-shirt, he lifted his hands in the air. “I’m just here to help you. You passed out at the restaurant.”
“Then why didn’t you take me to the hospital?” I inquired cautiously, gripping the sheets.
He approached slowly. “Because you told me not to. Don’t you remember?”
Closing my eyes, I rubbed my forehead, willing the memories to surface. They were gone. “No. What I want to know is how you got into the restaurant. The doors were locked.”
“The front one was, but the back one wasn’t. I told you I would come see you when I got back into town. I wanted to apologize again, face to face.”
“For what? What you said to Evan? Apparently, you told him I’d wanted you to kiss me. Why did you lie?”
Sighing, he sat down on the edge of the bed, and my fight-or-flight response flared to life. I wanted to get up and run, but I had to make sure I could get away. “It was a mistake, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to him, but he came to my house threatening me. I wanted to shake him up a bit.”
“Are you sure that’s it?”
He moved closer. “Yes, I promise.” Looking into his eyes, I knew without a doubt that he was lying. Something had changed in him, and it made my skin crawl.
“I’m thirsty,” I blurted. “I think I need to get something to drink.”
I started to get up, but he put a hand on my leg. “I’ll get it. Stay here and rest. If you feel like you need to go to the hospital, I can take you.”