16. Scarlett
scarlett
. . .
I was living a dream. A real-life fairytale.
At least that’s how it had felt since Merri and I got tangled in the sheets after telling each other we loved one another. A whole week of sheer bliss. I still couldn’t believe the way it had happened. I couldn’t believe I’d left a window open and got scared, but I couldn’t regret it. Not when it meant we were together the way we were.
Like I said, real-life fairytale.
Valentine’s Day was around the corner, and I felt like it was kismet that it would be the first holiday we’d spend together. The most romantic day of the year, and I wouldn’t be alone this time. For the first time, I wasn’t single. I was in love.
Deeply, madly in love.
If you had asked me a month and a half ago if I thought it would be possible to fall in love, real genuine love, with someone in less than a blink of an eye, I would have laughed in your face.
But if I thought back, that’s what it had been like.
I might not have known Merritt’s name when we bumped into one another at the party, but I’d known there was something different about him. It was why I’d found the courage to ask him to have a drink. Of course, it had been a shame that he had walked away before I’d done it, but still, something about Merritt made me feel safe enough to be brave.
Not that I’d been bold or brave enough to tell anyone we were together just yet. Life had been busy. Not to mention I didn’t want to flaunt my new relationship when my older sister had just ended hers and was having a tough time moving on.
It was why we were out tonight, celebrating Galentine’s Day. The first night Merri and I hadn’t spent together since he’d come over when I’d stupidly thought someone had broken in.
Coral’s stupid ex had been spotted out around town with the same woman over and over. Making it tough for her to get over the breakup. Being as close as we were, we insisted on going out for a girls’ night, and we were surprised when she requested we go drinking and dancing.
Either way, it’s what we did.
We were at some hole-in-the-wall biker bar, dancing next to an old juke box after each of us had a shot. I had a water bottle next to me, while they nursed their beers. It was fun. We all swayed and danced to the beat of the song playing loudly.
I could feel the eyes of some bikers who had walked in a while ago but hadn’t paid them any mind. In our small town of Moonlit Pines, you met all kinds of people.
“It’s hot!” Raven said, grabbing my hand. “Wanna go outside with me?” I nodded. Walking out, I felt someone watching me again. That feeling hadn’t gone away even though the gifts had stopped.
Just as I was about to reach the door, I felt it.
The slight prickle of awareness at the back of my neck.
So strong, I glanced to my right and saw him. Vaguely familiar, there was a man staring right at me. With dark, almost black eyes and dark hair. I blinked but couldn’t place him. It had only been a second or two when our eyes connected, but there was something about him, the way he watched me, that put my body on alert. Raven held the door open for me, and when she called out my name, I snapped out of it and followed her out. I shivered, not sure from the low temp or from the guy who had been staring at me.
“Cold?” Raven asked as we stepped outside.
“No.” I smiled. “You think she’s having fun?” Raven’s eyes softened. I didn’t need to clarify who I was talking about for her to know who I meant.
“I think she is. Dancing always helps her unwind. Remember those dance parties she’d make us have when we would study for finals or be doing homework?”
“Yeah.” I grinned. I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. My sister was the best. Though, all of them were, really. “How’s work?” I asked, and she grinned. This was a subject she loved to chat about. She went on and on about her days at the salon. Usually, I loved the stories she told me. As a hairdresser and makeup artist, Raven was super talented. But I couldn’t get myself to focus. My thoughts kept returning to the man in the bar. Why did he look so familiar?
That’s when I remembered.
He’d been the delivery guy who had dropped off the fruit arrangement. The gifts had stopped arriving the night I’d thought someone had been in my place and Merri and I had made love for the first time. Could he be my secret admirer?
Raven and I kept talking while I sipped on my water bottle. My eyes drifted off towards the parking lot. It was pretty empty. Just a few bikers standing together next to their Harleys. That’s when I saw it. A window rolled up quickly, but not quickly enough. I’d caught a glimpse of Merritt.
Or it’d looked like Merritt. Why is Merritt here?
I shook the thought away and wanted to laugh at myself. I was imagining things. He’d said he had some work to do and would see me in the morning. I was seeing him in places he wasn’t at because I missed him. That has to be it.
The night kept going, and we hopped from bar to bar, calling an Uber each time. Even though I was sober, having only indulged in one shot, none of us ever drove after consuming a drop of alcohol. It was a little after midnight, and we were at the brewery because the girls wanted to sing karaoke. They’d even talked me into going on stage with them since it was my first time there for the event.
As I headed up to the stage, my brows bunched when I noticed him. The delivery driver was sitting at the far end of the bar with a beer in front of him. One that by the looks of it he hadn’t touched.
I tried to focus as Olive took my hand and Coral tossed her arm over my shoulder and the music started for Abba’s Dancing Queen . That’s when I saw him. Merritt. Merritt hid in the back against the shadows of the dark area of the dance floor. Just standing there.
Watching me.
He didn’t try to hide it either or avoid my eyes.
But then again, why should he? We were together. He was my boyfriend. Not that he’d called himself that, had he? We’d said I love you and told each other we wanted to have a family together.
He’d said it again just last night.
I was being silly.
I could chalk up the delivery guy to being a coincidence. We just happened to be at two of the same places at the same time. It didn’t mean he’d followed me. But why wouldn’t Merritt have come up to us? Say hi? Unless he is there with someone else ? the cynical side of me wondered, but I shook it away. He wasn’t. He loved me. Merritt is mine.
The lyrics started, and I swayed along with Coral, who was drunk and having a great time, when suddenly ,in the middle of our turn, it hit me.
Like puzzle pieces colliding together and every single thing becoming clear. Making sense.
Merritt.
Merrit was my secret admirer.
He’d known where I lived. Not because Austin had told him but because he’d figured it out before that. It was why the gifts had started to show up the day after I saw him again at my brother’s bar. How he had picked my favorite bouquet of flowers. It hadn’t been by chance or the fact they made him think of me!
He’d been following me. It explained the feeling of being constantly watched since the party. Before the countdown! Why he had been at the coffee shop when I’d been there.
Oh god, has Merritt been stalking me?
Olive shot me a look, like ‘What the hell? Why aren’t you singing ’? I kept trying but failed as more chips fell into place.
He’d known his way around my house. Had he been in there without me? Or while I’d been home? I hadn’t left a window open. It was him. Merri had been at my house. Alone.
If he’d done that, what else had he done?
Almost as if sensing my distress, I watched while I sang as he pushed off the wall. The devastatingly handsome man I’d given my heart to started to walk towards me like it was his life’s mission. When Merri passed Austin, I didn’t miss the way Austin called after him, but Merri didn’t stop. It was clear he was rushing over, and just like a deer caught in headlights, I didn’t know what to do.