A Magnolia Move-In (The Red Stiletto Book Club #6)

1. Naomi

ONE

Naomi

W alker was missing.

It was ten o’clock at night, and Walker wasn’t back.

I paced in front of the bay window of my small house, staring out into the darkness as if I could will his headlights into existence.

Nothing.

The only lights I could see were the ones that lined the streets. It was quiet for a Friday evening in Wilmington, North Carolina. A quality that I’d always appreciated until now. Now, the silence that was surrounding me in my suburban town was deafening.

The silence meant that Walker might not show up.

The man worked on an oil rig for months at a time, but when he was summoned, he always called me. We’d talk and make plans for his departure. As much as I wanted to believe that this disappearance was because of his job, a part of me knew it wasn’t.

Why wouldn’t he tell me that he was leaving?

I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared down at my screen. Our smiling faces greeted me. A picture taken last year. The year he took me to Mexico and told me he had every intention of marrying me. He just had some things to take care of first.

I told him I would wait. I would wait forever if that meant I could be with him. We were all but married. He said he loved me. We were starting a life together. We had plans for him to move in with me once the house he inherited from his grandfather sold.

But now?

Now I had no idea what was going on.

I scrolled through my latest messages. A GIF sent from Jackson. A dentist appointment reminder. But no message from Walker.

Where is that man?

I clicked the side of my phone, and the screen went dark. He’d left work at four. At least, that was what his assistant told me when I called her at five, searching for him. I’d asked her if he mentioned where he was going, but she remained suspiciously quiet until I pressed her. Then she said she didn’t know.

I didn’t believe her.

Walker worked on the oil rigs off the coast. If he was called out to work in the field, she would have known. And he would have told me .

His assistant being unaware of his location confirmed my suspicions.

Sitting alone five hours later, I cursed his name.

I angrily tucked my phone into my pocket as tears formed on my lids. What was wrong with me? Why did I fall for distant men? Walker was never going to ask me to marry him. I’d given him my life, and what did he give me in return?

Abandonment. Deceit. Pain.

That was what I was left with.

“Stupid men,” I mumbled under my breath as I collapsed on the couch. I covered my face with my hand and allowed a few tears to slip loose. I was hurting, and I wasn’t sure I could be strong enough to hold those feelings at bay. Not when I felt so vulnerable.

The sharp, grating sound of my phone’s ringer ripped through the silence, and my muscles tightened as I pushed myself into a sitting position.

Walker?

I glanced down to see it was a number I didn’t recognize. My adrenaline plummeted, leaving me shaky. Of course, I would get my emotions out of whack for a telemarketer.

But, not wanting to be alone, I pressed the talk button.

“Hello?” I tipped my head to the side and allowed the phone to rest on my cheek. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves.

“Naomi?” The voice was quiet and very much female.

“Yep.” Strange. She didn’t sound like a telemarketer .

“Oh.”

“Who’s this?”

“Never mind.”

The phone clicked off before I could get another word in. I sat up, catching my phone as it slid down my cheek. I stared at the screen. At the number. I didn’t recognize the area code. Who had called me?

Anger pulsed through my veins as I stood. I wasn’t going to sit around, waiting for Walker to show. I was going to go find him. I was going to tell him what I thought of all of this.

I wasn’t going to be manipulated or pushed around anymore.

I grabbed my purse and keys from the counter and headed out the back door. I crossed the backyard and threw open my car door. The heat clung to me, agitating my frustration even more.

I threw the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway. It was hard to focus with how angry I was. Every aspect of the town around me only made me angrier.

Was that woman Walker’s new fling? Had he truly left me like that? After all I’d given him, he was just going to walk out on me?

He couldn’t even give me a cursory call to tell me we were done?

I paused at the stoplight, my blood boiling as I stared at the red glow. I’d put my life on hold for that man. I’d walked away from promotions that would have changed my life and advanced my career .

I wanted a family—he didn’t. He won.

I wanted a marriage—he didn’t. He won.

I allowed him to manipulate me into giving him everything while he sacrificed nothing. And it came down to this.

Cheating.

As soon as the light turned green, I gunned the engine. In a split second, the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering filled my ears. I didn’t have time to react before I was thrown against the airbag, and everything around me went black.