30. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
HATTIE
“We should stop at the gas station and grab a six-pack,” Dylan said as he rested his hand on my thigh.
The last two days had been a strange combination of perfect and difficult. Yesterday Dylan had moved heaven and earth so I could visit with Kyle, Tina, and the kids. Including my adorable new niece, Emma.
“Jackson probably has beer.” I glanced over at him, watching the way the lights from the road illuminated his face in the darkened car every few seconds.
Although he was working an absurd number of hours to solve this case, we’d made sure to communicate clearly and often, and things had been great. I missed him terribly, but I would never hold that against him.
And now it felt like we were going on a double date, or maybe a triple date? Although technically it wasn’t, since we hadn’t gone public yet. Dylan hoped he could rectify that tonight, starting with telling Rhett. With any luck, having Jackson there as well would help keep Rhett from being unreasonable.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “He’ll have liquor or craft beer. He never has light beer.”
He was probably right. My brother-in-law had expensive tastes, and I doubted he would have cheap light beer on hand.
Inside the gas station, I caught sight of the young guy working behind the counter and cringed. When he sent me the smarmy smile he always did, I turned away quickly, breaking eye contact. Dylan rubbed my shoulder as he picked out his beer and made sure I didn’t want anything.
After he paid, we made our way back out to the parking lot.
“Ugh, that guy always creeps me out.” I glanced back to the window where the guy was watching us.
Dylan frowned and peered back at the store. “The guy behind the counter?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” I lifted my shoulders slightly. “He always comes across as kinda slimy.”
He raised one eyebrow. “And you’re just now telling me this?”
I tilted my head, my stomach flipping at the disappointment in his tone. “Um, yeah.”
He sighed and pulled at the back of his neck. “You probably should have mentioned him when we came up with that list of people worth looking into.”
He was right, but honestly, I had trouble considering that anyone around our tiny town would actually want to stalk me. Even this guy. Why would I? Flirting, even if it came across as sleazy, didn’t mean he was capable of stalking someone.
“I only come here once in a while, so I didn’t even think about him until just now.”
Dylan’s face hardened, his focus fixed on something outside the windshield. I followed his gaze, noting a dark-colored four-door car in one of the spaces to the far left of the lot.
“He could be our guy,” Dylan mumbled, his expression hyper focused on the car. After a moment, he shook his head and forced his attention back to me. “I want to head into the station and look into this.”
My stomach flipped as I looked back toward the store to see the guy still watching us. “I doubt it’s him.”
“Maybe not. But a car just like that one”—he nodded in that direction— “ followed you that night. So my gut is telling me to look into this.” His gaze softened as he reached out and took my hand. The reassurance brushed away the unease. “You okay if I drop you off at Ashley’s? I’ll have Seabass meet us there to keep an eye out and bring you back home.”
Disappointment had my shoulders dropping. But this was his job, and I’d just told him I could handle it. Not only that, but I was anxious for this whole debacle to be over so we could move on with our lives.
“Yeah,” I breathed, giving his hand a squeeze. “That’s fine.”
He studied me for a minute, his lips turned down. “You sure?”
If I really wanted him to, he’d put it off until morning. I could tell by the questions swirling in his eyes. But I knew his mind was already racing, already focused solely on the man inside the store. He wouldn’t rest until he could look into it.
“Yes. I’m sure. I want you to catch this guy too.”
With a squeeze of my hand, he angled over the center console and brushed his lips against mine. After he called Seabass to update him, we were on our way to Ashley’s.
Part of me considered telling him I’d rather skip out on tonight and beg him to let me hang out at the station with him, but Ashley had specifically asked if Bella and I could come by. I had a feeling she needed advice, or maybe she had news to tell us.
Could she be pregnant?
I wasn’t sure, since last year, when Tina announced that she was pregnant, Ashley had mentioned that she and Jackson had talked about adopting or fostering if they wanted another child.
Seabass was waiting out front when we pulled up, and as we approached him, he sent me a smile.
“Looks like I’m your date tonight,” he said with a wink.
Dylan growled, and I held back a chuckle. Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love that he was jealous.
“You’re so easy to mess with.” Seabass barked a laugh.
I ran my hand down Dylan’s arm, garnering his attention.
His face relaxed as he studied me. After a silent moment, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.
“I’ll see you at home later,” he said, his lips ghosting over my temple.
With a nod, I reluctantly untangled from his hold and walked up to Ashley’s door with Seabass following behind me.
I tried to stay in the moment while Ashley, Bella, and I hung out. But my thoughts kept drifting to Dylan.
“That’s amazing.” Bella gave Ashley an excited hug. “So happy for you guys.”
Shit. I blinked back to the moment. “Wait, you guys were approved?”
She had been explaining that they’d put in an application to foster another child, possibly more, but I guessed I’d missed the part where she told us that they’d been approved.
“Yeah, I just said that.” Ashley tilted her head, looking me over with a frown.
“Sorry, I must have zoned out.” I stood and gave her a quick hug. “Congratulations.”
Bella smirked at me, and the look the two of them shared had me rolling my eyes. Bella wasn’t our biological sister, but she’d been close to all of us since we were kids, so sometimes it felt like she was. Because of that, I’d seen these two share looks like this since I was old enough to remember.
“Alright. Out with it.”
Ashley shifted on her large leather sofa and peeked back at the guys, who were standing around the kitchen.
“You and Dylan…”
I pressed my lips together, considering how much I should tell them. I didn’t want either of them to have to lie to their husbands.
“Maybe I should plead the fifth until he has a chance to talk to Rhett.”
Ashley turned to Bella and whispered, “I knew it.”
Bella shook her head. “Hopefully Dylan has better luck than Jackson did.”
“It’ll be fine,” I confirmed. “There’s no drama or anything. He just needs to find time to talk to him.”
It would be a simple conversation, and hopefully Dylan was closing in on my stalker and we could put all of this behind us and be together soon.
Like for real.