Chapter 16
The other cars turned off the main road, and a moment later the red truck came closer until it was almost on their bumper.
Rowan’s heart raced.
What if he hit them? They had Grace with them.
Would Travis really hurt a baby?
“We’re almost there,” Naomi muttered. “We just need to get home.”
Rowan tensed, waiting to feel an impact. A nudge. A crash.
It didn’t come. Not yet.
“Is he gone?” she asked Naomi.
She glanced in the rearview mirror. “No. He’s still there. He’s still close.”
Finally, the sign for Refuge Cove came into view.
Naomi turned—probably a little too fast—into the driveway.
But she had to stop at the gate.
Was this where he’d make a move?
Rowan finally dared to look back.
As she did, the red truck sped away.
She let out a breath.
Travis hadn’t hit them. She’d been so certain he would.
“Are you okay?” Naomi asked.
Rowan nodded. “Fine. You?”
Naomi nodded also, though it was clear by her trembling arms that she was still shaken. “I’m ready to get out of this SUV.”
“Me too.”
Rowan scanned the property out of habit. Wes’s truck was gone, she realized. He must have headed to his bid in Staunton.
Something in her chest loosened in a way she wasn’t ready to examine.
Naomi used the code to open the gate. She pulled up near the house and cut the engine. Caleb was outside, standing near the porch. He turned when he heard the car, and Rowan read his expression before she’d even opened the door.
He’d seen the article, hadn’t he?
Apprehension filled her as she climbed out. What should she tell him?
She still hadn’t decided.
He crossed the yard and stopped a few feet away, his expression steady and his eyes on her face. “Hey. You have a good time in town?”
“We did.” She kept her voice easy. “Blue Ridge Hollow hasn’t changed a bit.”
“It never does.”
“We did think for a moment that Travis was following us . . .”
His jaw tightened. “What?”
She explained what happened.
“I don’t like that sound of that,” Wes muttered.
“Thankfully, nothing came of it.”
“Thankfully. But if it happens again, call me or Caleb. I don’t trust that guy.”
“Understood.”
He paused. “Listen, Rowan, you got a minute? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Of course.”
“I’m going to feed Grace,” Naomi said. “I’ll catch up later.”
Naomi slipped past them toward the house.
As soon as she was gone, Caleb started. He didn’t bother to find seats. To get comfortable.
Whatever he wanted to talk about was urgent.
“I saw the article,” he started. “The one about you leaving the movie in the middle of filming.”
Rowan slowly bobbed her head up and down. “I figured you would see that eventually.”
He narrowed his gaze. “You want to tell me what actually happened?”
She met his eyes and blew out a breath, deciding to give him the basic facts—but not all of them.
“Vince Furlough made my life miserable from the first week of working together. Nothing I did was right, nothing was good enough, and eventually I reached a point where I was done.” She lifted a shoulder. “So I left.”
“Just like that?” His eyes narrowed even more.
“Just like that.”
He studied her before nodding. “And the erratic behavior headline?”
“That’s Vince protecting himself.” She held his gaze. “It’s not true.”
A beat passed before he said, “Vince sounds like someone who doesn’t handle losing control well.”
Something in her chest loosened. “He doesn’t. He’s a narcissist.”
Caleb glanced at the kennels, his gaze still unsettled. “For the record—you could have called us. Any of us.”
“I know.” She looked down a moment. “I know that.”
He squeezed her shoulder and turned back toward the house.
Rowan stood in the yard a moment longer.
Then she turned toward the kennels. She hadn’t made it inside earlier to see the puppies, and right now a litter of dogs sounded like exactly what she needed.
Wes had told himself the whole drive back from Staunton that he’d wrap things up at Refuge Cove and head to Baltimore tomorrow—just as he’d planned.
But he knew that wouldn’t be happening.
There were too many things unresolved. The fire, the helicopter. The visit from the county official.
Any one of those things on its own might have let him walk away with a clear conscience.
Together, they wouldn’t let him go.
And then there was Rowan.
He turned toward Refuge Cove and let that thought settle without examining it too closely.
Just as he pulled up, he saw a delivery truck idling outside the gate. The driver climbed out with a padded envelope in hand and walked toward the intercom.
“You with this property?” the driver asked.
“I am.”
“Got a delivery for a,” he glanced at the package, “Rowan King.”
“I can take that for you.”
The driver nodded, climbed back in, and pulled away.
Wes looked down at what he was holding. Padded envelope, rigid contents, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. He turned it over.
Rowan King, care of Refuge Cove.
He squinted. There was no return address.
He didn’t like those implications.
He held it another moment before punching in the gate code and pulling through.
Caleb stood near the side of the house, Hamilton at his feet, when Wes parked and climbed out.
Wes held up the package as he crossed the yard. “Delivery for Rowan. Just caught the driver at the gate. Do you know where she is, by chance?”
Caleb nodded toward the kennel. “She’s visiting the puppies.”
“I’ll hand deliver it then.”
“Be my guest.”
Wes started toward the kennel door.
He had a feeling that whatever was inside this package would only add more trouble.