Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
JACKSON
Someone has been watching her.
Those five words reverberate inside my brain, over and over, as I stare at the binoculars.
Every morning, when she leaves her cottage to head to work, someone could be in this very spot, watching. Waiting. For what, I don’t want to think about.
“What the fuck?”
The sound of Wells’s voice pulls me from my daydreams of violence. He has taken note of the binoculars now, and I can almost see the realizations he’s having as he takes in the evidence before him. From this very spot, someone has been spying on Meyer, right under our noses.
I think I’m going to be sick.
“Maybe someone left them here by mistake?” He says it like a question, but we both know the answer.
I shake my head, swallowing the sour feeling that is threatening to rise. “No,” I say. “It’s no coincidence. ”
Wells studies me. “I know you’ve been holding back lately. What haven’t you told me?”
A lot .
“Meyer fired one of our employees a little while ago. He was caught stealing, so it had to be done.” My fists clench at my sides, remembering the rage simmering in Reggie’s eyes as I told him to get out. “Before he left, he called her a bitch. And then the next night, someone vandalized the inn.”
Wells sucks in a breath. “Fuck. You think it was him?”
I nod. “I do. It has to be, given the threat left in spray paint. You will regret this . There are cameras outside the building, but they don’t do a sufficient job covering the whole property. That side of the building was a blind spot.”
“Shit, Jackson.” He shakes his head. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
In truth, it didn’t occur to me. I truly have been so caught up in the inn and Meyer, it didn’t even cross my mind. That, and I knew it would only make my family worry. They had been wary about me coming here by myself to begin with.
I clear my throat. “I’m saying something now.” I look at the binoculars again, the mess on the ground. “I don’t want to be the one to tell her.”
I saw what the spray paint did to Meyer. How rattled she was after firing Reggie. Despite the unruffled fa?ade she tries to cling to now, I see beyond it. And I don’t want to be the one to ruin her day. To make her question her safety, when she deserves to feel more than safe in her own home.
“I know,” Wells says, placing a hand on my shoulder, “but she needs to know. ”
I kick at the sleeping bag, and something small and white comes loose, fluttering to the ground. I pick it up and turn it over, and my blood runs cold.
I’m holding a picture of Meyer in my hands, taken the day I came back to Fraisier Creek. I can tell based on the teddy bear she’s holding in her hands. The one she accused me of leaving for her.
I tear at the corner of the sleeping bag, upending it, and another handful of photos come flying out. They’re all of Meyer.
While we stood on her porch having that conversation, someone was out here taking pictures of her.
“That is beyond fucked up,” Wells says, looking over my shoulder. His words are coated in anger.
I take a deep breath, swallowing the bile that has risen in my throat. Whatever sick bastard is doing this is going to live to regret ever setting eyes on her. That’s a promise.
I can’t stand looking at the site anymore, so I push through the trees and start back toward the inn. Wells trails after me, but he’s quiet this time. I have no doubt our conversation from earlier isn’t finished, but I’m thankful he’s leaving me be for now. I have more pressing matters to attend to. Like telling Meyer she’s being stalked.
How do you even start a conversation like that? Fuck if I know. This isn’t something life prepares you for.
Inside, I find Meyer in the middle of the restaurant. She’s laughing with a family at one of the tables—the same table I was sitting at when I met her. This stops me in my tracks.
When she parts ways with the group, she heads for the exit, right toward me .
Wells pats me on the back as he makes a beeline for the bar, smiling in Pippa’s direction. The redhead can’t contain her blush at the attention.
“Everything okay?” I ask Meyer, jerking my chin toward the table at the back of the room.
She waves off my concern. “Oh, yeah. They just remembered me from last year and wanted to compliment me on how well their stay is going.”
We walk back to the office in silence. I know I need to say something, but I can’t get my mouth to form the words. She keeps looking at me, brow furrowed in confusion over my unusual demeanour.
Once the office door is shut behind us, Meyer starts rummaging through the filing cabinet, and I stand there like an idiot, staring at her. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but shit, it’s harder than I thought. Her inevitable reaction sits heavily on my chest.
The last thing I want to do is hurt her. But I can’t keep this to myself. Until the police are able to catch the person behind this, she needs to know to be on guard.
“Ellison, I need to talk to you about something,” I eventually say.
“Can it wait?” she asks. “I need to?—”
“No.” The singular word comes out more forcefully than intended. I clear my throat. “Sorry, but no. It can’t wait.”
She abandons the file she was looking for and turns to face me. “What is it?”
I look down at the photos clutched in my hand. I probably shouldn’t have taken them. When we tell the police about this, they’re going to want them as evidence, I’m sure. Now, my fingerprints are all over them. But I can’t seem to let them go.
“When you and Pippa left, Wells and I went outside to talk. Something in the tree line caught my attention, so I went over.” Meyer looks wary, like she has no idea where this is going but knows to tread lightly anyway. I swallow. “I found a set of binoculars nestled in the tree, pointed toward your cottage, and a few photos of you on the ground.”
“What? I don’t—” She shakes her head. “What are you saying?”
“I think someone has been watching you, Meyer.”
With a shaking hand, she takes the photos I hold out to her. I watch her face as she flips through each one. She goes through a myriad of emotions in all of twenty seconds.
“Why?” Her voice comes out weak, but from the look in her eyes, I can tell she wants to rage. “Who would?—?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
Silence envelops us as she absorbs my words. I want to say more, to comfort her somehow, but I’m not sure how to do that. Her jaw works as she studies the photos, and then she shoves them back at me abruptly.
“Meyer, I?—”
She holds up a hand. “Can we finish talking about this later? I just need to… not right now.”
I nod. “Of course.”
She smoothes a hand over her hair. I pretend not to notice the way it shakes. “I’m going to help Pippa in the restaurant,” she says.
I’ve seen their schedule for today—they have plenty of staff. But I can tell she needs a distraction, so for now, I let her walk out the door.
And I start to pace, thinking of all the ways I want to make this person pay.
While Meyer was preoccupied with the restaurant, I called the police constable that had been assigned to our vandalism case. He and his partner came over right away, and Wells and I showed them what we had found. Partway through our meeting, Wells got a call from work and was summoned back to the city.
He left with the promise that he would be back if I didn’t start answering my damn phone.
Hours later, I find Meyer sitting on a crate in the storage room. I hadn’t seen her in a while and that admittedly made me panic a little. But when I went looking for her, Pippa reassured me that she was fine. Logically, I knew she would be. Nothing would happen to her inside the inn. That didn’t stop my mind from wandering, though.
She groans when she spots me. “How did you know where I am?” she asks. “I try to hide and everyone keeps finding me.”
“I was worried about you, and Pippa told me to try here first,” I say.
“Snitch,” she mutters, but there’s no malice behind her words.
I pull another crate from the wall and sit across from her. Then I hold out a hand for her bottle of wine. There’s a glass sitting next to her, but it looks like it was abandoned rather quickly.
Her eyes shoot to mine, and I wiggle my outstretched fingers. “The least you can do is share.”
She relinquishes the bottle with a sigh. “You and Declan both insist on stealing my wine.”
I take a sip, letting the sweet taste settle on my tongue. For half a second, I let myself consider what it would be like to taste it on her.
“Is this what you were doing that night before you came to bang on my door?” I ask. She had the same glassy look in her eyes that she does now.
Meyer snatches her bottle back and takes her own sip. Then she lets out an adorable, irritated huff. “Maybe.”
I let a grin settle on my lips. “So that’s a yes.”
“Fine, yes .” She shakes the bottle a little. “I like to wash away my sorrows in a bottle of strawberry wine. Sue me.”
She passes the bottle back without my having to ask. “It’s very sweet,” I say.
“Too sweet for someone so bitter?”
“Well, now you’re just putting words in my mouth.” I shake my head. “I don’t think you’re bitter.”
“No, I’m just an ice cold bitch who now has a stalker and is afraid to be at work, even though it’s been the only place where she has consistently felt safe her whole fucking life.”
Then her eyes widen, like she didn’t mean to say any of that out loud. But I’m glad she did. Not because I enjoy the thought of her feeling that way—because I want to help her. I want to know what she’s thinking. I want to know her.
I certainly wasn’t happy about coming here at first, but now I enjoy the time I get to spend with her. I couldn’t imagine my days without her, if I’m honest.
“Meyer.” I place a hand on her knee, and her shining eyes meet mine. “We’ll do whatever we need to do to make you feel safe here again. Just say the word.”
“That’s the problem.” Her expression is pained, like she hates having to admit this. “The inn used to be my haven. My home. Now it just feels…tainted. I don’t know how to fix it.”
This look on her face… I know instantly that I would do anything to erase it. To take the pain away.
“We’ll figure it out, and then we’ll do it. He doesn’t get to win.”
She swallows thickly. “What if he already has?”
I shake my head sharply. “He hasn’t. He won’t. I talked to the police earlier.”
Her eyes jump to mine then. “They didn’t ask for a statement from me.”
I offer her a small smile. “I convinced them to come back for that tomorrow. I didn’t think you’d want to talk about it with them yet.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. She tips her head back against the wall and closes her eyes. A single tear slips down her cheek, but she swipes at it roughly. “Why are you so nice to me? I’ve been nothing but horrible to you this whole time.”
“I’m just trying not to be your villain.”
She opens her eyes, setting her attention on me. She’s quiet for a moment, studying. “I think I’ve been so focused on making you out to be the bad guy, I’ve turned into someone I never wanted to be.” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. For all of it.”
I stand from my seat, holding my hand out to her. “Hi, I’m Jackson Vaughan, your new business partner.”
She eyes my hand and then her skeptical gaze meets mine. “What are you doing?”
I shrug. “I’m starting over. Care to join me?”
After a moment, she takes the bait and stands. Grabbing my hand, she shakes it firmly. “Meyer Ellison, your new business partner.”
I smile as I give her hand a quick squeeze. I’m reluctant to let go, but I know that I have to. I should .
Then I clear my throat. “It’s been a long day. We can sort everything out and talk to the police in the morning. For now, it’s probably time for bed. Do you want me to walk you home?”
Even if she says no, I’ll do it anyway. She can be mad about it if she likes, but I don’t care. I’m not taking any chances with her.
Meyer shakes her head. “I’m just waiting for Pippa to be done and then I’m going to her place. She’s making me stay with her and Declan tonight.”
I don’t say it, but an immense amount of relief sweeps through me, knowing that. That means I won’t have to find an excuse not to leave her alone in that cottage of hers.
“I’m glad you have her,” I say. I stick my hands in my pockets, unsure what to do with myself. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
She chews on her bottom lip as she nods, and shit, the action makes it all the more enticing. I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. Or at all. She’s made it abundantly clear how she feels about me, apology or not.
“I do,” she replies.
I turn to head out into the hall to give Meyer her space. It feels strange, walking away from her after I watched some of her walls come down.
“Jackson?” she calls out. I stop and face her. “Thank you.”
I tip my chin. “Anytime.”
Instead of heading up to my room, I wait in the office until I hear Meyer and Pippa heading for the door. Then I make sure they both get into Pippa’s car safely before I make the trek up the stairs.
As I’m getting ready for bed, my phone buzzes, and the text that greets me eases some of the worry still sitting on my chest.
Meyer
We made it to Pippa’s place. Goodnight, Vaughan.
Goodnight, Ellison.