CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Cara
As I walked towards the door, sad to leave after having such an amazing time together, a buzzing sound had me checking my phone.
Edward was looking at the door to the hotel room with a slight frown. “Does this room have a doorbell?” he wondered out loud.
He went to the door, opened it, and then stood stock still.
I hurried behind him to see what was going on.
I stood on tiptoes to look over his shoulder.
A hotel employee stood there with a massive bouquet of red roses.
There had to be at least six dozen flowers perfectly arranged in a huge, expensive-looking sterling silver vase.
Well, it was more like an urn it was so large. I gasped.
“Delivery for Miss Cara Hargrave?” the man delivering the flowers said.
“Yes, that’s me,” I said, stepping forward and accepting the gorgeous arrangement. It was almost too heavy for me to carry, but I managed to bring it back inside and set it on a large console table in the entryway. Edward tipped the guy, then closed the door.
He stood there for a moment, his back to me. And when he turned around, his face was pale. He looked upset.
“What’s wrong?” I leaned in to sniff the beautiful roses. “Gosh, they’re pretty. Probably the prettiest I’ve ever gotten. Thank you so much. You really didn’t have to do that.” I couldn’t hide my smile.
“I didn’t.”
I twisted to look at him. “What? What do you mean?” I glanced at the bouquet.
“Cara. I didn’t order flowers. Did you text anyone and let them know where we were?”
“No, I…” understanding dawned. He thought these were from the Harts. I struggled to keep from laughing and quickly pulled the note out of the arrangement. “You can’t possibly think these are from the Harts.”
“I absolutely do,” he said, crossing his strong arms over his chest. “Who else would they be from?”
“It’s probably some fan who saw me at dinner last night and bribed the concierge to get our room number. Let me ease your mind.” I opened the card and read the note. I started out reading confidently, but that quickly changed.
Dearest Cara,
We belong together. Soon, you’ll see that.
All my love,
Monty
Now I turned pale. I gripped the sides of the table feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me. “How… how would they possibly know where I was?”
Edward looked grim. “The only thing I’m sure of is that I won’t like the answer to that question.
Let’s get out of here. It creeps me out that they know exactly where we are.
I’m checking out.” He did something on his phone that I assumed was him checking out remotely.
He pocketed his phone and looked at me. “I want to go as quickly as we can. I don’t relish the thought of them just showing up here. ”
We grabbed everything and hurried to his car. He put my address into Google maps and pulled out of the hotel parking deck and into traffic.
Edward looked so hot in his sunglasses it almost distracted me from getting the bizarre flower delivery.
“How long have you had that cellphone?” he asked, as he navigated through morning traffic.
“Um… I’m not sure,” I admitted, looking down at it in my hand. “I’m not that into technology, so as long as it works, I keep it.”
“Think as hard as you can.”
I thought back and remembered that I had accidentally dropped my phone off a boat in the waters off Sullivan’s Island my senior year of college. I told Edward.
“So, were you still rooming with Nora then?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. Then I remembered something and winced. “Oh, God. I know how they did it.”
“How?”
“To be safe in college, Nora, our suite mates, and I all added each other to the ‘find my iPhone’ setting to be able to see each other’s location. It’s my fault. I’m the one who suggested it. Livy’s true crime obsession kind of rubbed off on me. Now I’m kind of paranoid about being kidnapped.”
I went into the settings on my phone and looked to see who I was sharing my location with. Nora’s name was at the top of the list. I quickly changed that and turned to Edward. “I fixed it. She can’t track my location anymore.”
He was clenching his jaw, and his knuckles had turned white he was holding the steering wheel so tightly. “Now do you believe me? The Harts are creepy as fuck, Cara.”
I bit my lip. “I believe you,” I said softly.
It upset me to think that Nora would participate in such a strange plan.
She had to know I’d be unnerved, at the very least, by the flowers showing up at a hotel I was staying in.
But maybe she hadn’t known. Maybe Monty had taken her phone and used the feature without her knowledge.
“I’m just not sure what to do about it.”
He glanced at me, and I wished I could see the expression in his eyes. They were hidden by his mirrored sunglasses. “Would it be okay with you if I stop by your parents’ house when I get back and talk to your dad about this?”
“No. Not yet. I don’t want to worry him before I’ve even tried to handle it myself.”
He looked upset.
“And to be fair, you’re not Dad’s favorite person. He always liked you, but after you dumped me, he was angry.”
“That’s completely understandable. But he’s always so nice when I see him at agricultural fairs and places like that…”
He trailed off when I put my hand on his shoulder. “He wanted to help you. Professionally, I mean. He’s always thought you got handed a raw deal when your dad died like that and left you with no training, no mentor, nothing.”
“But on a personal level he hates me?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘hates’ exactly, but he’s not your biggest fan.
And he likes the Harts. He’s been around them a handful of times over the years, and he and Garrison always talk about produce and things like that.
It gives Dad a chance to geek out over agriculture.
” I grinned, but Edward’s face stayed grim.
He pulled into a parking spot in front of the row of townhouses where I lived. He seemed reluctant to get out, and I felt the same way. I wasn’t ready for him to leave.
“You have to promise me one thing.”
I was pretty sure I knew what was coming. “What?”
“You have to stay as far away from the Harts as you can. I know you work with Nora. I know they come to the performances, but you need to distance yourself. Their behavior is not normal.”
I nodded. “I get it. I’ll do my best.” It had me a little on edge, too.
I just didn’t want to admit it. Admitting it would make it worse…
more real somehow. The thought that Nora might have agreed with their messed up belief that I was going to end up with Monty and had shared my location worried me.
It felt like both a betrayal of our friendship and a creepy invasion of my privacy.
I wasn’t okay with it. But I wasn’t sure yet how I was going to handle it.
I knew I had to talk to her about it, though.
I found myself wanting to explain it away.
I had just talked to Nora about whether she told people Monty and I were dating, and she’d acted as if I had lost it.
I’d like to think that somehow Nora was completely blameless in all of this.
I wanted it to be that way… but I knew deep down it probably wasn’t.
I smiled, though I knew I wasn’t hiding how sad I felt. “Do you want to come in?”
He nodded, got out of the car, and came around to open my door.
He carried the ridiculous flower arrangement for me, though I could tell he wanted to chuck it in the first trash can he saw.
It wasn’t that I wanted to keep them because they were from Monty, but it wasn’t the flowers’ fault that something was off about him.
Before we started up the stairs, I saw Mrs. Rivera out on her stoop watching us. I smiled. She was always after me about why a young woman like me wasn’t out with a boyfriend, so I knew she was eyeing Edward with more than just a passing interest.
I put a hand on Edward’s shoulder and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. “Give those to Mrs. Rivera,” I said nodding towards my neighbor.
He looked down at me, smiled, and walked the flowers over to her. We were far enough apart that I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying to her, but she obviously loved every minute of it. She smiled up at him and batted her lashes. Not that I blamed her. Edward was so handsome.
She leaned over her railing and hollered out “This one’s a keeper! Next time he’s in town, bring him by for dinner. I’ll make my tamales.” She winked. She knew I couldn’t resist those.
God. If I could eat her tamales every day and not gain a bajillion pounds, I would. They were that good.
“I will,” I called back to her as Edward joined me. We waved at her as we walked up the stairs and entered my townhouse. Once inside, we just stared at each other for a minute, not ready to say goodbye.
“So, where do we go from here?” he asked.
“For now, I can date you when you come through town or when I’m at home. Maybe we can coordinate our schedules so that we have more time together than two days here or there.” I laid my hand on his. “Besides, we’ve only just found each other again. There’s no need to rush things.”
He gave me a half grin and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Maybe it’s good that we’re not in the same town for now.
I’m just fine with rushing things. In fact, you might get sick of me.
I’d spend as much time with you as you’d let me,” he chuckled, but then his face grew serious.
“There’s one thing I have to be clear on, though. Will we be exclusive?”
I was surprised he even had to ask, but I was glad he did. I couldn’t stand the thought of him with anyone else. “I can promise you, I’m not likely to get sick of you anytime soon. And yes to being exclusive. I don’t want to be with anyone else.”
He let out a big sigh, like he’d been holding his breath. “Okay, good. I don’t either. And I couldn’t share you with some other guy.”
We stood awkwardly for a minute until he pulled me to him and kissed me. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything I had in me. It felt perfect. It felt right. When we pulled away from each other, he looked as dazed as I felt. “I’ll call you later?” I asked. He nodded.
“Okay, well… goodbye,” he said awkwardly as he walked out of my place and down the stairs. I watched him from my doorway.
He got in his car and was about to pull off, when I ran down the stairs and over to his window. He rolled it down and I reached in, grabbed his face, and kissed him one more time. “I don’t like saying goodbye. Can we just say, ‘see you later’?”
“I like that better, too,” he said, trying to smile.
“And when you get home, maybe we can look at our calendars and see when we can get together again.”
“I’d like that,” he said, “and remember—be careful. I mean it. I’m worried about you.” I nodded before walking back to the sidewalk in front of my place. I waved at him as he pulled away.
I watched him leave with a heavy heart. It felt completely wrong, suddenly, to be without him.
I shook my head. That was ridiculous, considering the miniscule amount of time we’d been back together.
Even so, I couldn’t help how I felt. I watched him until his car was out of sight, feeling like I was making one of those life decisions that you look back on and regret later.
I wasn’t sure what was causing the feeling. Was it watching Edward leave? Or was it knowing I had to be wary around the Hart family—even Nora?
I felt a sudden resolve. I was going to do my best to put that situation behind me as firmly and quickly as I could.