We won’t. We still are.
Maybe. But I’m on the way to switch out, so I’ll be back in an hour or two.
With that, he rang off, still wondering what the hell that guy was doing and where he’d been. Had Eton been made, or was it just his vehicle that had been made? So many questions, and, of course, never any answers.
Chapter 5
Sammy woke up the next morning with an odd sense of disconnect. Then she remembered that Annie was here with her. She got up, walked into the bathroom, and had a quick hot shower. Coming out, she dried off, got dressed, put her hair in a braid, and headed downstairs to put on coffee. Annie was in the first-floor guest room and would likely sleep in late. But Sammy was an early riser. She was still a little out of sorts from seeing not only Eton and another man up on the hill but also seeing a stranger outside her house. No need for it. That was the one thing that bothered her.
Why would anybody care that she was here with her father? Unless she’d been followed, after picking up Annie. And that was a little disconcerting too. She didn’t want to get in between Annie and her ex, but somebody had slashed Sammy’s tire as well, so she’d already been targeted, or maybe she’d just been unlucky in her location, and this was really all about Annie. That would make more sense.
Sammy frowned, as she thought about it. Shit, no real way to compare the silhouette she’d seen to that of Annie’s husband. Because they were both very tall and slim, and, true enough, her husband used to wear a lot of hoodies. But then if somebody were to place blame on Annie’s husband, that was an easy answer, yet not necessarily the truth. But there must be a reason for that tire slashing and stalking too. And it would also mean that somebody was after either her or Annie. To think that there would be two potential threats was a bit of a stretch for her.
All in all, it gave her an odd feeling, but she went ahead and put on the coffee and set out breakfast for her father. In the mornings he usually liked to have slices of fresh bread, sometimes maybe an egg or two. She wandered toward his room and listened, and, when she didn’t hear anything, she called out, “Papa, are you there?”
His rumbling voice answered her.
She smiled and said, “Coffee is on.” Then she headed back to the kitchen, her heart pounding, as she realized that his days were numbered. Still, what she could do was remember to enjoy the moments that she had with him. As she headed downstairs to the kitchen, Sammy heard his door open, and he came in behind her.
“I had a good night,” he said, with a bright smile. “What about you?”
She gave him a nod. “Yeah, except for Annie,” she said. “She called, looking for a place to stay last night.”
Immediately his face twisted in concern. “Problems?”
“Not sure,” she said. “I would have told you about it yesterday, but I didn’t want to disturb you.”
He raised his eyebrows, then frowned.
“Just that, after I’d been over there visiting, I hadn’t driven too far and got a flat tire. It was such a clean cut that I was wondering if somebody had done it on purpose. Then, when Annie and I spoke last night, I found out that her tires had been slashed too.”
The look on his face hurt her.
She rushed over and said, “I’m fine, Dad. Honest. I was just trying to figure out what to do from here,” she said.
“Do you have the cut tire?”
“I do,” she said. “I need to take it and get it fixed because, at the moment, I don’t have a spare.”
He nodded. “Maybe you should drive my vehicle,” he said worriedly.
She reached out, patted his cheek, and said, “No need. If I have to, then I will, but, at the moment, mine is working just fine.”
He nodded. “And Annie?”
“She spent the night,” Sammy said. “She was pretty unnerved, and I just thought I would give her a good night’s sleep.”
“You’re a good friend,” he said, with a bright smile.
“Well, we’ll see about that,” she said, with a cheeky look. “I might put her to work.”
He rolled his eyes. “You should go for lunch somewhere,” he said. “Have some fun and do something besides working all the time. You don’t do enough of that.”
“I do just fine,” she said, laughing.
He sat down on the table, looking at the bread. “I do love this bread,” he said, as he cut himself a big thick slice and slathered fresh butter all over the top.
She watched him, a smile growing on her face. “Do you want eggs or just some jam?”
“Cheese,” he said. “I’d love some cheese.”
“Good enough,” she said and brought over the cheese that they had in the fridge. She sat down with a cup of coffee, and he looked at her. “You won’t eat?”
“I thought I’d wait for Annie,” she explained.
Immediately he nodded. “That’s a good idea.” He grinned at her. “More for me that way!”
She laughed. “I wish you would get all that bread down,” she said. “You’ve cut your appetite in half these days.”
“Just not that hungry,” he said.
She nodded. “I know, but it concerns me anyway.”
“You would worry no matter what,” he said, with a knowing smile.
She shrugged and agreed. “That’s what happens when you love somebody,” she said, chuckling.
“You should have a partner,” he said abruptly.
She winced at that. “How about we just don’t go in that direction?” she said, shaking her head.
“Maybe, but you know it’s true,” he replied.
“Well, the right guy hasn’t walked across my path just yet,” she said. “So what would you have me do?”
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “You’re beautiful. You’re smart. You’re intelligent. So what’s the problem?”
She laughed. “What makes you think there is a problem?” she asked.
“Always seems to be something,” he said. “Are the guys blind out there?”
“Yes, maybe,” she cheerfully said. This was an old argument between the two of them.
“I’m sorry that last guy didn’t work out.”
“I’m not,” she said, “because, when you really think about it, he obviously wasn’t someone I needed in my life.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but still it would be nice to have a partner. I could leave you happily.”
“Meaning, there would be a man to take care of me,” she teased. “Oh, please, you know me better than that.”
He gave her that big grin of his.
“But it doesn’t change the fact,” she said, “that some things I just can’t change.”
“No,” he said, “that’s not true. Maybe somebody would get smart enough to find gold where it is, instead of just looking at all the other pretty things that walk by. Shiny isn’t a measure of substance.”
“Maybe that is a lesson I need to learn,” she said lightly, picking up her big mug and taking a sip.
He looked at her, his gaze sharpened. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Relationships aren’t easy at the best of times. They take work.”