thought about calling her back to find out what was going on, but figured by the time he pulled over and made the call he could be at her place. He couldn’t imagine why she’d called him, but as he rolled to a stop in front of her cottage every light in the house radiated outward and she opened the front door.
He breathed a sigh of relief, just now realizing how tense he’d been on the drive here. “Are you okay?” he asked as he got out of his car. He’d pulled his gun, but kept it by his side, ready for any situation.
“I’m fine, just a little freaked out.” The smile she offered him was slightly shaky as she opened the door wider to allow him inside.
Jimmy had never been inside her house before and he was instantly embraced by the warmth of the earth-tone furniture, the pop of vibrant colors of scattered throw pillows and the various scents of candles here and there. A variety of healthy-looking plants added greenery, as if it was her attempt to bring the outside in. It was exactly how he’d imagined her living space would be.
What he didn’t see in the room was anything to give him pause. He turned back to look at her as she closed the door and locked it, and then faced him once again. The sight of her slightly pale face made his stomach clench.
“What’s going on?”
She motioned him to the sofa and she curled up in a chair nearby. “I think maybe I overreacted,” she said.
“About what?”
It was obvious she was still not herself as she clasped her shaking fingers in her lap. “First I thought I was followed home from the store. A car followed me off the main highway onto Timberline Drive and then when I pulled into my driveway, it appeared to stop for a moment and then sped off.”
Jimmy frowned. “Did you get a make or color?”
She shook her head. “No, it was too dark. All I could see were the headlights. I slowed down to allow them to pass, but they didn’t and when I sped up, they did the same. It just felt...slightly sinister.”
Jimmy’s concern grew as she continued to tell him about Highway’s frantic barks and the unlocked window in the spare room. “Where is Highway now?” he asked when she’d finished telling him everything.
“He’s in my bedroom. I didn’t figure you’d want to mess with him.”
“As long as he doesn’t eat me I’m fine with him.” Jimmy was rewarded with the first genuine smile from her.
“I already told you he wouldn’t hurt you unless you were hurting me or I gave the command.” Her smile fell and she worried a strand of her long shiny hair between her slender fingers.
“He was just acting so out of character when I got home, like he knew somebody was in the woods.”
“Maybe Travis?”
“Possibly,” she conceded. “But when I noticed the unlocked window in the spare room I just got totally creeped out. That’s when I called you, because I was afraid to be here alone. Now I’m just feeling rather foolish.”
Jimmy got up from the sofa. “Better safe than sorry. Let’s check out that window.” As always whenever he was around her he experienced a hyperawareness of not just her, but himself. He suddenly wished he’d taken the time to run a comb through his hair and maybe pulled on a different shirt. He frowned at the inappropriate thought.
She led him down the hallway and he tried not to notice the tempting sway of her slender hips in her tight jeans. He followed her into a small bedroom that held a double bed neatly made up with a purple flowered spread, and a dresser that sported a purple vase filled with an arrangement of white flowers.
He caught the pleasant scent of lilac and wondered if it was coming in through the partially opened window or wafted from her.
“The screen appears to be solidly in place. Are you sure you didn’t crack the window open at some point or another and have simply forgotten it?”
She hesitated for a long moment and then nodded. “I suppose that’s possible. I’m sorry, Jimmy, that I called you out here on a wild-goose chase.”
He smiled. “It wasn’t a goose chase. You were scared and that’s when you’re supposed to call the law.”
“How about I make a short pot of coffee for us to share before you head out?” Her amber eyes simmered with emotion and Jimmy realized she was still slightly freaked out and not quite ready to be left alone.
“Sure, some coffee sounds great.”
He followed her back down the hallway and into a kitchen that was pristine clean, cheerful and bright in sunshine-yellow and yet had the appearance that it was rarely used.
The only thing that sat on the countertop was a coffeemaker. The table was a small two-top that would make it difficult for her to be the entertaining type.
“Cook much?” he asked once the coffee had begun to drip into the glass carafe.
“Almost never.” She reached up into the cabinet to grab two mugs. “Cream and sugar?”
“Black is fine.”
“Marlene and Roxy got the cooking genes in the family. At any given time there’s usually more animal food in this house than people food.”
“So, what do you do for food?” Jimmy realized he was enjoying this time with her, learning a little bit more about her as a woman and not as the worried relative of a victim.
“There’s a lot of produce at the store. Sometimes I bring things home for a salad or occasionally Roxy will show up with a doggie bag of whatever the special of the day is at the Dollhouse. To be honest, food just isn’t that important to me. I eat to stay strong, but I don’t eat because I love any specific food.”
“Food is definitely high on my priority list,” Jimmy replied as she poured the coffee and joined him at the table. He didn’t mention that for much of his life he never knew if he’d get a meal or not. There had been far too many nights he’d gone to bed hungry.
“I suppose you’re a steak and potato man.”
“And pizza and burritos and pancakes... Just a food man, that’s me.”
She leaned back in the chair, looking relaxed for the first time since he’d arrived. “They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I’m hoping when my prince arrives he’s also a professional chef and can cook the meals.”
He grinned at her. “You have lots of ideas about this prince of yours.”
“I’ve spent most of my life forming his image in my head.” She took a sip of her coffee and then set the cup back down. “At first I thought I was fantasizing about my father, but as I grew older I realized it was the man I wanted to love me as a woman, not as a child.”
“You don’t know your father?”
“None of us does, although I’d say it’s obvious by how different Marlene and Roxy and I look from each other that our fathers were three different men. I doubt that our mother knows who our fathers are.”
“And
