by R. J. Groves
‘Yeah, I should. I’m headed back to the farm tonight and have an early morning. No rest for the weary and all that.’ She let out a laugh, but even to her own ears it sounded put on.
Andie looked at her, concern on her face. ‘Everything okay?’
Jannette almost spilled it all to her, but she couldn’t. Not only would it be unfair to unload all her concerns and worries on the bride on her wedding day, but she wasn’t sure she could tell anyone until she’d had time to process. She smiled again, hoping it looked sincere. ‘Yep. All good. Just tired. Have you seen Harley? I want to say goodbye to her before I leave.’
Andie glanced over Jannette’s shoulder, a strange look on her face as she did. ‘Ah, yep, here she comes now.’
Jannette turned enough to let Harley and Joey join their little circle. The two of them looked thick as thieves and as though they were holding something back. Andie obviously had an in on the secret though, because she spoke first.
‘Well?’ she said expectantly. Joey flashed a grin and held up Harley’s left hand, now with a gorgeous amethyst sitting on her ring finger. Andie let out a squeal and wrapped them both in a hug. ‘I’m so happy for you! Best wedding present ever.’
Jannette congratulated the new happy couple, wished them the best, and promised she’d be there for the wedding, but as she made her way back out to her car and began the long drive back to the farm, she couldn’t help that loneliness settling in again. Why hadn’t she been able to find someone to share her life with? It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been dating. She’d become quite adept at those dating apps with all the swiping and filtering through prospective matches. They’d been about as successful at getting her a long-term relationship as she’d thought they’d be. Which was not at all. She tried not to think about the fact that nothing was going as planned right now, tried not to entertain the loneliness that kept trying to work its way in. And she tried not to wonder if the same car had been following her for a while now.
***
Shannon plucked at the strings of his guitar as he sat on his porch with Sparky. It had gone dark some time ago now, but sitting on his porch with a cup of tea of an evening seemed to be a perfect winddown. Especially since he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he knew Jannette was home safely—or while thoughts of Robbie selling filled his mind.
That’s what he loved about his guitar. No matter how he felt, he could pick it up and instantly be lifted into a better mood. Focusing on the chords and the tune as he played, it cleared his head. Occasionally he played his guitar in only the light from inside the shack that filtered through the flyscreen door and the windows and the moonlight. Sometimes he simply sat in the darkness, letting his eyes roam the parts of the farm the moon and starlight touched. Other times, he’d pop the porch light on and read. But most evenings were the same. One way or another, he’d be having a cup of tea on the porch.
He wondered how much longer he’d be able to do that.
Would he be able to buy out Robbie in time? Robbie had given him a month before he planned to put the farm up for sale. And no matter how much Shannon worked the figures and thought of plans, a month just wasn’t enough time for him to buy Robbie out. Not without the kind of money his inheritance could provide. Damn it! There wasn’t even a way that his inheritance could help now. To claim that, he needed to be married. And to be married, he needed someone who was willing to marry him—and a month’s notice for the courthouse. But he didn’t have that. He was as close to marrying someone as Robbie was, and he doubted he’d be able to find someone and convince them to marry him within the next month. At that moment, he wished his grandfather hadn’t known about his father’s habits and had simply made the inheritance available to him once he’d turned eighteen. But then again, he might not have had that money now. What’s to say he would have been able to keep his uncle from getting hold of it somehow? His uncle had been a canny man.
Perhaps it was for the best.
Maybe he was never supposed to own Tanner Station. Maybe he was destined to buy a farm somewhere else or start from scratch. Or maybe he was never meant to be a farmer at all. God, life could really be a bitch sometimes.
He finished off his cup of tea and continued plucking at the guitar strings when he saw a set of headlights making its way up the driveway. Jannette must be back from her friend’s wedding. He hoped she’d enjoyed herself, and tried not to think about how he’d missed her presence throughout the day. But instead of continuing up to the main house, the car turned his way and pulled to a stop in front of the shack. He placed the guitar down and stood at the edge of his porch. The headlights flicked off, and he could tell it was, indeed, Jannette’s car. He breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t some other late-night visitor and that she’d made it back safely. But why had she come to his place instead of back to the main house? He wasn’t sure if Robbie had been waiting up for her, but he was also sure her brother would like to know that she’d got home.
She stepped out of the car, closing the door behind her, and made her way slowly towards him. She took his breath away. She looked absolutely stunning with her hair pinned out of her face but left to fall over her shoulders. Her dress—a blue a little darker than her eyes, he realised once she’d stepped into the stream of light from inside the shack—had a deep vee neckline and hugged her body, stopping at her knees, her tanned legs completing the picture with her delicate feet in strappy black heels. He noticed her fingernails and toenails were bare from polish or fake nails and couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps the farm was growing on her. Or perhaps she’d just realised that after her first hour at the farm, prettying up her nails was a pointless endeavour.
Not that any part of her ever needed prettying up.
But boy, did she look good in that dress. He fought to get his body under control as he leaned against the railing post of his porch. ‘Evening, Jenny,’ he said as she came to the bottom of his steps and looked up at him.
A slight smile played at her lips, but he thought she didn’t quite look wholly in it. Had something happened? ‘Hey, Shannon.’ She pointed to the chair on the other side of the little outdoor table from where he’d been sitting. ‘Mind if I join you?’
‘Be my guest.’
He caught a whiff of her subtle perfume as she passed him and his body responded even more. Sparky rose from his position and walked slowly over to Jannette as she lowered herself into the seat. She reached a hand down and patted his head as he lay down next to her.
‘I didn’t know you played,’ she said, nudging her head towards the guitar he’d leaned against the wall.
‘I dabble,’ he said, picking up his cup from the table. ‘Cuppa?’
‘Are you having one?’
He hadn’t been planning on it, but now that Jannette was there looking so breathtaking, he’d have just about anything with her. Besides, he needed a moment to get his body under control. ‘I am,’ he said.
‘Then yes, tea, please. Strong with—’
‘With just a dash of milk.’
She smiled up at him, her head resting against the back of her chair. She looked tired, but also like she wasn’t ready for bed. Like she had too much on her mind to sleep. Much like him. ‘Have you been watching me, Shannon?’
He smiled back, his hand resting on the handle of his front door. ‘It’s how you’ve always had it,’ he said simply.
She stared at him for a moment, the smile frozen on her face. ‘How the hell do you remember that?’
Because through all these years, I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you. ‘You know,’ he said, the sudden thought surprising him. ‘I really don’t know. I’ll be back in a sec.’
He left her on his porch with Sparky, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Was it true? Did his subconscious know something he didn’t? Hell, he knew he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since she’d arrived at the farm a few weeks ago, and the fact that she’d been on his mind the whole day while she was away
and he already had so much else to think about …
Well.
He wiped the back of his arm across his forehead as he dropped some teabags in two fresh cups and tried to get his body under control. He poured hot water into the cups and reached for the milk in the fridge. His best friend’s sister was sitting out there on his porch looking smoking hot and he had a hell of a lot more to worry about than women—like how he was going to stop Robbie from selling the farm out from under him or where he’d be in a few months if he failed to do that.
He glanced out the window to see her resting back in her chair, her eyes closed. She looked so peaceful. And even if she was dressed to the nines, she still looked like she was comfortable. He imagined seeing her on his porch like that every evening and pushed it aside. Now wasn’t the time to start anything with anyone, even if that beautiful woman wasn’t his best friend’s sister.
Was it? He shifted his focus to see his own reflection in the window. He was just a cowboy with not much to offer. Or at least that’s what he’d always thought. Who would he be if he wasn’t a farmer? Would he be comfortable in the city? He shook his head, pushing the thought away. He’d never been comfortable visiting a city. Living in a city would be no different—worse, maybe, since he wouldn’t have the knowledge that he’d be going back to his country home at the end of it.
Getting himself together, he gathered up the cups of tea and walked out to the porch, handing one to her and sitting in the other seat. ‘How was the wedding?’ he said, trying to keep their conversation light.
‘It was … nice. A lovely ceremony, and the food was good.’ He sensed there was more to it.
‘But?’ he prompted.
‘But,’ she said slowly, tilting her head to meet his gaze, ‘there’s something about going to weddings alone and sitting at the singles table that just gets to you.’
‘I did offer to come.’
She laughed and it rippled through him, bringing every cell of his body to attention. ‘You did. And I wish I’d taken you up on your offer.’
‘Really?’ He wasn’t sure why he was as surprised as he was.
She smiled at him. ‘Today one of my friends got married, and another got engaged. It kind of made me wish I wasn’t alone. I don’t know, maybe I could have introduced you as my fake boyfriend or something. At least I would have had someone I know who wasn’t in the wedding party to talk to.’
A lump formed in his throat and his heart pounded in his chest. He sipped his tea to try to hide it all. Before he could come up with any kind of response, she looked away and spoke again.
‘I heard from the detective today,’ she said, sipping her tea, ‘about the break-in.’
‘Oh?’ He tried to sound interested, but he was still stuck on the fact that she’d thought of him as her boyfriend—fake or not.
She stared down at the cup cradled in her hands on her lap. ‘They’ve found the suspects and are charging them.’
‘Well, that’s good news, right?’ She swallowed, still staring at her cup, and he realised there was more to it. Did she know something about the break-in that she wasn’t telling anyone? He reached across the table and placed a hand on her slender shoulder. ‘Jenny?’
Her lips pressed together and she lifted her gaze, looking ahead of her. Her brow was creased, and he ached to smooth it over. Instead, he put his cup on the table between them and moved a little to get her attention.
‘There’s more to it, isn’t there?’ he said solemnly.
She shook her head slowly. ‘It’s silly.’
‘Talk to me, Jenny.’
She brought her gaze to meet his. ‘There’s something going on, Shan.’
Shan. She hadn’t called him that since they were kids. It took him back to the way it had made him smile back then. But she wasn’t that kid anymore. Neither of them were.
‘What happened?’ he said, his tone shifting to something he didn’t quite recognise.
Her mouth worked, and her eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears. ‘I—I don’t know, exactly. I just have this … feeling … like something’s not right.’
‘You don’t think it was just kids having fun.’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t. And I don’t think they have the right people, but I don’t know who else it could be. They said a witness placed the kids at the scene, but …’
‘But the witness could be lying.’ He pulled his hand away from her shoulder and rubbed it over his chin. Could Jannette be right? He’d always known that gut instinct was often more reliable than not—for him, at least—and he had no doubt that Jannette could trust hers. But this kind of thing wasn’t something he’d heard of outside of television shows and movies.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Shan. I’ve got nothing to go off except a feeling and—’
She reached down beside her and pulled something out of her handbag. He hadn’t realised she’d brought it up with her, but then, he’d been too busy trying to get his body under control to notice if she had anything else with her. She handed him a picture frame and he looked down to see a gorgeous photograph of her. It looked natural, a well-taken picture if ever he’d seen one.
‘This is a really nice picture,’ he said, looking up at her. She swallowed, her brow creased in concern. He looked down at the picture again. Nothing looked too out of the ordinary. There wasn’t anyone in the background who looked suspicious as far as he could tell. Unless …
‘I don’t know who took the photo.’
Unless the suspicious character was behind the camera. His eyes shot up towards her, his chest tightening. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘It was on my bookshelf. I don’t know how it got there, or who put it there, but my front door was unlocked when I dropped by to pick up some things. That photo—’ She broke off and leaned forward in her seat, wrapping her arms around her waist as though that could protect her from the daunting truth.
Shannon felt the blood drain from his body as he glanced down at the picture again. Someone had been following her. Someone had let themselves into her home and left a photograph. Was it the same person who had broken into her shop? Was someone after her? What kind of sadistic bastard would do that?
‘Shan, that photo was taken the day I came here. I stopped to get a coffee on my way out of town. Look at my clothes. Don’t you remember?’
He studied the photograph again. Sure enough, her hair was exactly as it had been when he’d seen her birthing that breech calf. And he recognised the shirt that she’d looked stunning in that had met the same fate as her shoes.
‘Well, that’s the shirt, and your hair is the same, but are you sure it was the same day?’
‘I am. It’s at a café I’d only ever been to a couple of times, and that was the first time I’d worn that shirt.’
‘Okay,’ he said slowly, processing everything. ‘It could be the people the police have detained. They still hadn’t been found at that time, right?’
‘Well, no, but—’
‘But you don’t think it was them.’
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open. ‘You don’t believe me,’ she whispered. ‘I thought—I thought you’d believe me.’
‘Jenny, I do believe you. I will always believe you.’ He held the picture up between them. ‘But this is serious shit. It could be the people they’ve already got, but it doesn’t mean it is. And if it’s not, and they’re out there taking photos of you—’ Shannon clenched his jaw, stopping himself from going on. If some bastard was out there stalking Jannette … well, Shannon could only hope he met them first so he could show them what’s for.
‘I don’t know what to do, Shannon. I don’t know what to make of it.’
‘There hasn’t been anything else?’
She shook her head slowly. ‘No, nothing that I can think of.’
‘And you have no idea who it could be?’
‘No, I mean—’ She broke off, her brow furrowing. Did she? ‘Well, I mean, the only per
son I can think of is a guy I’d gone on a few dates with and it had ended a little badly.’
‘How bad?’
She shrugged. ‘I mean, he confessed undying love on the second date, and I think he got a bit heartbroken when I said I didn’t feel the same way.’
‘Do you think he’s capable of all this?’
She shook her head. ‘I changed banks because of it—that’s where I met him, at my bank—but I don’t think he’d break into the shop or my house. He seemed an honest enough guy.’
‘Are we sure the two incidents are actually related? I mean, we could be dealing with a few different people here.’ Shannon’s head was reeling with possibilities, not to mention the thought that he’d very much like to get his hands on any of the people who were giving Jannette a hard time.
‘I guess we don’t know, do we?’
They sat in a solemn silence for a few moments, both probably contemplating their next moves. Well, he knew he was. He’d never had a stalker before, so he wouldn’t know exactly how Jannette would be feeling. And she was right. They didn’t know whether or not the two incidents were related. And it might just be a once-off, something some asshole did just to scare her for the fun of it. But what if it wasn’t?
Jannette let out a sigh beside him. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I should just change my name and sell up. Seems to be the thing if there’s a problem, right? Selling.’
He knew she was talking about the farm. She couldn’t have been happy about that either, considering it had once been her home too, and Robbie was planning to sell it without being convinced otherwise.
‘Do you think it would work?’ he said. ‘I mean, selling up over something that might just be a stupid prank.’
‘Even if it is just a prank, I’m not sure I can feel safe there anymore. Someone let themselves into my house, and if they were able to do it without it looking anything like a break-in, who says someone else won’t do that?’
She made a point. She could always change the locks, install a security system and what-not, but that all meant nothing if she didn’t feel safe. He wanted her to feel safe. He wanted to make her feel safe. He bit the side of his cheek. It wasn’t his right to do that, though, was it?