by Jody Holford
Lifting one edge of his shirt, he flashed the handle of a gun. Jesus. How had she thought she cared for this man? She didn’t even know him.
“No way, huh? From what I can remember, I’m pretty good at convincing you.”
She stared at him, trying to see through this shell of a man to the one who’d made her believe they had something special. Was she really that blind? Or had he changed that much?
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this?”
He glanced back over his shoulder, like he was worried they were being watched. He was paranoid, thin to the point of gaunt, and carrying a gun. He wasn’t himself. Do what he says. Be smart.
Hunter stepped closer. He reeked of alcohol. Reaching out, he went to stroke her hair but she recoiled.
He grabbed a chunk of her hair before she could step away. “Don’t do that. You used to like when I touched you.”
“Now I like nothing about you. So, go.”
Giving another tug, he laughed. A full chuckle like they were standing around telling holiday jokes or something.
“I will. As soon as I have what I need. Let’s go. You live over this dump. I’ve been watching.”
Pulling the gun out of his waistband, he nudged it in her waist, pushing her toward the back of the store. Her brain scrambled for ideas. Even thin, he outweighed her and had at least a foot on her. Plus, the gun. If she made any sudden moves, he might react by shooting her even if he’d had no intention.
She stumbled on the first step. He caught her by grabbing a handful of her shirt. As she let them in, she felt the buzz of her phone in her pocket.
Nerves started to kick in then. In her shop, she’d felt more out in the open. Here in her apartment, not only was he in her space, but she was isolated. She was going to have to give him Niffy and figure out how to get him back after.
Hunter nudged her with the gun, making her stomach swirl with unease.
“Get the cat.”
Niffy made it easy by coming out to them in the kitchen. Her heart lurched. What the hell did he want the cat for anyway? She was just about to pick him up when she heard the knock.
Hunter grabbed her hair, yanked her close and put his mouth close to her ear. “Whoever it is, get rid of them or you’ll be responsible for what happens next.”
Bile rose in her throat at the thought of Cam—because who else could it be—getting hurt.
“Answer it.” He shoved her forward, nearly knocking her off her feet.
Opening the door a crack, she pasted a smile on her face. “Hey.”
Cam’s smile was tight—not even half of its usual wattage. “Hey.”
Sweat beaded along her spine. The cat meowed. “I don’t feel well. Can I rain check on tonight?”
Cam stepped closer. “Are you sick?”
Curling one hand around the door, she fought the urge to fall into him. That could get one or both of them hurt. Or worse.
“I must be coming down with something. I’ll call Kate and reschedule.” Would he pick up on that?
Both of his eyebrows rose. One side of his mouth moved up in a partial smile. “Good idea.”
Feeling overwhelmed, overheated and incredibly confused by the smile on his face, she started to shut the door. Cam stopped her with a hand braced against the wood.
“Maybe I should check your forehead,” he suggested.
Seriously? What was she, five? “Cam. I’m fine.”
“I’d feel better. Let me just check. Please?”
A low, quiet growl sounded from Hunter.
“Whatever.” She leaned her head forward, as Cam leaned in. She didn’t see him grab her wrist but she felt his hard, quick tug.
Before she could figure anything out, she was falling into him, while men she hadn’t noticed stormed her stairs. Shouting and swearing filled her ears as Cam held her so close, she could barely breathe. One arm was a vice around her middle, the other holding the back of her head, keeping it tucked against his neck.
Seconds that felt like hours passed and a radio sounded from below, a voice crackling through the speaker, creating a stereo effect since it was coming from her apartment. “Suspect in custody.”
Georgia pulled herself out of Cam’s embrace and stomped into her house. She could hear Hunter complaining before she saw him.
“What the hell is going on?” Georgia looked around the kitchen.
Hunter was being tugged up by a dark-clothed, vested officer. Another cop came out from the living room holding something in his hand.
“Got it,” he said.
She felt Cam at her back, his now-familiar scent surrounding her. “The cat’s fine?”
“What is that? Where’s Niffy?” She looked closer and saw the officer was holding Niffy’s collar. “Where’s my cat.”
“It’s my cat,” Hunter yelled.
The guy holding Niffy’s collar swung it in front of Hunter. “So, you just wanted the animal. Not the account number you shoved into its collar?”
The fury in Hunter’s expression made him completely unrecognizable.
“Let’s get him out of here,” a man’s voice said from her doorway.
Georgia turned to see an older man, dressed in a suit and tie under an open, long, wool coat, walk into the room.
The two officers who’d stormed her kitchen yanked Hunter forward and past Cam and Georgia.
“Good work,” the new man said.
He walked to Cam, his gaze making a quick detour to Georgia before focusing on Cam. “Good work, Officer Andrews. I’ll be sure to put a word in with your Sheriff.”
Cam squared his shoulders. “Thank you, Sir. But that’s not necessary.”
Georgia felt like she’d run up a mountain carrying a weighted backpack. Her heartbeat hadn’t settled entirely and nausea roiled in her gut.
“Could somebody please tell me what the hell just happened? And where is my damn cat?”
As if on cue, Niffy meowed, coming into the kitchen. Georgia hurried to the cat, picking him up. “Hey, buddy. What was all that? You okay? I wasn’t going to let him take you.” She turned back to Cam and the man who was clearly in charge.
The man spoke before Cam. “I’m Detective Jensen. We’ve been trying to catch your ex boyfriend for a while. He’s wanted on suspicion of drug trafficking and embezzlement.”
Her mouth literally dropped open. “What?” She looked at Cam.
“It’s true, honey.” He stepped closer. The endearment threw her off, rattled her already scrambled brain and emotions. “When I looked into Hunter, I saw he had warrants for his arrest. I contacted Detective Jensen, told him we had reason to believe he was here in Angel’s Lake. They set up a task force. They didn’t know what he was after but you told me about Niffy. Turns out, he was stealing money from the bar you two worked at and not just from the owners. He was funneling it away in an account. He wrote the number of that account on a piece of paper and put it in Niffy’s collar.”
“Idiot couldn’t remember twelve numbers,” the detective said.
So many thoughts collided. Letting Niffy down, she looked at Cam. “You looked into Hunter? You found out who he was even after I asked you to leave it alone?” She knew it was stupid to focus on that piece of the incredibly tangled and ridiculous puzzle but it was the one that stuck out at the moment.
Cam nodded. “I did.” Their gazes locked.
The detective cleared his throat. “I’m going to need you to give a statement to the local police. Not your boyfriend, here. You’re lucky he reached out. Hunter is a dangerous man. He owes people money; he stole from people. Desperate men do desperate things. If we’d been any later, things might not have ended so well.”
Right. Gratitude was what she needed to feel. But instead, she felt somewhat hollow. Empty. Drained of any energy.
The detective and Cam talked for a few minutes while Georgia curled up in the corner of her couch. Niffy lay on the cushion beside her, purring.
The sound of the door closing bro
ught her out of her own thoughts. Cam came over, sat on the coffee table across from her. He took her hand.
“I know you didn’t want me to look into things.”
She’d asked him not to. He did it anyway. He was keeping you safe. He could have been hurt.
“Georgia, I care about you. I want to be with you. I can’t be with someone and not take care of them. It doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re capable of taking care of yourself but this wasn’t a normal situation.”
“I thought he wanted the cat.” It was a random observation but she couldn’t help thinking what a fool she was to have believed that’s what he was after. Like he’d actually cared about her or the cat. Clearly, she was as good at reading people as she was at relationships.
“Technically, he did.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes, Cam watching her while she tried to wade through some of her emotions.
“Would you still like to go to Anna’s? That was really smart, by the way. Alerting me in that way.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat that came with his praise. His voice was so soft. So concerned. “I can call her and tell her you’re not up to it.”
She closed her eyes, one part of her thinking how nice it would be to just let him take care of it. Of her. The other part of her, thought of how much it would hurt if she let him. If she got used to it before she screwed things up and pushed him away.
Opening her eyes, she stared into his warm, brown ones. “I can call her. I think you should go.”
“Georgia.” The word was part plea, part demand. Like he knew.
She shook her head, stared at her cat while tears filled her eyes. “I told you I wasn’t good at this. I need some time. I want to be alone.”
“You’re not.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“You’re not alone anymore. You have people who care about you. Love you.” He let the word sink in and boy, did it. All the way to the depths of her soul. “You have Anna, Sam, Kate and Elliot. Mr. Lee, Carter. Me.”
Georgia’s throat felt thick. Dry. Too dry to swallow.
“I’d like you to come for Christmas dinner with my family if you’re not spending it with Anna and Sam.”
All the happy couples. The cozy little families. Look what you brought to the mix. A swat team and a drugged up, swindling ex. Tears burned her eyes.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
He reached out but she shook her head. Cam pulled his hand back, stood up.
“I don’t want to leave,” he whispered.
She didn’t want him to either. But letting him stay would mean pretending she deserved him. What if you’d been at his family’s beautiful cabin and Hunter had followed you there? She hoped she could change the course she was on but it turned out, she couldn’t change her past. And she couldn’t stop it from shaping her future.
“Goodbye, Cam.”
She waited until he closed the door behind him to let the tears fall.
Chapter Eighteen
The next morning was Christmas Eve. After Cam left the night before, Georgia had showered, changed into cozy pajamas, baked two dozen cookies, and curled up to stare at the tree she’d decorated with Cam. She was still wearing the pajamas, seeing no reason to change out of them to spend the day alone.
She was due at Anna and Sam’s by four. Which gave her at least three more hours of moping around, watching mushy movies, and eating the rest of her cookies.
When someone knocked on her door, her heart jumped, slamming against her rib cage. Irritated with herself for wanting it to be Cam, she opened the door with a scowl.
“Wow. That is a very grinchy face.” Kate stood on the landing with a gift bag. She wore a pale pink, had-to-be-cashmere coat, her hair pulled up into a sophisticated ponytail, her face looking a little red from the cold but beautiful, nonetheless.
Georgia felt like a slob. “Kate. What are you doing here?” She stepped back to let her in.
Kate walked in, directly to the tree. Georgia shut the door, then followed behind to the living room.
“This is adorable.” She set the gift bag on the floor underneath it.
When she turned, she surveyed the small space. “I like it. It’s cute.”
“You came to see my apartment on Christmas Eve?”
“No. I came to beg you to open your store to sell me a couple pounds of those lemon candies because I forgot to get them for Elliot’s stocking. He loves them.”
Georgia blinked, her brain feeling like it was on a five-second delay. “Oh. Sure.”
She walked to the kitchen to grab her keys. No need to get dressed for that.
“I also came to help you get your head out of your butt.”
Georgia turned slowly; her eyes wide as she stared at the woman she hoped to be friends with some day. “Excuse me.” She gripped the keys in a tight fist.
Kate held up her hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger. I was elected because Anna can’t leave the house other than for the doctor. Sam was going to come but didn’t want to leave Anna or Seth. I said I would since, one, I need some candy, and two, I’ve been where you’re at. Actually, we all have. But me most recently.”
Irritation flickered inside of her. “You’ve been where exactly? Running from a thieving jackass who was so stupid that not only could he not remember a number but he put it on a cat? Or have you been making one bad choice after another for most of your life after watching your mother do the same, despite swearing not to turn out like her? Or have you moved to a new town, gained all the wrong kinds of attention, kicked a Santa in the groin, and broken the heart of a very good man while trying to do the right thing? Which one of those have you done, Kate?”
Kate grinned, shrugging off her coat to reveal a pair of dark jeans and a Christmas sweater beneath. Georgia remembered how she’d felt at Kate’s home. Under all that polish was a woman she could be friends with; one who was here now, trying to help.
“You are so good for Cam. You’ll give each other balance.”
She folded her arms across her sweater. Georgia stalked into the living room, flopped on the couch.
“Cam and I are no longer a thing.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
Georgia tipped her head to the side. It was petty but she said, “Thought you were here for my delicious candy?”
Kate chuckled, coming to take a seat beside her on the couch. “I have a two-year-old and twins. I can multitask in ways you can’t imagine.”
Georgia stared down at the candy canes on her pajamas.
“I pushed Elliot away.”
Her head came up, gaze locking with Kate’s.
“I’ve known him most of my life. Probably loved him for a good portion of it. It was never the right time for us. His ex was a piece of work. God, that woman was awful. She’s turned her life around a bit but she still doesn’t see the girls much. Which seems crazy to me because they’re incredible.”
When she paused, Georgia couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”
“I was nannying for Elliot. His ex came back. He didn’t want her. He told me—hell, he told her—that he wanted me. I thought I was being noble, walking away so they could be a family. The thing is, your heart doesn’t always do what you convince yourself is the right thing. Most of the time, if you listen to it, you’ll learn it’s right. I was so in love with Elliot. I don’t know what I would have done if he’d gone back to her, tried again.”
“Obviously, he didn’t.”
Kate smiled, warm and sweet. “No. He came after me. He told me he was in love with me. We all have things in our pasts we’re not proud of. Things we wish we could do better.”
Georgia bristled, tears blurring her vision. “This is different. My past follows me around like a bad reminder. I’m not putting that on Cam. He’s too good for that. Too good for me.”
Kate reached out, took Georgia’s hand, the one that wasn’t gripping the keys hard en
ough to leave an indent.
“Why’d you steal the cat?”
Georgia’s brows furrowed. There were no secrets in this town. “What?”
“Why’d you take the cat?” She looked around like the cat would appear but Niffy was tucked up in bed in Georgia’s room.
“Because my ex was a loser who didn’t care about anything other than himself.”
“What do you care?”
“What?” She yanked her hand back.
Kate shrugged. “Well, you’re sitting here telling me you’re not good enough. From my point of view, and everyone else in town who’s met you, not to mention your cousin and her family, you put yourself at risk to protect a cat. You’ve had a series of hard knocks and still picked yourself up, stood on your own and started a business in a new town. That takes guts and courage. Your problem isn’t your past, Georgia. It’s that you’re afraid to want a future you deserve because you don’t want to lose it.”
A few tears slid down her cheeks. “I’m really good at screwing up.”
Kate laughed. “Aren’t we all? Do you have any idea how terrified I am that I’m going to mess Gracie, Beth, and Janie up?”
Georgia swiped at her cheeks. “How is that even possible? You’re incredible. Smart, talented, beautiful.”
“I came home from New York because I’d fallen for a married man. My parents used up their savings to send me to college, I didn’t use my degree, took off to the city, and came back without achieving what I planned. Our pasts shape us. There’s no getting away from that. But we get to choose how.”
They sat there in the quiet glow of the tree, thoughts swirling through Georgia’s head. Niffy hopped up onto the couch. Kate picked him up, pet him, then snuggled him close.
“I wonder how Indy would feel about a cat.”
Georgia laughed. She hadn’t even really liked cats before meeting Hunter. Life had a funny way of giving a person what they needed when they needed it.
Looking over at Kate holding her cat, she smiled, reached out a hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being the kind of person who’d talk some sense into me on Christmas Eve when you probably have a dozen other things to do. For sharing your past. For being so welcoming. Take your pick.”