by Devon Monk
I waved over my shoulder and stepped outside.
Now all I had to do was stop at the store for beer, go home, offer up my apology pie, and tell Ryder I was ready, really ready to pick a date and get this wedding going.
Chapter Fourteen
I didn’t recognize the green Mini Cooper parked in front of our house. Ryder’s truck was in the drive. Light poured out through our living room windows, but that car…That car didn’t look like any in Ordinary.
I got out of the Jeep and glanced at the California license plate, committing it to memory so I could run the tags if I needed to.
Even without a close look, I saw several hangers with dresses and maybe jackets hung in the back seat. Fingerprints scuffed the dust on the trunk, and road dirt flecked the wheel wells.
Someone had been on the road for a while. Maybe visiting, maybe moving.
I wondered who that somebody was.
I balanced the pie, coffee and beer, thinking it might be too much—too much like an overreaction, too much like an apology I’d overthought and I wasn’t sure would be accepted—and walked up to the front door.
I tried the handle. It wasn’t locked. I paused with the door half open.
I didn’t smell the grill he said he’d have ready for dinner. I didn’t hear the music Ryder usually played when he was home alone.
What I heard was a woman’s laughter. A stranger’s laughter.
Time stretched through a tick, tick, tick, and everything in me went numb.
Why was there a stranger in our home? Why was she laughing, and why was Ryder laughing along with her, their voices pitched low like they were sharing secrets?
Was she a friend? A customer?
From another state this late in the evening?
My heart thudded against my breastbone, hot and sick. It felt like —
—jealousy—
—something was wrong. Something was wrong about a strange woman from California being in my living room.
In our living room.
I was over-reacting. I was taking huge jumps to conclusions that I had absolutely no facts to back up. Maybe Myra was right about the overthinking thing.
I just needed to be calm. To use logic.
But then, so many things in Ordinary weren’t logical. Following my instincts, following my gut, even overthinking things usually worked out for me.
All of those thoughts flashed by in seconds. Then I unstuck myself, took a quick breath and called out as I walked through the doorway.
“Hey! I’m home. I brought pie.” I strode into the foyer. Which led right to the kitchen and open living room.
The fire was going, even though it had been a warm day, but Spud and Dragon pig were not curled up as usual in front of it with their pile of toys. As a matter of fact, all the toys that got dragged daily into the room were missing.
What else was missing was my fiancé, but from the voices coming from beyond the sliding glass doors, I knew he was outside. Maybe starting the grill.
Maybe dishing food for the woman, who was saying, “RyRy—that’s so great! Just so great!” in a we’re-not-doing-anything-we-shouldn’t-be-doing voice pitched loud enough I was pretty sure she, at least, had heard my entrance.
I stowed the pie in the fridge, put the beer in there too. I didn’t know what to do with the coffee, so I just left one of the cups by the toaster, and took a couple big gulps out of the other one.
Whoever it was sounded like a friend, someone Ryder knew. She hadn’t left a purse or a coat behind, there were no kicked off shoes in the entry, so she probably hadn’t been here long and wasn’t planning to stay.
Okay. A friend was good. I wanted to meet more of the friends he’d made when not living in Ordinary. The—
—jealousy—
—worry I’d felt when I’d first seen the car was gone now, shoved aside so that there was only room for curiosity. Ryder rarely talked about his friends from college, from the years he’d spent working for the architecture company in Chicago.
The only people he’d mentioned more than once were his boss at the firm he worked at, and a classmate he tried to keep in touch with online.
Well, he’d had to talk a little about the DoPP monster hunters he’d gotten involved with, especially since one of them had come to town a year after he’d been here and stirred up trouble.
We were a town full of supernaturals. Gods too. We would be an absolute gold mine for a monster hunter.
Which was why we kept a low profile. Most people in Ordinary didn’t know their neighbors were anything other than what they appeared to be and it was my job to keep it that way.
One more sip of coffee, relax the shoulders, smile, and off I went to the deck.
“Beautiful, but the winters are pretty rough,” Ryder said.
“Oh, RyRy, you know I like it a little rough.”
“Hi,” I said, pushing the door wider and leaning there. “Are we grilling tonight?”
Ryder and the woman—the very lovely woman with wide eyes and tanned skin and golden hair twisted back so most of it cascaded down around her shoulders—glanced up at me.
She looked fresh and carefree, like she’d just come from the forest, or the beach; hemp bracelets on one wrist, the lightest blush nail polish and a couple silver rings on her hands. I quickly cataloged the rest: flowing skirt and white tank—both designer—and perfume with notes of cocoa.
Okay, not the forest or the ocean. She looked like she’d just come out of a boutique that charged big bucks to make you look like a boho babe.
Interesting.
“Hey, Delaney,” Ryder said, not moving from where he sat on our outdoor couch, which gave the best angle of the lake below. “Thought you were busy at Myra’s.”
“We wrapped it up pretty quick.” I stepped onto the deck, glanced at the grill, which was not heating. “Do you want to introduce me?”
“Oh, sure. Say, Vivian, this is Delaney, my fiancé.”
“What?” Vivian laughed and slapped Ryder on the arm playfully. She sat right next to him, cozied up as if there wasn’t any space on the couch except pressed against his side, which was not true. We’d bought that couch and wanted it to last. Wrestling that huge beast of a thing through the door had been a pain.
I knew how big that couch was. It sat three with a dog. Three.
“You didn’t even tell me you had a girlfriend,” she cooed. “Naughty.”
“Fiancé,” I said, leaning forward to offer my hand. “Chief Delaney Reed.”
For just a half second, her eyes sharpened, and her body language projected something dangerous, something ready to spring.
That second passed, then she tossed her hair back and dropped her fingertips into my hand. They were cold and dry.
“I’m Vivian, well, I’ll be Viv to you from now on because I am officially your best friend!” She stood, her fingers hooking and holding. Even though she didn’t use me as leverage, I could feel the coiled strength in her.
Was she a supernatural? Some kind of monster in disguise?
Before I could finish that thought, she threw her arms around me and squeezed, once, twice, three times, each squeeze harder than the last. “I am so happy to meet the woman who makes my RyRy so happy.”
I stood there like a plank, let her get the hug over with, and as soon as I was released, took another drink of coffee.
Human, I thought, from being that close to her. Annoying. Fake. Maybe hiding something. But human.
“Oh,” she said, looking at my drink. “I would love a cup. It was such a drive. And traffic—I thought I’d never get out of LA. Tell me you have more?”
“Kitchen by the toaster.”
She slapped one hand over her heart like I’d just handed her the Academy Award. “I’ll just…” She puppy-dog begged with her hands, dipping them up and down to mimic a trot, and then turned and strolled into our house.
Once she was gone, I studied Ryder. He sprawled with one arm across the back of the couch, his long legs kicke
d out in front of him. Watching me, relaxed, like nothing was wrong. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I might believe it.
But his jaw was set and the one hand curled in a fist told me something was wrong.
“RyRy, huh?”
He sighed. “Apparently.”
“That’s super cute.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“And you know Vivian from?”
“She’s going to tell you she contracted for our company. Did all the decor for the condos we built.”
“All right. What are you going to tell me?”
He opened his mouth, then his eyes went to her purse, which was a natural fiber macramé-type thing with wooden beads. He frowned.
“I’m going to tell you I love you,” he got up off of the couch, “and I missed you.” He was smiling and advancing on me, but the change of subject was a cover. “And I want to know what kind of pie you brought me as an apology.”
“Who said I was apologizing?” Then he was right there in front of me, and all the clever things I’d been about to say dried up to dust. It was everything I could do not to just fall into his arms.
“I hate fighting with you,” I said.
His hands landed heavy on my hips and he searched my face, maybe trying to decide if that was my apology. “Delaney.” He leaned forward, his mouth right next to my ear, so close I could feel the stubble on his cheek. “She’s a monster hunter.”
And, yeah, maybe I was distracted by his touch, by his nearness, by the scent of his shampoo and deodorant that had become the scent of home to me. But it took me a second.
“Who?”
“Vivian. I worked with her at DoPP.”
It hit all at once, hard as a slap. “We have a monster hunter in our house?”
“Shhh.” He pulled me closer. “She left her purse and might be recording us.”
I tucked my head into his shoulder and hoped that if I was being recorded, it was only audio. “We have a monster hunter in our town?”
“Yep. She said she’s stopping by to catch up, like old times.”
“Bullcrap,” I said into the warm cotton of his shirt.
“I know. How do you want to deal with it?”
“She’s not leaving?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I don’t want her snooping around our house.” I pulled back, and he nodded at my fake smile.
“Did you find the coffee?” I called out as I made a quick trip through the doors and living room.
Vivian was not in the kitchen.
“Vivian?” I started down the hall.
She was walking toward me, smiling and innocent like she hadn’t been snooping.
“Did you get lost?” I asked nicely.
“What? Oh, no. Silly.” She was close enough she tapped me on the arm, then kept her hand there. Holding me in place.
It was a subtle power move.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like her.
“I just had to use the little girl’s room. Coffee’s this way, right? By the toaster?”
I did some calculations for how long she’d been out of our sight. Two minutes. Maybe three. Long enough to do a quick look around of the bottom floor.
“Yep,” I said, switching our hold so I had her arm and could move her more easily. “Right in here.” I gave her a full-watt smile and started walking so she’d have to start moving.
“When did you meet Ryder?” she asked, pressing close to me all buddy-buddy like.
“I grew up here and he did too. So I’ve known him for a long time.”
“Oh, that’s so romantic. I don’t know why he never mentioned you!” She laughed like we were both in on just the greatest joke.
I knew what she was doing. I knew her type. Had been around this chummy-with-claws kind of person more than once in my life.
“So how long are you staying?” I asked, moving in front of her to get the coffee and then handing it to her.
“Didn’t Ryder tell you?”
I lifted my fingers to indicated that no, he hadn’t.
“Well, he does like to keep secrets, doesn’t he? I bet he never even mentioned me.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from telling her she could pack up her game board because I wasn’t gonna play.
“Are you looking for a hotel for the night?” I opened the fridge and pulled out cream and flavored creamer, putting them on the counter next to her.
She sipped the coffee and then frowned at the cup. “This is really good.”
“We Pacific North Westerners know good flannel, good blue jeans, and good coffee.”
She reached for the cream and poured a dollop. “I couldn’t possibly bother you and Ryder to put me up on the couch for the night.”
“No,” I said, “you couldn’t. But the Sand Garden should have a room open. Or if you’d rather a bed and breakfast we have one of those in town too.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in the way.”
“Of what? Ordinary counts on touristry. We have plenty of local shops, a couple restaurants, a brew pub, and of course the beach, which is never crowded, and 100% public access.”
She made a sound like she was impressed. Then glanced over her shoulder as if she were expecting Ryder to be standing there. “You’re the police chief here, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“I would love to do a ride along. See what small-town policing looks like these days. Maybe write up an article about how one little town in Oregon keeps the peace.”
“Article? I thought you did interior design?”
She blinked, her expression freezing before her smile was back on. “Oh, I do. I’m sure Ryder told you I did the decor for all his most prestigious clients back in the day. But since then, I’ve spent some time in California, and decided my passion is writing. Not screenplays, which is what everyone always asks me down there. You know,” she made a weird smiling grimace, “Hollywood. But I write feel-good, slice-of-life travel pieces. I like to make people happy. Totally a people pleaser, you know.”
What I knew was she was spinning a line of horse hockey.
“Well, the Sand Garden has a great view of the beach. I’m sure they’d love to be mentioned in your slice-of-life.”
“I’m not a hotel reviewer, Delaney. I’m a journalist.”
What she was was a spy snooping around my town looking for monsters. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like her. And I didn’t like her suddenly showing up when we had a ghoul on the loose, and stolen god weapons popping up on doorsteps.
I sniffed, trying to sense if there was anything ghoulish about her, but she smelled the same, the kitchen smelled the same, and all I wanted was for her to get a hotel room and leave my house.
“Just a teensy little ride along?” she asked. “Please, Delaney? Half a day? A few hours is all I’m asking. It would just mean everything to me.”
Fact: I do not like being manipulated.
Fact: I do not like being manipulated by a stranger.
Fact: I do not like being manipulated by a stranger who was also hunting supernaturals in a town full of supernaturals who were my friends.
“Not going to happen. Even in a small town, police business can be dangerous. We don’t let anyone ride along.”
“Boo,” she said, sticking out her lower lip before taking another sip of coffee. “Maybe Ryder will show me around instead.”
I opened my mouth to tell her good luck with that, but the back room door smacked open and a set of paws and hooves hit the hallway running.
Spud was barking his danger protect bark, and I hurried into the hallway to head him off at the pass.
“Spud,” I called. “Hey, Spuddo, it’s okay.”
I’d never heard him snarl like that as he tried to push his way into the kitchen. I caught his collar right before he skidded around the corner and pulled him back before he could reach Vivian.
He did not like her.
Good. Neither did I.
>
“That’s enough,” I said. “Settle down.” I put one hand on his back haunches to get him to sit, but he resisted, sidestepping. He was big enough and strong enough, I had to tug on his collar to keep him from barreling forward.
I was so busy with the dog, I didn’t even notice the dragon pig.
“Oh my god!” Vivian squealed. “Is that a pig? Delaney, do you own a pig? Of course you do—just look at you. Come here little fella. Hey, there cutie patootie. Here piggy piggy piggy.”
Fortunately, I managed to get Spud to lay off his “attack” mode. Unfortunately, I had another terrifying situation on my hands.
This woman had just said: “here piggy piggy piggy” to a dragon. A dragon who could be a real grump sometimes. A dragon who could devour cars, houses, maybe even cities if it really got a good angry binge going.
A dragon who could swallow this woman down in one lazy chomp.
I was half-bent over Spud, hand still on his collar. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryder moving this way fast. But my real attention was lasered in on the dragon pig.
It had been trotting along, maybe heading into the living room, maybe heading to the fire where it liked to bask at night, maybe heading toward its hoard of toys.
But as soon as it heard that “piggy piggy” it stopped in its tracks, one front leg still raised. Its little pink head swiveled. Its eyes narrowed and one ear flopped back as it glowered up at her.
“Oh, aren’t you a darling?” Vivian bent over and stretched her fingers out toward the dragon pig.
The dragon pig rolled its eyes toward me. I shook my head and mouthed “don’t,” but right then, her fingers stretched out just that bit more and she booped it on the nose.
Booped the dragon pig.
The dragon pig unhinged its jaw. I faked a sideways stumble to get between it and her.
It growled, but I raised my voice to cover the noise. “Ryder! Can you take over Spud here, maybe put him outside, and I’ll…um…handle the pig?”
He was there instantly, switching off to hold Spud’s collar, and gently talking to the dog. I turned my back on Vivian keeping the dragon pig out of her line of sight. I bent and scooped up the dragon and pulled it against my chest.
Its eyes were burning red with blue centers. I’d never seen that much fire in them before. I mouthed, monster hunter. Then out loud, “Cool it, okay?”