DEAN
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Nicole Rudder:Is this anyone’s dog? I found it on my property last night. He’s cute but wary of people.
Comments:
Jade Clark:Not mine, but I want to pet it.
Nicole Rudder:He growls whenever I try.
Jackie Anne:I know I’m supposed to be the resident animal charmer, but that doesn’t look like a dog ...@Atticus Thompson, any thoughts?
Atticus Thompson:DO NOT ENGAGE. THAT IS A COYOTE.
Henry Connor:Did you say you tried to pet it???
When I was a kid,I used to try to sneak into Mom and Dad’s room all the time. They’d chalked it up to a fear of the dark, but in reality, I just hated sleeping by myself.
Then I found out what love was, and how much I wanted it. I used to daydream about what it would be like to wake up next to someone else.
But then that dream died when my heart had been broken. Ever since, it had been locked away in a vault, never to see the light of day.
And then Grace softly asked me to stay with her. I’d tried to say no, but the second her eyes watered, I knew that I had no choice but to. I should have left when she was asleep, but I didn’t. I stayed, listening to the sounds of her sleeping, knowing that she was okay after everything that had happened today.
There was no hope for me.
And when I woke up, I knew it was even worse than I had previously thought.
Because when we’d fallen asleep, Grace was clinging to me. Now, in the light of day, I was clinging to her as if she could vanish at any given moment.
She was facing the window and I was pressed against her back. One of my arms was underneath her neck and the other one was around her rib cage, keeping her as close to me as I possibly could. If she woke up, there was no way for me to explain how I’d ended up in this position.
Other than to say that she must have rolled away from me throughout the night and I followed her.
I had to force myself away from where she slept. It went against every fiber of my being, but I did it. When I stood, a cold seeped through my bones unlike any other I’d ever felt. It had nothing to do with the weather outside.
This would end badly. I was going to get hurt. These were all reminders that I needed to tell myself. And yet all I wanted to do was go climb back into bed with Grace. And not for sex. Just so I was near her.
A knock on the door only added to my shit mood because I had a feeling it was Brooke returning from Nashville.
She just left. Could I not catch a break?
But when I opened the door, I saw it was much worse than that. Kerry stood with a plate in her hands. When she saw me, her eyes grew as wide as the moon. Mine probably did too.
“Dean?” she asked.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Are you—am I interrupting something? You can tell me if I am. I can vanish.”
“No, you’re not interrupting anything. Why are you here?”
“Well, I heard in the Facebook group that Grace was seen leaving Henry’s clinic looking very sick. You were helping her to the truck, which makes sense why you’d be here. And here I was thinking you were staying here or something.” She laughed. “You’re not, right?”
I really wanted to go back to bed now.
“Yes, Grace was sick. She’s still asleep and recovering.”