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He stared back impassively. "Yeah, I am."
She put her hands on her hips. "I'm not some helpless wallflower, Ryan!"
His expression remained emotionless. "Didn't say you were. Two people is safer than one."
Giving up for the moment, she threw both arms up. "Save me from stubborn men! I'm going back to the garage." She brushed past him and opened the door.
"Sure. Let me call William and ask him if I can have the afternoon off, and we'll go get all the stuff."
She turned back. "No. Go to work. I'll get it."
He smirked. "But I know where it all is. You'll have to do all the research again."
"You could give it to me."
"I could." Ryan's smile slowly widened to a grin. "But I won't."
Erin glared at him and stomped into the shop. Men were so arrogant. Did he really think she was so incompetent that she couldn't do a little electronics shopping? When the door closed, she stopped. Oh, rats—she had finished everything she needed to do. But the Barracuda still sat there, mocking her. She could load it on the trailer and have it ready to go. She'd get her truck and trailer from the house.
As Erin neared the house, she spotted someone crouching at her garage door, fiddling with the handle. "Hey, what are you doing?" The person looked back at her, startled, then ran to the back of her house. Erin broke into a sprint, chasing the man.
Chapter 15
When Trouble and Help Collide
Erin skidded to a stop. She was unarmed; following the man was stupid. She dialed 911 on her cell phone and jogged back to the shop while she reported the attempted break-in, glancing over her shoulder. Once safely inside the shop, she locked the door and entered the coffee shop. "Ryan, you have a weapon upstairs, right?"
"Yeah, why?" He stopped wringing the cloth in his hands.
"Because I just scared off someone trying to break into my house. I'm on the phone with 911. Shop's locked. Need to get the customers out of here safely."
"Crap." He pushed past her and into the garage.
Erin grabbed her stack of freebie cards and trotted to the remaining table of women. "Ladies, I'm sorry, but there's a problem at the back of the property. For your safety, I need you to leave." She handed each of them a card. "I'm really sorry."
By the time she herded them out, Ryan was standing in the doorway to the shop, facing her driveway. His arms were at his sides, so she couldn't see his weapon; she appreciated his discretion. When a deputy sheriff pulled up in front of her, Ryan went inside the shop. She and the deputy inspected her shop and house but found nothing.
Back at his truck, the deputy tipped his hat. "I'm sure you scared him off, ma'am. You might want a surveillance system."
"Working on it. Thanks for the help." Erin let herself into the coffee shop and picked up the remaining cups. Ryan was on his cell, weapon strapped to his thigh, pacing. She started on the closing list. It was better to stay busy than think about what might have happened. But she couldn't help considering the possibilities. If she hadn't gone back there, that man could have broken in, stolen her stuff, including Smoky, and lit the house on fire. Sure, everything was replaceable. Except Smoky, the place she felt closest to Michael. She missed him so much, especially at times like these.
Ryan crossed the shop to her, phone still at his ear. "Wiz wants the plans to your house, and if you've got one, a plat, you know, something that shows where your house and business are on the property."
"I've got all that on a thumb drive. I needed it for the bank loan. I can email it to her." The house was only three years old, but sometimes it felt like a lifetime ago. Other times, it felt like she’d accepted the house from the builder just yesterday.
"Great. Wiz already emailed an updated parts list based on what I could tell her about your house, but she needs the plans to do a real layout. How many windows do you have in your bedroom?"
"Two. There's one in the bathroom too."
"Two in the master bedroom, one in the master bath." Ryan nodded and paced some more. "Erin's emailing them to you. Thanks, Wiz, I appreciate it. Are you sure you'll be okay on the drive? Yeah, I'll tell her that. Thanks." He brought the cell down and hit the end call button.
Did she hear that right?
Ryan shook his head, brows raised. "Wiz is coming; she wants to do the install herself. She says in addition to her two-hundred-dollar design fee, you'll owe her gas money and a full workup on her vehicle and some metalwork in the back of her van. I told Wiz she could stay at the apartment or at your house. I hope that's okay?"
"Of course; that's nothing. Are you sure that's all she wants? Doesn't seem like much for all the trouble she's going to." It wasn't anywhere near what that kind of work was worth.
"That's what she said." He shrugged. "Wiz told me to get the stuff today; she's driving out tomorrow, and she'll start the install when she arrives." Ryan grimaced. "I'll have to tell you a few things about Wiz." He glanced away, then back. "She's got some issues."
