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I hated the way that voice seemed to lull my body into a comfortable rhythm in the same way it always did. It was part of why he was so dangerous. He was so good at making you believe that he actually gave a shit about you. He really was one of the best lawyers I’d ever known.
“I hope you miss me as much as I miss you. I’ll be seeing you soon, though.” He hung up, and I threw the phone across the couch before sitting in the corner, petrified. How had he found my phone number?
Shit. Shit. If he had my phone number, he had my area code…
I couldn’t take it anymore; I got up from the couch and ran over to the toilet, where I immediately threw up. I didn’t move from the bathroom for the rest of the night.
3
DILLON
I definitely got some surprised looks when I parked my truck outside the bank two days later and got out, and it wasn’t surprising. For someone who made it a point not to come to town more than once a month, coming down the mountain twice in one week was definitely out of character for me. But I’d been so distracted by Macy two days before that I’d forgotten my most important stop.
I walked into the bank, closely followed by Bucky, and walked up to the first teller, an older woman named Barbara, who I’d known since the age of five as “Bobbi.”
“Hey, Dillon,” she said, smiling at me kindly when I went up to her window. She’d been another one who’d made a consistent effort with me when I’d come back from Nashville, only to be rebuffed by my annoyingly stubborn ass. I figured I was probably hurting her feelings, and she was sweet enough not to mention it, but for whatever reason, I just had never been able to bring myself to get close to her again.
“Hey, Bobbi,” I said, pulling my debit card out of my wallet. “Can I get my usual cashier’s check, please?”
“Sure,” she said, putting my card into the reader as I put in my pin. “Remind me of the name again?”
“Jackie Fitzpatrick,” I said. Her eyebrow gave the subtlest twitch up, but I knew that she knew I wouldn’t be answering any of her questions about who Jackie was. I’d been coming in to get the checks every month since I’d moved back to town two years before, and I figured that Bobbi probably thought I’d gotten some girl pregnant while I was living in the city and that these were just my child support payments. In a way, they kind of were.
I suspected the dinner invitations were partially so that she could ask me about Jackie, given that she was too professional to ask about her while she was on the clock, but there was no way I was going to show my hand.
“Okay, just make sure that all the information on the paper is correct, and if it is, sign at the bottom.”
I did, following the same protocol I did every month when I pulled the twenty-five hundred dollars out of my account. A cashier’s check, made payable to Jackie Fitzpatrick.
“Perfect,” I said, signing and handing it back to her. She gave me the check in an envelope, and I gave her a brief smile before going next door and putting the check into a certified letter. I hadn’t been taking any chances since I’d started sending her the money, doing everything in my power to make sure the checks got to her and stayed anonymous.
As always, I put the check into its envelope with a plain piece of paper wrapped around it and paid for the tracking number to ensure it got where I needed it to.
When I was finished, I thought back to everything I’d picked up at the market the last time I’d gone and how I’d been promising myself that I would start eating more vegetables. I’d only got some tomatoes and more canned beans the last time I was at the market, and I knew I would probably do well by incorporating some more green into my diet.
Or at least that was what I rationalized to myself as I walked up to the doors of the supermarket, thinking of the deep blue eyes and pearly skin that had captivated me days ago.
I really was an idiot, and I didn’t know if it was because I hadn’t gotten laid in forever or because I was just really starting to lose it up on that mountain, but for some reason, I hadn’t been able to get her face out of my mind.
I grabbed a basket from the stack near the door and walked in, making straight for the produce section. Not really knowing where to start, I headed for the prepackaged bags of salad, knowing that at the very least, I could add some stuff to those to make a meal.
As much as I’d told myself that I hadn’t come in to see her, I couldn’t help looking around the store for Macy, knowing I’d spot her immediately.
And I did; she was standing a few feet away from me, pulling out some onions and stacking them carefully on the shelf. I sighed, knowing there was nothing for it. I was going to feel off until I talked to the girl, so I might as well just get it over with.
“Macy, right?”
She visibly flinched at the sound of her name and looked up at me. I felt a pang when I saw the deep grey crescents under her eyes. She clearly hadn’t been sleeping much over the last few days, and I couldn’t help feeling my heartrate pick up, in spite of myself.
I didn’t say anything, though. I just let her start leading the conversation—if it could even be called that.
“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, looking up at me and raising her eyebrow. “But I think you have the advantage over me.”
I huffed a little bit, amused by the annoyed tone in her voice at the idea. I could already tell that she was more like me than I’d realized.
“I’m Dillon,” I said. I almost held my hand out to her to shake, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate the overture.
“Well, Dillon,” she said, tucking her thumbs into her back pockets. The gesture made her pop her hip out, just a little bit, and it allowed me to take in her curves with new appreciation. “Is there something I can help you with?”
