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I told the garage door to open, then pulled inside. Storm wasn’t home. His Jeep was gone. He hadn’t texted or called me since before I’d left. I had expected him to do either or both seeing as he tracked me like a stalker. Maybe he’d been busy and not able to see where I was. One could only hope. I wouldn’t have to tell him what I had done if he didn’t ask me. That wasn’t a lie. At least not by my standards. Granted, those were questionable at times.
Opening the door, I went inside and headed for Dovie’s floor. She’d been here when I left, but said she might go somewhere with Nailyah and one of Nailyah’s friends. I expected her to text me if she did though. Once I reached the third floor, I headed to Dovie’s room first, but she wasn’t there, so I went to look in the lounge room. She was curled up on the sofa with an afghan and a book.
“Hey,” I said, and she looked up at me, then smiled.
“Did you get a good deal?” she signed.
I shrugged. “Eh. Not the best, but it’ll do. At least we have our own cash.”
She nodded, but was frowning.
“You didn’t want to go with Nailyah?” I asked her, walking over to sit down on the sofa.
She scrunched her nose. “Lula Mae is there. We don’t like her,” she signed.
Lula Mae was still in town?
“When is she going to leave?” I asked with a groan, laying my head back on the cushion.
“She’s staying at Nailyah’s house all summer. Nailyah isn’t thrilled about it,” Dovie signed.
I sat back up. “She’s staying all summer?” I asked. “At Storm’s parents’ house?”
Dovie nodded.
That was weird. Why stay all summer, and why at Storm’s parents’ house? Did Storm know this? He would tell me if he did … I thought.
Why did his parents want her there? The thought that this marriage thing was more than Storm was letting on reared its ugly head again. They were Mafia. And didn’t Mafia families decide who got married? Wasn’t it arranged? Was Storm supposed to marry Lula Mae one day, and I came along and messed it up?
I felt sick to my stomach. The idea of Storm with her. Married. Her in this house. A heavy dread settled in my chest, and I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“Have you told him your birthday is tomorrow?” Dovie signed.
I shook my head. “No. He’d buy me something extravagant, and he already gave me the G-Wagon. He doesn’t have to know.” At least not now.
He’d figure it out one day … if I was here.
I stood up and rubbed a fist against my chest, then forced a smile. “I think I’ll go outside and get some peaches, then make a cobbler. Want to help?” I asked her.
She held up her book, cocking her mouth to the side of her face.
“Okay, fine. Read your book,” I said, then headed for the door.
I needed to be alone anyway. Work through this in my head. Make sense of it. My imagination was working against me. If I thought I could trust Storm, this wouldn’t be an issue, but deep down, I worried that he had more secrets I didn’t know.
I took the money out of my purse and went to tuck it in a sock, then push it to the back of one of my drawers. When I was done, I headed downstairs to go pick some peaches. I’d been wanting to make a peach cobbler since the first day we had moved in here. It would brighten my mood and also give me something to do.
Taking a basket from the pantry, I headed out the back door and down to the trees. They smelled even stronger today. I inhaled deeply as I walked to the first tree with the ripest peaches.
I wasn’t going to be able to reach many without a ladder. I scanned the area, looking to see if Storm kept one hidden anywhere, but didn’t see one visible. The fancy-looking building that sat out to the right of the tree line looked like it was probably a shed. If he had a ladder, it would be in there, I supposed. With these trees, he had to keep one somewhere.
When I reached it, I opened the door, almost afraid it was going to be locked, but thankfully, it was not. Looking around the room, I paused, realizing it was more of an office than a shed. Why would he have an office out here? He had a million rooms in the house he could use. There was a desk, chair, and file cabinets.
Turning around, I saw the ladder leaning against the wall behind the door. Found it.
My gaze slowly scanned the room, and I tried to figure out why he had the desk and file cabinets out here with tools, farming equipment, some wooden crates, and other miscellaneous things that you’d find in a shed. I went over to the file cabinets and started to open one, then stopped. This was not my stuff, and I didn’t need to snoop. I stared at the cabinet and chewed my bottom lip as I debated the moral code here.
