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Without thinking, she shouted, “Stop where you are! I have a gun!”
8
Caleb
Caleb froze, with his hand still on the front doorknob. He held the spare key in his right hand and contemplated slowly backing out of the house. Had Mateo left one of his sisters behind without letting Caleb know? He cleared his throat. “Sophia?”
Footsteps creaked down the stairs a little way into the house. “Sophia is gone,” the voice called out. “You’ll have to visit her later.”
Confusion washed over him. He frowned and peered into the house. There was a small fire flickering in the fireplace. A few lights were on. Someone was definitely still here. He should probably just leave and call Mateo. Maybe it was Isabelle on the stairs, though if the whole family had left for a wedding, that wouldn’t make sense.
He cleared his throat. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. Mateo asked me to stay and help with the animals.”
It was then that a familiar face emerged from the hallway that led to the stairs.
His frown deepened. “You.”
Her surprise was quickly masked into an expression of indifference. “Oh. You’re the one Sophia said would help out with the horses.”
Caleb shut the door behind him and shook his head. “No, I’m the one staying here for a few days so Mateo doesn’t have to worry about the animals being cared for.”
Emily folded her arms across her chest. “No. Sophia asked me to take care of the puppies and said a rancher would come take care of the larger animals. She said I could house-sit.”
He was already in the middle of pulling out his phone when Emily disappeared, only to reappear.
She strode right to him and shoved a piece of paper at him. “There are the instructions. See?”
Caleb glanced at the sheet of paper. There was no indication that he needed to care for the puppies in these instructions, but that didn’t mean anything. “I’m still calling Mateo.” He dialed his friend’s number and then turned away from Emily’s penetrating gaze.
Mateo answered on the second ring. “Caleb? Is everything okay? Are the puppies?—”
“As far as I know, everything is fine, but I haven’t checked on the puppies just yet.” He glanced over at Emily. “Turns out you already have someone watching over them.” He shoved the note into his pocket and took a few steps away from Emily.
“What?”
“Yeah.” Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “Did Sophia, by chance, ask her new friend to keep an eye on the house while you were gone?”
Silence, followed by muffled voices, filled the speaker. Then Mateo got back on the line. “I’m so sorry about this. She didn’ttell me she offered the house to Emily. She knew you were coming to take care of the horses, but that was it.”
Caleb shot one more look at Emily, who seemed intently interested in where this conversation was headed. “What do you want me to do? I can ask her to leave…”
“No, it’s fine. If you wouldn’t mind taking care of the horses as planned, that would be great. And honestly, I don’t know what Sophia was thinking. She should have asked me first. I would rather have someone there who I trust. My sister must be out of her mind.” More muffled arguments.
Caleb lowered his voice. “Wait, you’re not saying…” He shut his eyes briefly, hating that he even had to clarify what was happening. “You don’t want me tostay herewith her, do you?”
“Would you mind? I don’t know who this woman is. All Sophia keeps saying is that she’s great and we can trust her. But you and I know better.”
“Yeah,” Caleb muttered. “We do.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Caleb hung up the phone and turned to face her. “I don’t know?—”
“He wants you to stay… to keep an eye on me, right?” Emily settled back against a nearby wall. “That’s fine. The house is big enough. I don’t think we’ll step on each other’s toes too much.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed back toward the stairs. “Sophia gave me permission to use her room. I’m sure you can figure out which space you want to take over.”
Caleb stared after her, confused and surprised that she wasn’t pushing back on this whole situation. It just further proved his opinion that she should probably not be trusted.
He opened the front door just wide enough to retrieve the duffle bag he’d brought with him. It would more than likely be uncomfortable to spend the next couple of days in someoneelse’s house with a stranger, but if he wanted to learn more about Mateo’s work, this was one way to do it.
