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No, that didn’t make any sense. The officer who had handcuffed Diego only looked at her once. It couldn’t be him. And when he did look at her, it wasn’t the same stare she felt when she walked down the street.
Call her crazy, but there were different stares, and his wasn’t the right one.
“I’ll be okay. I am just a little on edge,” Margery gently said.
“And that’s okay. If you do need time, let me know. There’s no shame in taking some time off when you were almost attacked.”
But it wasn’t just that. It was the stuffed animals appearing and throwing her off, but Adalisa didn’t know that. She wasn’t going to tell her about it unless she asked, which she had no reason to.
Adalisa placed her hand on Margery’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did anything else happen? I know being attacked would shock you, but you just seem more on edge if that makes sense. You’ve been through some pretty rough things, and I don’t know, you seem spooked? You’re looking around like you’re trying to find something.”
She was? Margery hadn’t even realized that she was looking around.
“And by that shocked expression means you had no idea. So, something is definitely up. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“I’m here if you change your mind. If you don’t, then no worries.”
Adalisa had been there for her through a lot. She was someone she had met after Ethan died, she helped her get through everything. Sure, it was almost two years after he had died, but she knew about the accident that killed him.
“I’ve gotten three more stuffed zebras,” she blurted out.
Adalisa’s eyes went wide as she stared at her.
“All with different words on them but signed the same way. The way Ethan used to sign his letters to me.”
Adalisa’s face softened. Anytime Margery mentioned Ethan, Adalisa always looked sad for her. A lot of people did. They knew how much she loved Ethan, how much she adored him, and they had planned on getting married.
“Oh, honey,” Adalisa gently soothed. “So many people can sign things the same way. It could just be a guy you went out on a date with.”
Margery shook her head.
“I know it’s hard. I know he was the love of your life, but he’s dead. He can’t come back to life. I’m sorry, boo.”
Tears filled Margery’s eyes. “I know you’re probably right. But it’s his sign-off. Nobody else knew about it. He kept it a secret, and I didn’t let anybody else read his notes.”
Margery wasn’t going to tell Adalisa how the last stuffed zebra came into her house. She didn’t know how Adalisa would react.
“I feel his eyes on me whenever I’m outside. Just… What if he did come back to life?”
And now she sounded crazy. She knew that, and so did Adalisa, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying it. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but she felt Ethan’s stare’. Call her crazy, but she remembered what it felt like when Ethan looked at her almost eighteen years ago.
“I think you’re really thinking about this too much. You need a vacation. You can go to my aunt’s cabin. It’s close to the city, and you can get some much-needed sleep. You won’t have to worry about anything. Not a lot of people live there,” Adalisa said. “You can go tomorrow and stay several days.”
“What about my shifts this week?”
It was really tempting to go on that vacation. Margerywas absolutely exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep at home now. Not when the person had been there without being detected.
Maybe this was exactly what she needed. Maybe Adalisa and the police officer were right. She had to be overthinking this. There was no other explanation—the person must have broken into her house twice to put the stuffed zebras there.
Margery wanted to laugh out loud, but she knew Adalisa would look at her strangely. Now, she was trying to convince herself that someone hadn’t broken into her house, that it was a secret admirer and not a stalker, that it wasn’t Ethan’s sign-off.
She sounded crazy trying to convince herself of all of that. But maybe Adalisa was right, and she needed to go to the cabin to relax and figure things out. Maybe it was exactly what she needed. And she was going to take it.
“I’ve got you covered. Don’t worry about that. Tomorrow, go to my aunt’s cabin and relax. You’ve earned it.”
CHAPTER SIX
