“You aren’t safe here by yourself, Lillie.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You think I’m the only single woman in this town?”
“Of course not, but?”
“I’m perfectly safe,” she said, although, if she was honest, she had to admit that she was a bit uneasy about facing the night alone.
“Tell me you don’t have a sliding glass door.”
“I do. But it’s got a safety catch on it that prevents it from being lifted off the tracks.”
Thanks to Jon.
Who was probably at her house right now.
And Abraham, too.
A little boy in her home.
She wanted to be there....
“That’s good, at least.”
“Sheriff Richards has increased night patrol,” she said. “He’s got a posse of volunteers, and they have a list of streets to pay extra attention to. My street is on that list.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Bonnie had told her. Having the inside scoop was one of the perks of working part-time for the sheriff’s sister.
Their waitress returned, placing their food and drinks in front of them. Feeling hungrier than she’d realized, Lillie started right in on her salad, paying more attention to the vegetables in her bowl than to her dinner companion.
Kirk asked her about her job. She gave him a brief rundown. He wanted to know if she was happy.
She assured him she was. Unequivocally.
“You practically radiate when you talk about what you do,” he said, watching her cut a cucumber in half.
“I told you how much I loved it when I first started working in the field,” she reminded him.
“I know. But a lot of jobs seem great in the beginning. To still love your career almost seven years into it—you’re lucky, Lil.”
Had he lost interest in advertising? She didn’t care one way or the other.
Kirk was her past. Period. “So, now that you’ve satisfied yourself that I’m safe, you can go back to Phoenix with a clear conscience,” she said as they finished their salads almost simultaneously.
“I’m clearly being put in my place,” he said, his gaze serious.
“You have no place in my life.”
“That’s the problem.”
He hadn’t just said that. He wasn’t looking at her like that.
Lillie’s heart sped up. And stopped. Sped up. And stopped.
She couldn’t do this again.