Page 29

Chapter 28

Annette

A s I walked Walter back to the house, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar car driving around the neighborhood. Since it was a gated community, I recognized most of the vehicles or the drivers.

When it pulled into Terry’s driveway, it definitely wasn’t normal.

If he wasn't at practice, I would probably call him to ask if he knew who this chick was or if he was expecting someone.

I would have preferred to turn around and take Walter around the block one more time because I didn’t want a confrontation. Sadly, Walter wanted to go home and kept pulling me. Even with the D-prong collar that was so good at helping to control the bigger dogs, he could still dictate things.

I tried to redirect him one last time by turning him away from the house, but he plopped his butt down and started to whine while looking longingly at it.

Great, just great.

Since I couldn’t bear to hear Walter’s whimpering, I decided to suck it up and see what the hell was going on at the house.

I took a deep breath and pulled up on the leash a little bit to make sure Walter didn’t try to jump at her. Lord knew if she was a dog person, and not everyone wanted to be greeted by a big, playful boy who wanted to give everyone kisses.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

The woman turned around and immediately backed away from Walter. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

Folding my arms, I replied, “This is my home.”

That got the lady backing up and heading for her car. “I’m sorry. I thought this was a friend’s house. I’ll leave right now.”

It unsettled me. As I unlocked the door, I realized I should have taken down her license plate or asked more questions, but that was that.

Trying to forget the woman, I made myself a cup of tea. I was grateful I didn’t have that many dog walks today. I could just wait until it was time to pick Eric up from school.

Dinner was a simple affair since I was still shaken up by that woman showing up at Terry’s door, so I made shrimp tacos. It was something that would be nutritious for the two boys.

As I pulled out the shrimp from the broiler, Terry came in.

He gently pulled me from behind for a hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “How was your day, my love?”

“Eh,” I said with a shrug as I put the tray down on the stove.

He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

It was nice that Terry actually cared about my day, and I was allowed to talk about my feelings and emotions. But there was still a nugget in the back of my mind saying that I should have asked Terry about his day first.

“Someone showed up at the door today. It was weird.”

Looking over at Eric, who was coloring at the island, I shook my head because I didn’t want to get into my feelings in front of him. It was something better to do behind closed doors. Besides, I was being dumb. But with Luke being released from prison and knowing Siobhan had a stalker, anyone showing up unannounced just freaked me out.

“Oh, let me check the ring camera,” he said before he looked at the camera for a little bit. Then, he frowned. “Hmm, I think I recognize her from the puck bunny scene. Weird that she would show up here. I never took anyone to this home. That was only something I did back in Cleveland.”

He seemed so nonchalant about it. Like it was something he had dealt with before.

Natalie’s warning to me rang out in my head. Terry was a playboy, and he loved sex. But it always felt so far-fetched until now.

“Are you sure?” I muttered.

He held my hand. “Absolutely, and I’m sorry. I hope it’s the last of them showing up, but you never know. Most people don’t know I live here. Only the ex-maids and dog sitters know, but I always change the code each time.”

I did one of those uncomfortable giggles. It was just too weird, and I was a little freaked out. For some reason, I thought it might tie back to my ex.

“As long as you swear you know her, and it wasn’t You-Know-Who.”

It was the first time I used his silly nickname for my ex, but it seemed appropriate. If I had known he would smile like a lunatic and get so excited by me using the same nickname, I would have used it sooner.

He gasped. “I’m not the only one calling him Lord Voldemort?”

I swatted at him, but this time, my giggle wasn’t out of discomfort but out of his childish humor.

I gave him the mom look.

He held his hands up and gave me a patented look that said, “I’m innocent,” but it was about as believable as Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver .

He came to me for one more hug. “I swear. If a girl showed up that I didn’t know, I’d go into protective dad mode so quickly that you wouldn’t know what happened. Don’t worry. We’re safe.”

That was the most reassuring thing to hear. He was one of the best dads out there, except when he plied Eric with buckets of sugar.