Page 13 of Capturing You

“I own a business. The gallery isn’t going to run itself.” Of course, Jewel would be there this morning and could open it, but it was Brooklynn’s responsibility.

And she was no more than a nuisance to Ford. She wasn’t about to stay where she wasn’t welcome.

“What gallery?”

She sighed. “A photography studio downtown.”

Eyes closed, he nodded slowly. “Light and Shadows.”

It shouldn’t surprise her he’d name it, considering there was only one in town these days.

“I have things to do. I can’t just hide here for the rest of my life.”

His eyes opened. “You think well of the people who live in your town, and that’s…fine. Great. I’m just saying, bad guys don’t all wear black and carry sidearms.”

Despite her frustration and fear, she couldn’t help but smile at the image. “I don’t know.” She gave her words a lighthearted tone. “I thought they all had handlebar mustaches they twirled when they plotted evil.”

Ford didn’t smile back. She doubted he knew how.

“You need to think about your next move.”

“I’ll wing it.” But she didn’t walk away. She didn’t want to admit that Ford might be right.

“Sticking your head in the sandisn’ta plan.”

Neither was staying here. Neither was doing nothing, not even calling the police, which seemed to behisplan.

“Your family is local?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Close enough, anyway. But Dad was back in DC. For all his talk of retirement, he traveled as much as ever. Mom was in Paris overseeing the remodeling of their apartment there, and Cici and Delaney had gone with her. Alyssa had moved to Augusta a month before to be near her new boyfriend. Kenzie was in South Carolina, where she’d lived for years.

“You need to go somewhere they can’t find you,” Ford said. “And if everyone in town knows who owns that orange Bronco, then the people following you today could put it together, so that means?—”

“I get it.”

Even if her parents and sisters weren’t out of town, she couldn’t go to them without putting them in danger too.

But the business. The contest. Not to mention all the planning she’d poured into the Old Home Days celebration that would take place in a couple of weeks.

Brooklynn couldn’t leave Shadow Cove at the height of tourism season. It was too important a time. She needed to be close.

She needed to go home.

But if she did, would the men who’d followed her this morning find her?

Ford was watching, studying her face. When she offered no solution, he said, “Make some calls, make a plan. Nobody knows this house is occupied. There’re cameras set up all around the property, obvious enough that anyone can see them. If they’re not afraid to risk getting caught on camera and show up at my door, I’ll deal with them.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

His smirk—he seemed to have a whole arsenal of them—told her it was too late for that.

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll make some calls and…see what I can do.”

Not that she had a clue what that would be.

* * *

Brooklynn finger-combed her hair,which fell in waves around her face. Rather than braid it again, she pulled it into a low ponytail.