Page 66 of Caught Stealing

Chapter Twenty-Six

Charlotte

Monday rolls around too fast considering I’m still exhausted from the carnival. I hate that I won’t see Andrew all week except for lunch tomorrow, but I had a great day at church and choir practice, followed by an amazing day at school when we discovered we earned way over our target from the carnival. I’m floating on a cloud when I receive a message from Andrew that he’s been totally cleared to play. If only I didn’t have three parent teacher conferences tonight. I sigh and set my phone aside, waiting for the first set of parents to enter.

As suspected, the night drags on a bit, but I’m pleased that the parents I meet with are all on board with my recommendations for their children. With half of the class lagging behind, I’m happy to know they plan to help their children with the more difficult work. It isn’t as if I think math should be fun for everyone, but they still have to pass. They might as well put in the work.

I glance at my phone once more and note that even if I rushed, I’d never make it to Andrew’s game on time. I wonder how he’s doing, but since this game isn’t televised, I won’t know until after. I won’t even get to go out to celebrate with him since I have to get up early for work.

After cramming everything into my bag, I hurry to my car with the hope that I can at least get home at a decent time and call Andrew. Of course, I don’t take Savannah’s evening traffic into consideration, and find myself enjoying a break at every red light between the school and my side of town.

“Oh, come on,” I mumble. Ginger is going to be so upset with me when I get home, if she hasn’t already left me a present on the floor. My phone rings and I almost leap out of my car window. On the dash, Andrew’s name pops up so I accept the call. I’m only sitting at a red light anyway.

“Hey, how did it go?” I ask and hold my breath, praying he didn’t jump back into it too soon.

“Well, I’m a little sore and didn’t play as well as I would have liked, but we won.” His tone is light and hopeful, which brings a smile to my sour face.

“I’m so happy to hear that. I wish I could have been there, but I’m sure you were amazing. It stinks this game wasn’t televised.” I take the turns to my neighborhood and finally pass through the gate. The street lights flicker on as I turn onto my road and I note that it’s already nine-thirty.

“I’m hoping you can make it to the next one. The ladies asked about you. Jess was particularly disappointed you weren’t there, but I did manage to snag you the jersey you wanted.”

My timed floodlight comes on as I pull into my driveway, illuminating my way. Ginger stares at me from between the curtain panels at the bay window, her whole body wiggling with excitement.

“Well, I can definitely make it to your Saturday game and I might have invited my sister and her family along. We don’t get much time together. Is that okay?” Really, I needed an excuse to introduce him to my sister in person and find out how he fits into the flow of our family.

“The more the merrier. I’ll pick up some extra tickets. I thought I’d tell you I’m heading home. I’m too tired to go out to celebrate tonight, and I’m not really interested in going without you anyway. Besides, I think Goblin is angry that I’m not home much lately.”

I’m about to agree that Ginger likely feels the same way and we should get together for a doggy play date when I notice something is off in my backyard. It’s lit up more than it should be and I hear the echo of someone shuffling around on the porch even from where I stand in the front walkway. Against my better judgement—honestly, it could be a murderer in my yard—I push open the gate door. I take two steps into my yard and someone bulldozes around the corner right into me.

The scream that escapes my body could wake the dead and my phone goes flying. I don’t know where it lands, but I could not care less. I’m about to die, and all I can think about is how stupid it was to walk back here alone in the dark. Even having Ginger with me would have been the intelligent thing to do, but no, I had to rush back here to see what shenanigans my murderer was up to before taking me to my doom

“Hey, hey, it’s okay!” A male voice breaks through my screaming, which does not seem to have disturbed my neighbors in the least. Good to know.

The man releases me and steps back with his hands up in a defensive position.

“Rory? Are you crazy!” Shouting seems like the most logical thing to do and it finally alerts one of my neighbors that something is amiss. I smack at Rory repeatedly, but it doesn’t slow my racing heart.

“Charlotte?” my neighbor yells from his second story bathroom window. “Are you all right?”

I wipe sweat from my forehead and take a breath. “Yes. I’m all right. I’m sorry, Mr. Watkins. I didn’t know anyone would be here and it nearly scared me to death.” I glare at Rory, but it isn’t likely he sees it in the darkened corner of my yard.

“Should I call the police?” Mr. Watkins sounds more annoyed than worried.

I almost tell him to call 911. That would serve Rory right for sneaking onto my property to…what? Hide out and scare ten years off of my life? “No, that won’t be necessary. I’m sorry to disturb you. Everything is fine.”

Mr. Watkins doesn’t seem convinced but he nods and disappears back into his bathroom, most likely to watch me from the window. I briefly wonder if this encounter will find its way into our neighborhood news flyer. It’s fine, though, because Rory is just about to leave and there won’t be much to gossip about.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss but it’s all I can do not to turn into a screaming maniac. This is too far. It was bad enough he showed up at the carnival Saturday, but to creep into my yard and scare me to death is a whole other level of nope.

“You said we could talk, and I wanted to do something nice for you.” His dark hair falls into his face, and unlike his cheek kiss weeks ago, I manage not to fall into told routines and brush it from his forehead. “I knew you’d probably be hungry after your meetings so—”

“How did you know I had meetings?” I snap.

Rory blinks a few times as if I’m the one who has lost her mind. “You always have meetings the last few weeks of school before summer break. Don’t you?”

“You remembered?” Somehow, he has managed to lure me deeper into my yard. The suspicious glow I spied from my driveway now makes sense. He’s strung up thousands of twinkle lights around my porch and the picnic table is set for two with my favorite foods. It’s romantic, for sure, but we’re not dating. We’ll never be dating again, and it’s too little too late. If he had never been caught kissing other women, then this would have been the sweetest gesture, but now it just…hurts.

Rory motions toward the table. “Yeah, I remembered. Lottie, it isn’t like I never paid attention to you.”

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