Page 57 of Small Town Beast

“Long night,” Tanya replied guiltily. Why couldn’t she tell Gwen the truth about Amari? Or Saverin, for that matter? Gwen would be the last person to judge her.

“I hear you. I was up all hours myself listening to this murder podcast,” Gwen said comfortably. “They don’t just cover murder, though. Kidnappings, human sacrifice, you name it. Did you hear about that girl in Poke Valley? The girl they found chained up in her own basement?”

“Ugh. No,” Tanya shuddered. She didn’t want to think about serial killers. They were actually the very last thing on earth she wanted to think about.

But Gwen was on a roll. “Well, that Poke Valley girl? Some fella broke into the poor lil’ bit’s house and chained her to the radiator. Her ex boyfriend, if you can believe it.”

Tanya’s head felt light. “You got aspirin?”

“I’m all out, honey.” Gwen pushed the sucker to the other side of her mouth and squinted down the alley. “If it ain’t that dog again. He is obsessed with you.”

Sure enough, Tanya’s furry friend came trotting happily up the street, his stump of a tail wagging hard in the air.

Tanya felt a little better. “Here, boy!”

The dog didn’t need calling; he was headed straight for Tanya already. As always he didn’t have a collar; she was now convinced he didn’t have an owner. If only she owned a bigger place, a real house! Then she could adopt him and give him a real name. Amari loved dogs.

Ah…everythingreminded her of Amari.Please be okay…Don’t be hurt. Please God, don’t let him be chained to no damned radiator.

She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Here, boy. Come here!” she whispered to the dog.

With a happy bark the animal bounded up to her. It's stumpy tail made fast circles in the air. She knelt and scratched behind its ears. "Hi lil' boy," she said. "You hungry again?"

To Tanya’s surprise Gwen actually knelt and petted the dog. "Hey, his fur ain’t so matted,” the young redhead said. Cautiously she scratched his stomach with a finger, and the dog rolled over immediately, wriggling in joy.

“I told you he was cute,” Tanya said. “But if you hear Kyle coming...”

“I know.” Gwen looked over her shoulder, but Kyle was busy out front. The girls had a few more minutes on their break before he came to bother them.

“So who was that the other day that came to see you?” Gwen asked curiously.

“Mm?”

“The fella that made you high-tail it out of here.”

Tanya made a face. “My son’s father.”

“I told him my name was Tanya,” Gwen said wickedly. “He got all confused.”

“Thank you.”

“He’s not what I was expecting.” Gwen looked at Tanya sideways, waiting for more details.

“He’s from Rowanville,” said Tanya unhelpfully.

It wasn’t a dream, him coming to my house…She wondered how in the hell Colton had found her. She had tried her best to keep a low profile up here. Now after three years of no contact, suddenly he was popping up at her apartment, finding her at work? Maybe he had read her ad in the paper about Amari. But no; Colton didn’t even know what she had named their baby and he’d never known her last name, either. He couldn’t have put it together just off that.

Word must have got around. Rowanville wasn’t such a big city, after all, and for damn sure Florin wasn’t neither. It was possible someone had made the connection and told Colton.

“I haven’t spoke to that man since before my son was born. I wasn’t prepared— next time I won’t run,” she said grimly.

“He beat on you?” Gwen said, reading between the lines.

Tanya nodded.

“Is he rich?”

“Yeah.”

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