Page 45 of Sunflower

I was well into the fifth chapter when I felt someone approach. There had been a couple of times when a car would slowly pull to a stop in front of Erin’s car, and just like I’d done with the first woman, I shook my head and apologized to the driver that this spot wasn’t going to be for them. I expected this to be something similar, but it wasn’t a car this time; it was a man on foot.

Clear, icy-blue eyes pierced mine, peering out from underneath a heavily furrowed brow. I couldn’t say that I could blame him. Wandering through a crowded shopping complex on Black Friday would make anyone frazzled.

Pausing in his stride, he raised an eyebrow, lifted something from his pocket and shook it. “Hey, man. Got a light?”

My eyes focused on what I could now tell was a pack of cigarettes in his hand. I shook my head. “Sorry mister, I don’tsmoke.” With my duty now done, I bent my head forward again to keep reading.

I barely got two sentences in before I realized the guy was still standing there in front of me. Slowly, I raised my head to look at him with a confused squint. “Do you need something else?”

He scratched his clean-shaven chin before pointing at me. “I think I know you.”

That was going to be highly unlikely, as the man standing in front of me was a middle-aged business person in a soft gray suit. “I don’t think so.” I purposely looked down at my phone again to keep reading, trying to emanateplease fuck off nowvibes.

They didn’t work.

“Yeah, yeah. Idoknow you.”

Sighing, I looked up again to take him in. Dark, but graying hair that was trimmed short at the back and sides. Neat eyebrows, average nose, straight lips that were neither too thick nor too thin. No age or laugh lines around the corners of his eyes or mouth. Plain white shirt with a light blue tie. His suit was neatly pressed and matched with a pair of black leather dress shoes.

This was very definitelynotsomeone I would know. Even though he gave off completely average vibes, there was enough wealth to what he was wearing andhowhe was wearing it that I knew he was far and away out of my league financially. There would be no reason for either of us to know the other.

“Sorry, mister. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” I said, trying again to be dismissive but polite.

“No, I’m sure it’s you.” He narrowed his eyes as he studied my face. “Joey Miller, right?”

Okay, thosefuck offvibes I was putting off before morphed violently intofreak outvibes. With a frown, I looked down at my phone and exited out of my book and locked my phone so I couldclick on a new emergency call if things got any more fucked up and weird. “Who wants to know?”

“I thought it was!” He smiled at my response, but it didn’t reach his eyes, which only ratcheted my worry higher. Without a care in the world, he wandered over and leaned on the fence beside me. “How are you going, man?”

Immediately, I stood up from the fence and took a step away from him. How the fuck do I play this? “Uh, fine?”

“George saw you get approached by a US agent…”Callum’s words from the other night appeared in my mind. Could this be what George was referring to? The guy standing in front of me certainly gave off government worker vibes. The tight tension I was feeling eased just the tiniest amount from the thought that this was nothing to worry about, but it didn’t disappear altogether because why on earth would someone approach me likethis?

“Aw, you don’t remember me. That’s a shame.” Sticking his bottom lip out ever so slightly, he pouted at me.

The slight unease I was feeling was still simmering, because the emotions playing on this guy’s face felt entirely forced. There was absolutely nothing natural about it, like he was playacting at being friendly.

It was honestly rather unnerving.

“We met through Amelia,” he added confidently.

Yeah, but no. I wasn’t buying that at all. And if wedidmeet through Amelia, that was a strike against his nature, as far as I was concerned. “Sorry, mister. I can’t say that I remember. When was that?”

“Oh, you know,” he said, like I was being ridiculous and should have known exactly what he was talking about. “That thing, at that place. It’s a pity you two broke up. You were good together.”

Okay, clearly, he knew enough to ring alarm bells, but not enough to know that Amelia and I were horrible together.Superficial knowledge at best if he’d gathered info recently, as almost everyone who currently knew either of us could see that we were far better off apart than together. Maybe he’d done research by Amelia’s old social media posts.

“Yeah. Pity,” I said vaguely, taking another step away from him, shifting my stance to turn away from him and run for the proverbial hills. “Sorry, man. I gotta go.”

He tilted his head to the side, shrewd eyes staring at me as he carefully and very obviously put his hands into his pockets. “No, Joey. We still have so much to talk about, and you’re going to leave your stepmom’s car sitting here unprotected?”

Stopping in my tracks, I slowly turned back to face him, my jaw clenched and the grip on my phone fit to breaking.

“And on Black Friday, too. Anyone could damage it, you know. Or get it towed.” He let his eyes slide lazily over the silver car in question that was sitting innocently in front of us both. “Such a fine car for a fine-looking woman. You wouldn’t let anything happen to it now, would you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him as I slowly and purposefully raised my phone and typed 911, hitting connect just before I lifted it to my ear. “Whatever, stranger danger. It’s just a car.” I turned away and started walking back to the center as I waited for the call to connect.

When I finally realized that I couldn’t hear any ringing, I slowed my pace enough to look at the screen to find that the call wasn’t connecting for some reason. I tried again, looking to my left and right before I picked up the pace again.

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