Page 48 of Saving Her Heart
"They have a key. Or they're picking locks." I check my service weapon, then grab my backup from the safe. "Which means we're dealing with someone more sophisticated than just Brad."
"Valerie?"
"Maybe. Or someone we haven't identified yet."
As we head for the door, my phone buzzes again. Another unknown number.
"Don't—" Kendall starts, but I've already opened it.
It's not a photo this time. Just text.
Unknown: "Nice performance. The next show will have a different ending."
I forward it to the captain, then look at Kendall. "Ready?"
"No."
"Me neither."
We leave the apartment, and I can't shake the feeling that we're being watched even now. In the hallway, in the elevator, in the parking garage. Someone's out there, planning their next move, and we're playing catch-up.
But as Kendall takes my hand, squeezing once before we get in the car, I know one thing for certain.
Whatever comes next, we're facing it together.
Ten years too late, maybe. But together nonetheless.
Chapter 11
Kendall
The next morning, before Jax wakes, I slip out of our hotel room by myself and drive to Rosewood Cemetery. I haven't been here in months—too busy, too overwhelmed, too afraid of the emotions it might bring up.
My grandmother's headstone is simple, just how she wanted it. "Margaret Greene, 1938-2019, Beloved Grandmother."
I sit on the grass beside it, not caring about my jeans.
"Hi, Grandma. I know it's been a while." I trace the letters of her name. "You'd laugh at what's been happening. A goat, Grandma. A therapy goat caused all this mess."
The morning breeze stirs the oak leaves overhead.
"You always said I needed to let people in. That my rules were walls, not protection. I didn't listen. I was so sure that controlling everything would keep me safe." I laugh, but it's watery. "Then Jax showed up with that ridiculous goat, breaking every rule he had, just to help an old woman say goodbye. Just like you would have done."
I pull my knees to my chest. "I miss you. You were the only family I had for so long. But now... but now I have the Walking Ladies who remind me of you and your bridge club. The BadNews Babes who show up even when I push them away. Hudson and Kate, Grace and Kane. Even Gertie the goat, I suppose."
A cardinal lands on the headstone, tilting its head at me.
"And Jax. I have Jax again. Or maybe for the first time, really. We're not kids anymore, playing at love. This is real, Grandma. Terrifying and real and everything you said it could be if I'd just let it. If I’d just forgive him."
I stand, brushing grass from my jeans as the cardinal chirps once, then flies away.
"I love you, Grandma. Thank you for saving me. For giving me rules when I needed them, for taking me in and giving me a home, and for teaching me that sometimes the best things happen when you break those rules."
I kiss my fingers and press them to the stone, then head back to my car. Back to Jax. Back to my chosen family. Back to the life she always wanted me to have.
The kickball field at Hibiscus Harbor Park looks like a small-town carnival exploded. There are at least fifty people here, way more than needed for a casual game. The Walking Ladies have set up a table, complete with a banner that reads "TEAM KENJAX WINS." I want to crawl under a rock and die.
"We could leave," Jax suggests, reading my mortification perfectly. "Say there was another emergency."
