Page 49 of Out to Get Her
Erin sighed and finished closing the containers and stacked them all beside the couch.
“I was wondering when you’d get to that. Of course, everyone knows I went there last night. Nothing slips by without notice in this town.”
“You think Addie wasn’t gonna gloat about her little plan?” His grin faded. “She was real worried about Sam. Lot of people were. How was she?”
“Upset,” Erin said. “At first.”
“And then?”
Erin gave a little grin of her own. “And then she wasn’t.”
He rubbed his hands together with glee. “Details. Gimme details.”
She hit him with a couch pillow on the side of the head. “You’re still the worst, you know that?”
“I do know that. Now tell me what happened. I mean, not the detail-details. Just… you know… more!”
“Not much, honestly. I met Dexter. We ate what Addie sent. Had a beer. She had two. We talked a bit. Then I left.”
He eyed her appraisingly. “What did you skip?”
“Fine. I kissed her before I left. You happy?”
“Ec-freaking-static.”
And he was. It was one of the things she’d always loved about being friends with Zach. He was genuinely happy for her whenever the rare gift from the universe came her way. No possessiveness. No jealousy. No angsty-dude-pining-for-the-town’s-lesbian bullshit. It was an honest-to-goodness friendship. And she didn’t have a good answer why she’d let it slip away all these years.
“So, what’s the chance you get her to come here? Or you stay with her instead of being here by yourself? To ease my worries, since I know you don’t give a rat’s butt about your own safety.”
“Zero. I’m lucky I got a kiss out of that. And it was all the beer anyway, I’m sure. No way she’s moving that fast,” Erin said. “Besides, it’s fine.”
“Erin, it’s not fine.”
“Listen, I know the universe has it out for me. But it’s not chasing me out of this house. I finally dragged myself back here, so it’s gonna take a lot more than a dead guy and a flat tire to send me packing before I’m ready.”
And she wouldn’t be ready for a few more days. Not until the storm passed and she at least finished the account transfers and settled bills for the next couple of weeks. Then she could go back to work for a while, and hopefully by the time she returned, she could put this house on the market.
“Still stubborn as ever.”
“You know it.” Erin reached over to the side table and grabbed the stack of bills and checkbook she’d put there earlier. She wrote out a check to the utilities company and set the cable bill aside to call and cancel tomorrow. Then, she licked the envelope shut. “Do you know where he kept the stamps?”
Zach narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. “Not sure. Want me to check the junk drawer in the kitchen?”
“Yeah, thanks.” But she had a sinking suspicion it wasn’t in there. “Doubt you’ll find it there, though. Grandpa was pretty old school.”
“I mean, keeping stamps in a junk drawer is kinda old school,” he called out from the kitchen over the rumbling of who-knows-what in the drawer. “And new school. Isn’t that where everyone keeps their stamps?”
She had no idea where most people kept anything. Her own organizational systems for everything except her jewelry-making supplies was… well, not exactly organized. Her roommate kept track of most of the bills and made a list of what Erin owed each month. Then Erin wrote a check for it all made out to her roommate. It was the easiest method for everyone involved.
So she had no idea where the stamps were in her own apartment, much less where her grandpa kept them. But she did remember his rather peculiar system for stashing important things.
Erin walked down the hall to her grandfather’s bedroom and stood in the doorway.
Okay, Erin. You can do this.
“Not in here,” Zach hollered from across the house. “Did he have a desk or something?”
“I’m back here!” she called out, still standing in the doorway.
