Page 8 of Out to Get Her
“He remembers you.”
Erin spun around and gripped her keys in her fist, thankful she hadn’t tucked them away or placed her only potential weapon on a table out of reach. But she quickly relaxed when she saw her intruder.
“Zach.” She released a heavy sigh of relief. “You scared the crap out of me.”
He shrugged. The tiny watering can in his right hand caught her eye as it rose and fell with the motion. “I told you I’d be here.”
“Yeah, in general. But I didn’t think you werein the house. Like right at this moment.”
Zachary Hebert lived a quarter mile down her grandfather’s little country road. His family had lived there all his life, long before Erin had moved in here.
His family had always been close with Grandpa, checking in on him, stopping by for coffee, or whatever people did out here. But his parents were both gone now. His mom had died of cancer when they were in high school, and his dad had remarried and moved to Texas a few years ago. Zach kept the house and apparently kept up the tradition of checking in on Grandpa.
Zach had found her number in Grandpa’s phone and was the first to contact her. Making that the second worst day of her life.
“Sorry.” He ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Didn’t know you’d be in today. Been coming every evening after work to check on Marty and water the plants.”
“Right. Thanks.”
She wanted to tell him he could have let the house plants die for all she cared. But doing this seemed important to him. His expression told her he took this responsibility very seriously.
He looked almost exactly as she’d remembered. Slightly taller than her, but so was everyone else. Muscular, but soft. Farm muscles. And dark eyes most people couldn’t read. But Erin always could.
He was a couple of years younger than her, but when she’d first moved in with Grandpa, Zach had been her only friend. The only person in town who’d talk to her. Everyone else was afraid she was cursed or something. Like they could catch her dead parents or her tragic tale.
Other than that, she and Zach never had much in common, and the friendship didn’t last into high school. Erin had only cared about art and, later, making out and getting high. Zach had cared about chores and homework and serious stuff. He’d been a nice kid, and she’d liked him more than she’d liked most people around here. They’d just grown apart over the years.
She was glad to see he looked good. Healthy? Happy maybe?
He glanced around the room. “I should go. Let you get settled.”
Settled? She didn’t plan on staying one second longer than she had to, so there was no need to get settled.
But she sure as hell didn’t want to make small talk about the only thing they had in common at this point. Her dead Grandpa. Their dead parents. Death, death, death. They could form a little death squad.Thatsounded fun.
The bird let out a high-pitched tone, mimicking something obnoxious in this house that she would soon discover.
“Is there anywhere else to get food around here? I’m sure there’s nothing edible left in that fridge, and it seems I’ve lost my go-to sandwich fix.”
“You heard about Addie’s then.”
“Yeah, I stopped for gas and saw smoke, so I walked over. Not too bad, but looks like it’ll be closed for a while.”
“You didnotwalk your butt over to the scene of a fire.”
Erin cringed. “I kind of did. But Sam warned me Addie was on a tear.”
“Ah, so you’ve met Captain Tight Pants.” He fought back a way-too-proud-of-himself grin.
“Sergeant Tight Pants, I believe.” She grinned with him. “And yes. Yes, I did.”
Zach gave her a sly, sideways smile. “I remember that look.”
“What look?”
She didn’t have a look. Did she?
“You, Erin Sonnier, aresmitten.”
