Page 75 of The Last Love Song
“Heather, my sister is back in town briefly in case we find out Megan Bryer’s stalker is the same guy who attacked Gabriella ten years ago.”
Heather’s jaw dropped, her expression stunned before she shook her head and refocused.
“And we call her Gabriella?” she clarified.
“Definitely.” Sam pulled off his aviator shades now that they were indoors. He prowled around the room, checking the blinds and making sure the windows were locked. “Everyone in this town knows her by her birth name. We’ll have a better chance of her stalker contacting her if we all call her Gabriella. Plus, it will keep her West Coast identity more secure.”
Zach had several choice words to say about that, since he considered her security well and truly compromised now that she’d come here. He would not debate it with Ellie for the tenth time, though. Not in front of Heather, when he didn’t have much time left with her.
“I was under the impression that Megan’s ex-boyfriend was hassling her?” Heather combed through her hair with her fingers, making him realize how tousled she looked.
And beautiful.
And how much he wanted her again.
“Did she tell you that?” Zach asked, frustrated with how hard it had been to draw information from Megan.
She’d finally started cooperating with one of Sam’s deputies, but she’d been so embarrassed about the social media page that she had refused to discuss it with her father, slowing down the law enforcement response.
“No.” Heather’s cheeks changed to a deeper shade of pink, reminding him how she’d looked just a little while ago when he’d been deep inside her. “That’s the consensus of the Heartache rumor mill as related at the Tastee-Freez on Saturday night.”
“Have you seen her since the news came out?” Ellie asked, sliding a purple crystal pendant back and forth along a silver chain. She settled onto a lopsided futon in the lounge area.
Heather shook her head. “No. But I’ve heard she’s still working her hours at the Owl’s Roost and going to school, so she hasn’t been hiding.”
“That’s good.” Ellie nodded, but Zach knew his sister well enough to know she didn’t think it meant much. “But I head up a bullying victims’ support group online, and I’ve seen a lot of people go through the motions of everyday life while they’re growing more and more depressed. It always helps if girls in these situations have friends and mentors checking on them.”
“Absolutely,” Heather said. “She’s told me before that music is therapeutic for her, so that makes it easy. We can play for a while.”
While the two of them discussed music as therapy—something his sister had studied for her support group—Zach worked his way over to Sam. The man stood with his back to the wall so he could see all the windows and the entrance.
“Have you told her yet?” Sam asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“I was just about to when Ellie started banging on the door.” Zach didn’t need to ask Sam what he was talking about—hiswhole purpose in seeking out Heather had been to tell her that he’d tracked the missing money from the town coffers. Now he remembered!
“You were just about to.” Sam didn’t smile. But since his usual demeanor tended toward fierceness, Zach could tell he was amused.
No doubt they all needed a break from the real-world problems they’d been tracking.
“I hadn’t seen her for a whole week. We had other things to discuss. Not that I owe you an explanation.”
“You have a habit of delaying my press conferences,” Sam observed. “And I would like to show the town that I can do something right.”
Now it was Zach’s turn to be amused.
“I had no idea you cared what anyone thought.”
“That’s me. Full of surprises.” Sam returned to his usual scowl. “I’m sleeping at your house as long as she’s in town. You know that, right?”
The “she” in that statement was obvious. But then, he and Sam went back so long they didn’t require a lot of words. His friend had been Ellie’s—Gabriella’s, he reminded himself—self-appointed protector for a long time.
“Of course.” Zach nodded. “How’s that going to go over with Isabel?” He knew Sam had his eye on the waitress at the Owl’s Roost, along with half the rest of the men in town under fifty.
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. But you’ve got the best security in town. I’m having one of my guys follow us when I bring her home. Make sure you text me before you come in so I don’t, you know.”
“Shoot me?”
“Better to be safe.” Sam grinned for real this time. “Gabriella?” he called. “Are you ready to go?”
