Page 24 of Wolfish
“I am, and I’ll put a sign up saying not for sale.”
Then they ended the call, and Daniel drove her to the shop. While there, he took pictures of her broken jack-o’-lanterns before they unloaded the boxes of Halloween and fall decorations from his SUV. Before she could even start unpacking them, she began getting calls from everyone—all the ladies who had approved her application for the store, and both Darien and Lelandi, who were concerned about her feeling threatened.
Also, Peter, who told her he had deputies scheduled to watch her store and storage unit throughout the night. Brett, who told her he would change the time for seeing her, if she needed a later time, and people she hadn’t even met yet.
“Wow, I didn’t know belonging to a pack had so many perks,” she told Daniel as he cleaned up the broken shards of the jack-o’-lanterns. “Thanks for that.” She opened the boxes containing the Halloween decorations.
“Yeah. We all have each other’s backs.” Then he emptied the decorations from the boxes onto the check-out counter.
“We’ll put those up on the highest shelf where I would need a ladder to reach.” She began making a sign that read: "Personal Items Not for Sale."
He pulled a ladder over to the shelves, and she began handing him the items.
“Your boss is going to fire you for missing work so much.” She worried about him taking off so much time from work.
“Nah. You’re the key to the hit-and-runs and the break-in at your storage unit and the threats to you at your shop. Even if I weren’t dating you, one of us would have been here safeguarding you.”
“Okay. That makes me feel better.” She was amazed by the service they provided here. If she had been back in Fort Wayne, no one would have safeguarded her like this.
Once they finished placing all her special personal decorations on the top shelf, out of reach of customers, he put her sign there, stating they were not for sale. Then Brett arrived.
Perfect. Just in time for picture taking.
Brett took some pictures from outside and several from inside her shop. And then he took some photos of her at the check-out counter, smiling. “Perfect. I’ll develop these and then place them in the ad. Lelandi’s having posters made that will be left off at each business also.
“Oh, wow, that’s great.”
Brett disappeared around the corner, and Selena wrapped her arms around Daniel without warning. "The shop is really coming together, isn't it?" she said, her voice warm against his shoulder. She was nervous about tomorrow and the grand opening, hoping she wouldn’t be overwhelmed or that no one would show up on such short notice.
He enveloped her in his arms and kissed her. “You’ve got a winner.”
She loved how affectionate and upbeat he always was.
She felt a little nervous about going to Daniel's home with him. Should she stay in a guest room if he had one? Or stay with him in his master bedroom if he offered it to her? She wanted to, but she was in unexplored territory here. She never stayed overnight at a boyfriend’s house.
“Do you want to go to my place now?” he asked.
She put some sale signs up for some of her products as an incentive for the grand opening tomorrow. “Yeah. We’re done here.”
Then she got into his SUV and ducked down. He drove for what seemed like forever before he finally pulled into a garage. Did he live way out? Or had he been trying to shake off anyone who might have tried to follow him?
Had anyone followed him?
6
Daniel had been glad he’d cleaned up the place before he’d brought Selena home. He’d done so with the idea that he’d ask her over for dinner. He hadn’t expected to have her stay at his home, but after all that had happened, she had to stay with someone who was with law enforcement. Peter and Meghan would have offered, but he was glad to be the one to do it, and that she had agreed.
He closed the door to the garage, relieved that no one had followed him. Then the doorbell rang, and he had an eerie feeling it was trouble. “Why don’t you wait here for me?”
She nodded and stayed in the car. He went to the front door and found only Peter there with Selena’s bags.
“Thanks, Peter.”
“No problem. Just keep her safe.”
“I will.”
Then Peter left, and Daniel went out to the garage to speak to Selena. “Peter brought your bags. So now the question is, do you want them in the guest room or my bedroom?”
