Page 24 of The Lake House

“It wasn’t him keeping me up, but I had a bit of a scare last night.” I leave her with those words as I walk over to one of the chairs and sit down on it.

Her face is full of confusion as she watches me. “What do you mean you had a bit of a scare last night?”

I shrug, hesitating, but I know I have to fill her in. If I didn’t want to tell her, I would have never brought it up. “As I was leaving the store from work last night, I heard a noise like someone was following me, but when I looked behind me, there was no one there.”

“What? Are you sure?”

I nod. “I thought maybe I was imagining it, but then I heard knocking on my car window and I was sure someone was following me. But again, when I looked around, there wasn’t anyone there. I drove out of there as quickly as possible, but I don’t even remember making it home.”

“Oh my god, that’s creepy. No wonder you couldn’t sleep,” Liv answers.

Nodding again, I say, “Yeah, I’m trying not to make a big deal out of it or anything, but I can’t help but wonder if someone was stalking me.”

Liv takes a sip from her cup and walks over to sit beside me. “I can see why; that would have totally freaked me out. But hey, maybe Mr. or Mrs. Abner were trying to get your attention.”

I know Liv is trying to keep me calm and stop me from worrying, but it’s not helping. After all, it couldn’t have been the Abners because they had already left for the evening. “No, it wasn’t either of them; I was the last one to leave the store.”

She nods in understanding. “Well, maybe it was just all in your mind then. My mind plays tricks on me all the time when I’m alone.”

I finally take a sip of the coffee and then shake my head. “No, I’m telling you, Liv. I heard it. I know I heard…something.”

She considers my words and then says, “I bet it was probably a rock against your window. It was really windy last night.”

Yes, it could have possibly been a rock or something else hitting my window. But it really sounded like knocking. And how the hell would that explain the footsteps behind me as I walked to my car?

“I don’t know… it freaked me the hell out.”

Liv jumps up, causing my heart to skip a beat or two.

“I know what it was!” Liv states, smiling from ear-to-ear like she just solved the world’s greatest mystery.

“Jesus, Liv. You scared the hell out of me.”

She still excitedly tries to make her point. “I bet you think you heard all those noises because of Todd’s text.”

I furrow my brows. “Todd’s text?”

She nods. “Yeah, man. You can’t tell me that didn’t sound creepy-stalkerish.”

I think back to his text message to me from that night.

You may be able to hang up on me and try to keep me away, sweetheart, but I’ll always find my way back to you. This isn’t over. Sleep well, my princess.

I shudder, but manage to get a grip. “Oh, hell yeah… it definitely did sound stalkerish, but I don’t think that was it.”

“Maybe not, but what if it was him?”

“I don’t think so…”

She puts out her hand, motioning for me to elaborate, because obviously, she thinks she’s got this whole thing figured out.

“Look Liv. Todd may be a lot of things. An asshole, a cheater, an abuser, and liar… and so much more. But in all my years of knowing him, I can honestly say he’s never been a stalker. That’s not him. Besides what he did to me, he’s a good guy.”

She gasps, throwing her hand up in disbelief. “Woman, all it takes is one time for a perfectly good guy to turn psycho. You need to listen to more true crime podcasts.”

Satisfied with her answer, she turns around and goes right back to drinking her coffee.

I’m sure Liv is right to a point. Some people turn crazy over one event in their lives, but when it comes to ex-lovers, it’s usually because they want to be with the person who left them, and they’ll do anything—anything—to be with them again.

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