What the fuck? Get back together with her old boyfriend? Leo heard the words but didn’t want to believe them. She couldn’t, could she? Or could she, and the tense, upset tone of her voice was because she was going to tell him so?
He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Okay. He wants to get back together. What do you want?”
“I don’t want to get back with him, but I kinda feel bad about the way I ran him out of my office today. He’s not a bad person. Although Powell says she doesn’t trust him. She told me to get a restraining order because she thought he was verging on being a stalker. She scared me more than he did.”
Leo exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding before saying, “Walter and I are on our way.”
“You don’t have to come over here. I’ll be fine. Just talk to me.”
“You’re not fine, and you need some company. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Leo didn’t register how relieved he was Shannon wasn’t interested in her ex until he had loaded Walter into his truck and was on I-5 headed for Vancouver. It took that long for his shoulders to slump back into their natural position and the muscle at the back of his neck to let go of the knot he’d felt appear when Shannon told him her ex wanted her back.
He’d thought about her a lot since their weekend together. Her intelligence and sense of humor. Her eye for art and her enthusiasm for her city. The way she loved Walter and how Walter loved her. The fireworks he created with her in bed.
He’d already planned out the coming weekend. And the one after, and the one after, on into the summer. Not to mention looking forward to working on the installation for the Fourth together.
None of what he planned included an ex-boyfriend hanging around.
When Shannon opened her front door, he could see on her face the strain he’d heard in her voice. “Jesus, baby, you look so worried.” He took her in his arms and held her until he felt her relax against him.
“I shouldn’t have let you do this, but I’m so glad you’re here.” She sounded like she was on the edge of tears, holding on by a thin thread.
“Let’s sit down. Tell me about it.”
She sat in Leo’s arms with Walter’s head on her thigh while she related the story of Jeremy’s unexpected visit. By the time she’d finished, she was noticeably more relaxed.
Until the doorbell rang and she startled at the sound.
“Are you expecting someone?” Leo asked.
“No.” She stood to go to the door but he stopped her.
“Walter and I will get it. You stay here.”
It was a man, a bit shorter and younger than he was, tan, fit looking. “Can I help you?” Leo said.
“Sorry I must have the wrong place. I was looking for Shannon Morgan. I guess she moved.”
“Who’s looking for her?”
“I’m an old friend, Jeremy Vincent.”
“You’re her ex-boyfriend and she doesn’t want to see you.”
“Oh, then you know her.” He looked past Leo, searching the room for Shannon. “And she’s here, isn’t she?”
“She doesn’t want to see you,” Leo repeated.
“You’re mistaken. I hurt her when I left on my vision quest, and I want to make it up to her. You can’t keep me from seeing her.” Jeremy began to push his way into the house but was stopped by a growl from Walter.
“Even my dog knows she doesn’t want to see you,” Leo said. “Leave before I call the police.”
Jeremy stepped back out of range of Walter’s mouth. “Shannon,” he yelled, “I’ll be back. I have to see you.”
Leo slammed the door and threw the deadbolt.
Shannon was shaking when he sat down next to her. “I don’t know what to do,” she said. “Do you really think he’ll turn into a stalker?”
“I don’t know, baby, but I think you better be extra cautious for a while until you can figure it out.” He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. “You can come stay with Walter and me if you’d like.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Don’t wait too long. I don’t know him well enough to know if he’s a threat, but I do know you’re upset by it and I don’t like to see you like this.” He took his arm from around her. “Why don’t I make you a cup of tea while you stay here with Walter?”
“Yes, please. There are some chamomile teabags in the cupboard to the left of the sink.”
A short time later, Leo brought two steaming mugs to the living room.
After finishing most of her tea, Shannon put the mug on the coffee table. She yawned. “It must be working already.” She yawned again. “All of a sudden I’m awfully tired.”
“Adrenaline let down. Let’s get you to bed.” Before she could say what he was sure she was thinking, he added. “To go to sleep, nothing more. I’ll stay until I’m sure you’re asleep and then Walter and I’ll leave.”
“Thank you, Leo. A friend like you is what I needed tonight.”
He finally learned what she wore to bed when he wasn’t there—a cute little tank top and pajama bottoms that hung from her hips. Too bad sleep was the only thing on the agenda for the night. She looked sexy as hell. But sleep was what she needed, so he lay beside her on top of the comforter, fully clothed, rubbing her back until she drifted off.
On his way home, what she said finally made its way into his consciousness. Friends? She thought they were friends? He already knew he wanted more. The question was, did she? And if she was reluctant, what could he do to convince her it was okay to want more, too?
• • •
Shannon woke to a bright shiny object in the sky, something she hadn’t seen in days. The sunshine pouring down elevated her mood considerably. In the light of day, Jeremy didn’t seem like much of a problem after all. Leo and Walter had made the point she’d moved on, had someone else in her life, and didn’t want to see him. Surely Jeremy understood and would back off. She had let the sudden appearance of her ex and Powell’s dire warnings make her jumpy. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Powell, of course, was waiting for her when she got to work. Shannon reassured her, saying everything was fine. Leo had run Jeremy off. Powell allowed as how Studly-Do-Right got better and better with each passing day. Shannon had to agree.
There was nothing more from Jeremy until Friday when a bouquet of flowers was delivered to her office. The accompanying note apologized and asked for a chance to start over. He called an hour after the flowers were delivered, but she was in a meeting. He left a message on her voice mail with his new phone number.
Shannon donated the flowers to a colleague who was having a birthday party for his wife on Saturday and ignored the request to call back. Even if she’d wanted to talk to Jeremy, her meeting had run late and she wanted to get things cleaned up at her desk so she could get out. The backpack in the car with what she needed for the weekend with Leo was waiting.
• • •
When she got back from Portland on Sunday, Shannon found a note taped to her front door. It was another apology from Jeremy. He promised not to bother her again but asked once more for her to call.
She tore the note in half and dumped it in the recycling.
In only a month, she had gotten closer to Leo than she’d been in almost two years of being with Jeremy. The contrast between the two men couldn’t have been starker in ways both big and small. In the past weekend alone, she’d laughed with Leo more than in the whole time she’d been with Jeremy. Leo put her needs and interests on a par with his, often ahead of his. Jeremy never had. Even now, he wanted to get back with her because he had decided it was what he wanted and needed. He’d never mentioned and certainly didn’t seem to have considered what she wanted.
Leo accepted who and what she was without question. For heavens sake, he’d sought out something special for her to drink when they had dinner at her house. Jeremy seemed to have forgotten she didn’t drink alcohol.
There were a dozen more differences. It was a no brainer. She had no interest in going back to what she’d had—or realized now what she hadn’t had—with Jeremy.
Over the next couple of weeks, Jeremy kept his word, sort of. He left a note at the reception desk in city hall a couple times saying he was checking in to see how she was. And he sent a box of what he said were her favorite chocolates on what he said was the anniversary of their first date. It was the wrong day and he had sent his favorite candy, not hers. Leo wanted her to report her ex—who he called “a spineless, sotted shit of a man”—for stalking, but she didn’t feel stalked so she didn’t. Jeremy wasn’t showing up at her work or home unannounced. But Leo insisted the messages and gifts could be interpreted as stalking.
When she said she had a slight twinge of guilt about the way she’d brushed Jeremy off without any consideration of how he might feel, Leo thought she was being much too generous about someone who didn’t deserve her.
It was the only thing they disagreed about and even then, not violently.
The pattern they’d begun in April carried them into May—one weekend at her place, the next at his. When they were in Vancouver, they went to First Friday art openings and took Walter to Frenchman’s Bar so he could splash in the still chilly waters of the Columbia River. When they were in Portland, they biked on the East Esplanade along the Willamette and went to hear local musicians play. Shannon was sure she’d look back on the spring she met Jeremy as the best one of her life.
Even her job seemed more settled. She’d seen the department’s preliminary budget for the year, and in spite of her fears, her job was still there. There were more rounds of negotiations to go but so far, other than the fact she wouldn’t be getting a merit raise, it looked all right.
She should have known it was too good to last. The other shoe dropped just after Memorial Day when Marty Morgan showed up on the doorstep of her home.
She was sure the shock she felt was visible on her face. “Daddy. How did you find … what are you … ?” She couldn’t seem to finish a sentence. She was too busy trying to decide whether she should throw her arms around him and hug him or slam the door in his face.
“Oh, sweetheart. I could find you anyplace. You’re my daughter.” He had a huge grin on his face, the one he always had when he dropped back into her life. The one he also had on his face when he walked away. “Aren’t you going to ask me in?”
“I was just on my way out,” she lied. She hated herself for it, but she was caught so off-guard by his appearance, she wanted some time to collect herself before she talked with him.
His quick once-over, she knew, saw nothing but ratty jeans and an old sweatshirt. “Must not be important. You’re certainly not dressed nicely.”
“Meeting a girlfriend for coffee and I’m late. Maybe we can get together later this week. Are you here for long?” She knew she sounded uptight, but she didn’t want to deal with him right now.
“I’m here for a while. I want to catch up with you. It’s been too long. How about dinner on Friday? I have a couple important things to talk to you about.”
“Dinner? Okay, I guess. Where? What time?”
“How about the restaurant right down the street from you? Is it any good? Do you like eating there?”
“The Grant House? I like it all right. But I need to eat early. I have plans for the evening.” It was her weekend in Portland with Leo, so she’d have to skip dinner with him and arrive late. But she had no intention of missing out on any more of their weekend other than that.
“I’ll make the reservation for six-thirty. Early enough for you?” Without waiting for an answer, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I can’t wait to spend some time with you.”
As soon as he walked down the street to the parking area, she made a big show of closing the curtains on the windows and turning on the porch light then leaving in an obvious manner for the tenant’s parking lot behind the house. She didn’t think her father would follow her to see if she was making up a story, but she drove to a nearby coffee house anyway, went inside, and nursed a latte until she thought it was safe to go back to her house.
Damn. First Jeremy. Now her father. Could her life get any more complicated?