Gray was the color Lila saw every waking moment of her life. The shade did not fluctuate in the light thanks to the damage to her retina—the gatekeeper of visual processing.
The touch of warmth on her face gave her a clue about the day. Sunny and bright on a glittery fall morning with red and yellow leaves everywhere. Magic.
The night and brief morning spent with Damon might have been short, but Lila felt as if an entire season had passed. She felt different. Out of sorts. Eager to hang onto what she knew about her predictable world and also pushing back on the change heading her way. Because change comes in two forms, either dropping clues along the way or sudden and without warning. She didn’t know which one she preferred.
Damon fell into the sudden category. Like sweet disruption in the middle of hell. She didn’t know what to think or how to feel. All she knew was she’d left his house afraid of how much she wanted from him. More kisses. More of his touch. Just more. What those feelings meant, she didn’t know. Prolonged horniness, she thought with a snort.
“So…Damon Harrison,” Maggie said, unlocking her car with a beep and a click.
After everything she’d been through, Lila wasn’t in a mood to talk about Damon and the night they’d spent together. “Yesterday was rough,” Lila said, in a warning tone. “I don’t mean to make you feel guilty, but there was no one else there for me. Given the circumstances, I made the best choice at the time. Wait till we get to my house and I’ll tell you everything.”
“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but you should have seen the way Damon was looking at you.”
“How did he look at me? Like he couldn’t wait to be rid of me?”
“Quite the opposite.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions.” Lila laughed nervously. “We shared something terrible yesterday. A woman died in his arms. His family’s jewelry store was robbed. And then he found me beaten up by the same man who killed Kendra. We commiserated together is all.”
Lila could almost see Maggie’s eyebrows hiking upwards. She reversed the car out of the driveway. “If you say so.”
Lila repositioned the backpack at her feet.
“Did you kiss him?”
“Maggie! Damon is the least of your concerns.”
“I’m trying to find some kind of silver lining in this.”
“The last thing I’d call Damon is a silver lining.”
Maggie laughed. “You might think differently if you could see him.”
“Why don’t you focus on where we’re going to stop for coffee? And breakfast. I’m starving.”
* * * *
The coffee shop Lila and Maggie frequented was tucked in between a posh day spa and specialty tobacco store. Lila was glad they offered a few confections as well, like blackberry scones drizzled with extra icing. Her stomach was on the verge of expressing its emptiness when Maggie found a spot to park while Lila waited.
Their order took a while given the popularity of the café. Soon enough, smells of caffeine, sugar, and melted butter wafted about her. The drive to her house gave Lila a chance to collect her thoughts. Maggie filled her in on the highlights from the weekend, specifically a wedding at one of the wineries. A disappointed note hung in Maggie’s voice as she knew her friend wanted an elaborate, over-the-top big day, but their budget didn’t match her vision. She’d have to be happy with the less extravagant ceremony and reception in a not so great part of town at a low-budget venue. Lila listened as Maggie ran out of things to say.
A few minutes later, the car came to a smooth stop, and Maggie turned off the engine. “Wait.” Her hand flew to Lila’s arm. “Someone—a guy—is approaching your house. It’s…”
“Who?” Lila said, the apprehension rising. Did her attacker dare show his face in daylight? “Are the police here?”
“I don’t see a cop car. Hang on, it’s Jeremy. It’s your cousin.”
Lila unclicked her seat belt, pushed on the door handle with urgency, and flew out of the car. “Jeremy!” she shouted with unexpected tears in her eyes. Up until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she needed her family. How much relief she felt at knowing Jeremy wasn’t far away.
“Lila!” he shouted.
She stood in place as his footsteps pounded closer to her. A tear slid down her cheek despite her huge smile.
Jeremy engulfed her in a hug. His broad, muscular frame took over her body, holding her close and letting her cry. “I am so sorry, Lila. I’ve gotten caught up in an emergency work issue in New York. Everything happened so last-minute and with Arianna out of town, I had to go. I accidentally left my phone at a business associate’s house. I got in this morning and listened to my messages. I got every single one of yours and a couple from Detective Cascade. What the hell is going on?”
A stifled laugh escaped Lila’s mouth. “A lot, actually.”
Jeremy finally grabbed Lila’s shoulders and held her away from him. “Are those bruises on your face?”
Lila raised her hand to her cheek. “It’s not as bad as it looks. He broke into my house, the same guy who robbed Trace Elements and murdered Kendra.”
“I’m sorry,” Jeremy interrupted. “Kendra who and what robbery?”
“Yesterday, a jewelry store was robbed. I was there—the robber took my ring as well, but that’s another story.”
“I saw a highlight of the story on the news. I had no idea you were there.”
“I was,” she said with an exasperated breath, “and the same guy who broke into the store was waiting for me when I got home. He attacked me, tied me up, and went through everything, looking for a note I was supposed to have been given with the ring. My house has got to be a total disaster. He broke things and—”
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Jeremy said.
“No kidding,” Maggie seconded.
Jeremy cleared his throat. “Let’s take this inside.”
“Your neighbor’s sitting on her porch,” Maggie added, guiding Lila up the sidewalk. “She’s all eyes and ears, judging from the look on her face.”
Jeremy put a hand on the small of Lila’s back, helping usher her forward. “Do you need to see a doctor?”
“I’m okay. I stayed with Damon last night and he made sure I had an ice pack and I slept fine.”
“Who’s Damon?” Jeremy said protectively.
“Damon Harrison.”
Maggie stifled a laugh. The three of them walked the short distance from the sidewalk to the front porch. Nobody said a word.
“I’d like to talk to my cousin in private,” Jeremy said the second the front door closed behind them.
Lila groaned. “It’ll be easier if I tell both of you what happened. I don’t want to repeat the story. Living through it once was bad enough.”
“Hold that thought,” Maggie said, hanging back. Her voice was full of emotion as she said, “I can’t believe what he did to your house. Your beautiful home is destroyed. I have to call Gavin.”
Lila and Jeremy faced each other. She gave him what she hoped to be a hard stare. “You didn’t have to ask her to leave.”
“I don’t care about her. I care about you. You’re hurt,” he said in a tight voice. “You said it was the same man from Trace Elements?”
“Yes.”
“This is why I don’t like you living on your own.”
Lila removed her shoes, placing them on a shelf beneath the entryway table. She sighed heavily. “My living alone has nothing to do with my living situation.”
“You need a roommate.”
“We’re not going to discuss that now.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Did you speak to Detective Cascade?”
“I haven’t called him back yet. I wanted to see you first and make sure you’re okay.”
“Gavin’s going to stop by,” Maggie said, rejoining them. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Great,” Jeremy mumbled.
“It’s no problem,” Lila said. “Now, if someone can guide me through the mess, we can talk.”
Jeremy took her arm, and the three of them convened in the television room with Jeremy and Lila sharing the couch. Maggie took one of the chairs facing them. “Coffee and scones are on the table,” she said.
Lila gave the painstaking play-by-play of the prior day’s events, beginning with the back story of her first meeting with Damon. Everything from fear to relief welled inside her as she told them. Where she could, she skipped the more private details to keep some level of dignity intact.
“I wish I’d been here,” Jeremy said, taking in Lila’s account of the events. “I’ve been working so much I don’t seem to have time for anything else anymore.”
“I’m sorry I let you walk into the jewelry store alone,” Maggie added with a somber note. “If I had been with you…if Gavin, Joe, and all the groomsmen knew you would go through this I know they would have ditched the tuxedo fittings.”
“Are you kidding?” Lila protested. “I’m alive and I’ll be fine. There’s nothing any of you could have done differently.”
“You could have died,” Maggie pointed out.
“But I didn’t.” Lila turned to Jeremy. “I told you this started because of that ring your father gave me. Do you know anything about it?”
An impatient sigh filled the space between them. “The ring you described doesn’t sound familiar. I have no idea, sorry.”
“What about your mother’s jewelry collection? Your father gave her some incredible pieces.”
“Arianna has our mother’s jewelry. The only thing I got was an engagement ring from my grandmother.”
“Saving it for the future Mrs. Barrett?” Maggie said with bitterness.
“Yup,” Jeremy said, sounding as closed-off as Damon.
There was something more in their comments—something Lila was too tired to try and figure out. They weren’t usually this short with each other.
She envisioned Jeremy sitting next to her with his cool blue eyes and light brown hair. Both of her cousins each had a classic look with broad smiles and white teeth. Each of them carried themselves with sophistication and Lila knew Maggie thought Jeremy was handsome. The entire Barrett family didn’t do badly in the beautiful department. Even her uncle had worked himself a reputation as a sought-after bachelor among their social scene. He retained his attractive looks into his later years, or so she’d been told.
A thought occurred to Lila and she sat up straight. “Maybe your dad bought the ring for someone else,” she said. “If so, we need to consider that someone else outside our circle knows about it.”
“It’s possible,” Jeremy answered. “We could ask the detective to follow up with anyone he dated, although the last woman he was rumored to be with died last year.”
The idea deflated Lila. The more people involved, the more time the investigation would take. The detectives could spend months and years chasing leads. Her uncle knew a lot of people. The ring could mean something to anyone of them or nothing at all.
“Now, I have to ask you a question,” Jeremy said.
“Go ahead,” Lila said, let down that he couldn’t be more helpful.
“You stayed at the lawyer’s house?”
The judgment wasn’t lost on her. “Damon Harrison’s house. Yes.”
“Arianna dated him,” Jeremy added with an edge of accusation.
“I’ve worked that out, yes.”
“Arianna dated Damon?” Maggie asked, surprised. “You didn’t know?”
Lila shrugged. “Arianna doesn’t tell me everything. Nor do I want to hear every detail of her dating life. Whatever their history, perhaps they didn’t last long enough for Arianna to feel the need to say anything.”
The topic made Lila uncomfortable. She hadn’t thought to ask Damon about Arianna. Then again, Damon wasn’t her priority.
“Well, be careful there,” Jeremy warned. He got to his feet, yawning and stretching.
“I can take care of myself, you know,” Lila said. “This isn’t the time to concern yourself with that.”
“I agree.” Jeremy put his hand on her arm. “I still need to call Detective Cascade back and then I have to go work, but I’ll help with what I can for the next hour. I’ll have to get new locks and come back later to change them.”
“Do you really have to go into work?” Maggie said.
“Yes.”
Lila excused herself, saying, “Make yourself comfortable while I take a shower and change.”
“We’ll get to work,” Jeremy said.
The distance between the first and second floors felt longer, given Lila’s exhaustion. She entered her bedroom and closed the door, leaning back and sliding down to the floor. Bringing her knees to her chest, she let her mind take a break from the attack and the investigation. There, in between the dread, she felt the butterfly-induced sweetness of Damon’s touch. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking of him in a way that made her stomach flutter with desire. It was the worst time possible to let her heart be excited and yet, she wanted to think of little else. Her resolve not to want him had weakened beneath her and crumbled, leaving her feeling like all the structure in her life was about to fall apart.