Oh, it’s been a beauty of a day, all right.

She stood at the window and looked over the cars in the lot, and tried to pretend that it didn’t matter that he was picking up the car that would take him away from St. Dennis, and from her. She tried to block Candice’s sad face from her mind. She tried to forget that Maggie was in town and spending way too much time with Hal. The only good news she’d had that day had been about Gene. That was one demon she could put to rest forever. It was almost surreal to think she would never have to be afraid of him ever again.

“Got it.” Grady was at her elbow, keys in hand. “Thanks, Ness. Let’s go.”

When they got outside he said, “How about I follow you back into town? I need to pick up some things at the Inn.”

“Sure.” She was still smiling when she got into her car, and when she drove from the lot, waving to him as she pulled her sedan in front of the four-wheel-drive SUV he’d just picked up. But her smile faded as she merged into the line of traffic and forced herself to take several deep breaths.

You knew he was leaving today, he told you that right up front. You knew and you let yourself get involved with him anyway, her little inner voice lectured. And don’t make this more than what it was: a fun weekend. A fling. You used to do flings.

“I don’t do flings anymore,” she said aloud.

Well, you had one this weekend. Let it go. Move on.

Traffic on the highway had built up and the stop and go was annoying her, so she turned off the main road and followed the backstreets. He was still behind her, so she meandered down toward the river side of town, not wanting to end the drive. Once the drive ended, once they were back on Cherry Street, they’d be saying good-bye, and she could barely stand how awkward it was going to be. He’d be saying something like, “Well, I’ll call you,” or maybe, “Hey, the next time I’m in St. Dennis…” but only because he’d feel obligated to. Most one-night stands didn’t run well into the next day the way this one had.

As for his claim that he “didn’t do one-night stands”…

“Bull,” she said aloud. “Guys live for the one-night stand. It’s in their DNA.”

And it isn’t like I won’t have anything to think about after he leaves, she reminded herself. There was her trashed shop, for one thing. Her home, which apparently was no longer her castle, since someone had found a way in, uninvited and intending her harm, for another.

Oh, and let’s not forget Maggie.

Was it Vanessa’s imagination, or did Maggie really have her sights set on Hal again?

Dear Lord, please say it isn’t so…

She was not going to think about Maggie. Or Grady, for that matter. Uh-uh. Not going there.

She drove back to her home then, still not thinking about Grady.

He slowed down when she turned into her driveway, then beeped his horn and waved when she got out of her car. Then, incredibly, he kept on going, and drove past.

Vanessa stood on the sidewalk next to Sue’s cruiser, her mouth open. Had he just blown her off?

She knew he had plans, but still. Damn. That was just unbelievably… unbelievable. Not even to say a real good-bye? That “Thanks, Ness” back there at the car rental place… that was it?

Numb, Vanessa went into the house. Sue was still dusting for fingerprints, but she’d finished the back door and had moved into the kitchen.

“Hal called a while ago,” Sue told her. “He said that he thinks you should reconsider and sleep at his place tonight.”

“I’ll think about it.” Knowing full well she wouldn’t, Vanessa went upstairs and into her room.

The bed was a tangle, the sheets and blanket every which way. She stared at it long and hard before pulling everything off and stuffing it all-the blanket along with the sheets and pillowcases-into a laundry basket that stood near the closet door. She took fresh linens from the closet and remade the bed, taking the blanket from the spare-room bed and exchanging the pillows from one bed to the other.

She stood back to assess the newly pulled-together bed. The blanket wasn’t as pretty as the one in the basket, and the pillows were not the ones she preferred, but the important thing was that there was no scent of him there, no valley in the pillow where his head had lain.

“There.”

She took off the skirt she was wearing and hung it in the closet, and changed into her favorite jeans. She’d just slipped her feet back into her shoes when she heard the front door slam.

“Ness?”

And damn it, didn’t her heart flip just a little at the sound of his voice?

“I’m up here,” she called.

“Got my stuff from the Inn… hey, you look pretty.” He grinned as he came in the room. “Got a hot date?”

He crossed the room and kissed her.

He came back, was all she could think of. He came back…

He looked down at her feet. “Do you have any other shoes?”

She was still trying to catch up to the fact that he hadn’t left her after all.

“You are kidding, right? Of course I have other shoes. Shoes are my life.” She walked to her closet, opened the door, and pointed to a row of shelves lined with boxes. “Shoes.”

“I meant, any other kind. Shoes you could walk in.”

“I walk in these.” She turned her foot to show off the pretty brown leather pumps with their four-inch heels. “I walk to work every day in shoes like this.”

“How ’bout shoes you can comfortably walk a distance in.”

“Oh. Well, sure. I have some really cute flats.” She pulled a box from the shelf. “Aren’t these the cutest? I just got these.”

“Let’s rephrase.” Grady’s mouth twitched at both ends. “What would you wear if you went walking in the woods?”

“Nikes?” She frowned.

“You’d wear hiking boots. Where’s your computer?”

“It’s in the kitchen.”

“Come on. We’ll look up the closest athletic equipment store.”

“We don’t have to look it up. Mickey Forbes has a place right outside of town.”

“Great.” He tugged on her hand. “Let’s go.”

“Well, God knows I’m not one to pass up on a shopping opportunity, but I thought you were leaving to go on your hike.”

“I am. You’re coming with me.”

“What?”

“You don’t really think I’d leave you here, with all that’s going on?”

“You want to take me with you?”

“Sure. You won’t mind roughing it a little for a couple of days, would you?”

“How rough is rough?” She frowned again.

“Not as rough as it could be if whoever is stalking you catches up.”

“As much as I’m sure I’d love roughing it with you-there’s no one I’d rather share a tent with-but I can’t leave St. Dennis. I have to go into Bling tomorrow and figure out what I’m missing so I can meet with the insurance company. We’re coming into our busy season. I have to get Bling open as quickly as I can, or I won’t make enough this summer to carry me through the winter.” She sat on the side of the bed and he sat next to her. “I appreciate the thought, I appreciate you offering to take me with you, but I can’t go.”

Grady nodded. “I understand. I probably should have thought of that myself. In that case”-he leaned over and kissed her-“I suppose I better go get my stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“My clothes.”

“I thought you said you just picked them up from the Inn.”

“I did. They’re in the car. If you can’t come with me, I’m just going to have to stay with you. So until this is over, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Think you can handle sharing your space? Unless you’d rather stay at the Inn-”

“What about your trip? The hike you had planned?”

“The mountain will be there when all this is over.” He started toward the steps. “I want to make sure you are, too…”