Finding Home (29 page)

He knew he should ignore them. Ignore
her.
But he couldn’t help imagining her sipping a cup of coffee, relaxing after a long day, her hair spilling over her shoulders in silky curls.

“Forget it, and keep walking. She’s made it very clear she wants nothing to do with you.” But even as he muttered the words, he was walking toward her house. They
were
neighbors, after all, and they had been friends. Was it really so wrong to check in with her, make sure everything was okay?

He hoped not, because that was exactly what he planned to do. He rang the doorbell then stood so that Shauna could see him.

“Who’s there?” she called out as she had the previous night, but this time her porch light was on, and he was sure she already knew.

“It’s Levi.”

There was a heartbeat of hesitation before she responded. “What are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d stop by to say hi. Isn’t that what neighbors do?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve had a neighbor.” The door opened and Levi’s breath caught, his heart skipping a beat. Shauna wore faded jeans and an oversize T-shirt, her hair a mass of wild curls, her face free of makeup.

And she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Too bad she was looking at him like he was slime.

“Hi.” He figured that couldn’t get him in too much trouble, and Shauna rewarded him with a smile.

“You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“I’m enchanted. You look beautiful, Shauna.”

“Flattery again?”

“The truth. Again.”

“I thought you just came to say hi.”

“That was before I realized how beautiful you look in jeans and a T-shirt.”

“How about we change the subject?” she responded, her cheeks bright pink.

“To?”

“Whether or not you came over here to convince me to have dinner with you.”

“I know you well enough to know that you don’t change your mind very often.”

“You
knew
me, but that was a long time ago.”

“Does that mean we
are
going to have dinner together?”

This time she laughed, stepping aside and gesturing for him to enter. “I guess as long as you’re here, I may as well feed you. Unless you’ve already eaten.”

“I was planning on making myself a sandwich, but whatever you’re cooking smells a lot better.”

“Chicken stew with dumplings. It’s my grandmother’s recipe. Pure comfort food.”

“Has it been the kind of day deserving of comfort food?”

“It was an entire weekend deserving of it, and today wasn’t any better.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I want to eat. Then I’ll decide if I want to talk.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked into the kitchen.

Chapter Seventeen

L
evi followed, inhaling the rich aroma of chicken stew and the subtle scent of vanilla that seemed to cling to Shauna.

“Did you just get home?” she asked as she pulled bowls from a cupboard.

“Yes. How about you?”

“I’ve been home a while. This kind of food doesn’t happen in a minute.” She smiled as she spooned stew into a bowl, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Here, let me do that.” He took the bowls from her hands, filling them quickly and setting them on the table.

“Thanks. I feel like I’m moving in slow motion today.” Shauna pulled silverware from a drawer and sat at the table, her face pale, her eyes shadowed.

“You had a long weekend.”

“And a horrible day.”

“You were going to tell me about that.”

“Was I?”

“Why not?”

“I’m sure if I think about it long enough I’ll come up with a reason.”

“Don’t think. Talk.”

“Fine. Krista came into the classroom and asked me to have one of my students pack up his things and then bring him to her office. When we got there, the school counselor was there with the sheriff and a couple of people I’ve never seen before.”

“The sheriff? Sounds like your student got himself into trouble. Maybe he had something to do with what happened to you this weekend.”

“Nicolas is a shy, sweet little boy. I don’t think he has a mean bone in his body.” She stirred her stew, but didn’t eat any. She’d said she’d changed, but she’d done the same thing when she’d been a teen worried about friends or grades or parent trouble. Picked at her food and mulled over the problem until she’d found a solution to it.

And Levi found himself doing what he’d always done, reaching across the table and covering her hand with his, smoothing her knuckles with his thumb. “Did you ask Kristen what was going on?”

“She just told me that it would all come out eventually. I’m sure Nick will be fine, but he looked so scared. I felt like I was throwing him to the wolves.”

“You were doing what you had to. No one can fault you for it.”

“Maybe someone does. Maybe that’s what everything that happened this weekend was about.”

“What do you mean?”

“It can’t be a coincidence that Nick was pulled from my class days after I was robbed and my classroom was trashed.” She stood, walking across the room and staring out the window.

“You think someone wasn’t happy with how you were treating him and decided to lash out?”

“I don’t know what I think. I just know that my life was predictable and easy, and now it’s pure chaos.” She turned to face him again, leaning her hip against the counter, her red hair falling over her shoulders just as he’d imagined it would, her eyes deep sapphire blue.

She was breathtaking. Levi stood, crossing the room without thought, without any real plan.

“Am I part of that chaos?” His hands slid around her waist, and her pulse raced in the hollow of her throat. If she’d told him to leave, he would have. If she’d pushed him away, he would have gone without an argument. But she did neither.

“I wouldn’t call you chaos. I’d call you trouble,” she said, but there was no heat in her words. He leaned down, did what he knew he shouldn’t, his lips touching hers.

And it wasn’t nearly enough.

She sighed, pulling him close, and he was lost just as he’d been when he was young and too foolish to know a good thing when he found it.

A phone rang, and Shauna pulled back, her eyes wide with surprise, her cheeks pink. “I think you’d better go.”

“Because we kissed?”

“Because I need to answer the phone. I’m sure you can let yourself out,” she said, and then turned and ran from the room.

Chapter Eighteen

L
evi had kissed her.

Worse, she’d kissed him back.

Shauna paced her bedroom, her mind racing with a million thoughts—none of them pleasant. If the phone hadn’t rung, would she have had the good sense to throw Levi out? She wasn’t sure, didn’t dare to speculate.

She wanted to blame stress on her lapse in judgment. But the truth was, Levi had a way of making her forget all the reasons why getting involved with him wasn’t a good idea.

“Just give me a clue, God. That’s all I want. Some hint that will help me understand why You’ve brought him back into my life.”

But God didn’t work that way, and all Shauna got was more silence.

Frustrated, she walked to the kitchen, leaving the light off as she grabbed a bag of cookies from the cupboard. Light was showing from the Harrison house again—from
Levi’s
house. If she were a little braver, she’d turn on her light. Let him know she was awake, too.

But she wasn’t brave.

She was a big chicken. A chicken eating chocolate chip cookies at midnight because she was too afraid to admit she was falling for a guy who’d already broken her heart.

“You are not falling for him,” she said, tossing the cookies onto the counter, disgusted with the train of her thoughts. Three days ago, she hadn’t even remembered Levi existed. Okay. She’d
remembered
him. But she hadn’t spent anytime thinking about him.

Much
time thinking about him.

Now it seemed she couldn’t keep him from her thoughts.

Something scratched against the back door, the sound so unexpected, Shauna froze.

It came again.

This time more defined, as if someone were working at the lock, trying to open it.

Was someone out there? Maybe the same someone who had held a knife to her chest and trashed her classroom?

She wasn’t going to wait to find out. She grabbed the phone, lifted it to her ear and heard nothing. The line had been cut, and whoever was outside was still working at the lock. Scratch. Scrape. Scratch.

How long would it be before he made it in?

Did she have time to get her cell phone from her room?

Was it even charged?

Something slammed into the door, and nothing mattered but getting out. Now.

She ran for the front door, heard wood cracking behind her. She should have grabbed a knife, but it was too late. She could feel cold wind blowing in from the back door, could feel terror clawing up her throat. She didn’t dare scream, didn’t dare do anything but race across the living room.

She’d left the fireplace poker in the car, and her keys were in her purse in her room. There was no time to get it. No way did she want to be trapped in her bedroom with a madman.

She fumbled with the lock on the front door, managed to open it on the first try, and threw herself out into the cold black night.

Chapter Nineteen

S
hauna’s feet slipped on the porch boards and she nearly fell.

Stay on your feet. Keep going!

The thoughts shouted through her mind as footsteps pounded on wood flooring behind her. Her pulse leaped, adrenaline spurring her on as she jumped down the porch steps, stumbled again. She had to go faster, had to make it to Levi’s house. She could feel her pursuer closing in, feel his hot, panting breath on the back of her neck, and her hair stood on end.

She screamed, all the terror she was feeling spilling out as someone grabbed her shirt and yanked her backward. She jerked free, screaming again, her body cold with terror.

“Shut up!” The words hissed out as Shauna was yanked back again, the sound ugly and mean and feminine.

A woman.

Shauna didn’t have time to wonder what that might mean, didn’t have time to think about who it could be. Levi’s house was just yards away, and she ran toward it, desperate in a way she’d never been before.
Please, God, let me reach it.

Something slammed into her side, the force so great, Shauna flew sideways. She tried to scream, but the sound caught in her throat, pain searing through her, making it difficult to breathe, to think, to fight.

She fell, barely feeling the ground as she landed. And then the woman was on her, pressing something against her throat. A piece of wood? A baseball bat? Shauna tried to claw free, but the first blow had knocked the breath from her lungs and darkness was already edging in, stealing her away.

And she knew she was going to die. Right there in her front yard, just feet from safety and from Levi.

Someone shouted, but Shauna could barely hear past the pulse of blood in her ears. There was a flurry of movement, a muffled scream, and she was free, air flowing into her burning lungs again.

She coughed, gagging as she tried to sit up.

“Stay down, Red, until we know what’s what.” Levi pressed her back, his touch gentle, his voice tight.

“Where is she?”

“The woman who was trying to choke you with a baseball bat? Out of commission.”

“You killed her?”

“Knocked her out. She didn’t give me a choice.” He brushed hair from Shauna’s cheek, and she was sure his hand was shaking.

She grabbed it, squeezing gently as she struggled to a sitting position. The woman lay a few feet away, a baseball bat on the ground nearby. Her face was familiar. Not a friend, but someone she’d seen recently. Someone who’d sat in her classroom just a few days ago. Shauna leaned close, sure she must be mistaken, that the woman unconscious on the ground wasn’t the same one who’d told her how much her son enjoyed being in Shauna’s class.

“Do you know her?” Levi asked, the sound of sirens nearly drowning out his words.

She did. What she didn’t know was why Nicolas Samuels’ mother wanted her dead.

Chapter Twenty

L
evi had never been good at waiting, and waiting for the doctor to finish examining Shauna was torture. He glanced at his watch, frowning. She’d been in triage for a little over an hour. What was taking so long?

“Levi?”

He turned, saw Shauna walking through the double wide doors that led from the treatment area. She was parchment pale, dark bruises on her neck standing out in stark contrast to her pallid skin.