“I’m going to set up a couple of things,” I say. “I’ll call you later.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Casey says, and I nod, turning and walking out of the door. I’m almost to my truck when I hear the front door open and close. I don’t know why I think it’s Kallie, but I also don’t know why I’m disappointed when I turn around and see Casey walking toward me.

“What now?” I say.

“This going to be a problem for you?” he asks, and I wait for him to say something else. “You are too close.”

“I stopped caring when she cut me from her life,” I say. Opening the driver’s door to my truck, I get in, starting it, and then look at him. “I have a job to do, and if I have to protect her, I will. Not because I care, but because it’s my job.”

“Good to know,” he says and turns back and walks into the house. I pull out and feel eyes on my truck, but when I turn back, there is no one there.

Chapter Ten

Kallie

The door closes, and I finally get up and go upstairs. My father calls my name, but I ignore him and slam my door. I don’t want to do it, but I go to the window anyway, and I see him standing out there talking to Casey. I put my hand on my stomach and watch him get in the truck and leave. It’s the same look he had eight years ago when he followed me home, and Casey sent him away.

But he didn’t leave like he is now. No, instead he parked at the entrance of the farm and waited.

“You have to talk to him,” my mother said when she walked into the room. I was standing there in the dress I had picked out for prom. A dress I had taken extra care in picking out because I wanted Jacob to be blown away.

“Mom, I can’t,” I said and turned to look at her, my heart broken in my chest. The tears poured out of me even though I wanted them to stop. I kicked off my boots and slid into my bed. He’d snuck into my room last night and held me all night long, so his smell was everywhere. I laid in the bed and pulled the covers over me, letting myself fall into the darkness with his smell all around me.