I hear a car approaching and see that it’s Grady. He gets out of his truck, and I see a couple of people come out of their houses and stop to stare. He walks up the drive, smiling in his deputy’s uniform and aviator glasses. “If you wanted to see me again, all you had to do was call,” he jokes, and I shake my head.

“Guilty,” I say, holding up my hands. “The jig is up. I did all this just to get you to come to my rescue,” I joke with him and laugh as I stand.

“So what happened?” he asks, taking off his glasses and looking around.

“I was walking up the step when I got home, and my foot cracked on glass. When I looked up, I saw that the window over there”—I point at my big bay window—“was busted, and then when I got closer to the door, I noticed that the window on that side”—I point at the other side—“was smashed, too. I called Jacob, and he told me not to go in until you got here.”

“He’s right. Did you hear anything?” he asks, walking to the side of the house. “I’m going to go check the back.” I nod my head and wipe the tear from my eye. When he returns, he says, “You have two more busted windows in the back.”

“Great.” I take a deep inhale and let it out slowly. “Just freaking great.”

“Let’s check out inside,” Grady says. “I don’t think anyone is inside, or they would have left already,” he says, coming up the steps and waiting for me to open the door. I click open the door, and so far, everything looks the same except I see a brown brick right in the middle of the room where my bay window sits. Grady walks around me and picks it up and looks down at it, and he hisses.

I walk over to him and see that it has the word bitch painted in red.

“I’ve been called worse.” I try not to let it get to me. I wonder what everyone would say if they knew I’ve had sex once in my whole life. We walk to the other room, and I see another brick. This time, I pick it up, and I see it has whore painted in red.

“Well, I’m sensing a theme.” I shake my head, and my stomach sinks. The burning starts in my eyes and then moves down to my nose, and I wonder how I can pull off the whole “I have allergies” in the middle of the house. We walk into the kitchen, and I see both back windows with holes in them. One brick has slut, and the other one has nothing.