“Yeah, I know. You’d be proud of me. I stayed calm for Charlie’s sake. I armed myself with my Taser and my phone, then barricaded us in the bathroom and called the police. They were there in ten minutes and couldn’t find anyone.”

“That’s terrifying.”

Maggie nodded. “You better believe it. I quit my job, traded my car, and took off. Oh, and I got my dog.”

“What about Colby? He didn’t try to step in?”

“Colby doesn’t know what happened. He thinks I’ve gone crazy, leaving my job and moving from place to place. Or he thinks I’m doing it to make it harder for him to visit. I swore my mother to secrecy, because I thought he might use it against me and try to take Charlie.”

“Why? Does he want custody of Charlie?”

“Not right now. He’s too busy hunting, fishing, and sowing his oats like all the other country boys out there. But you never know when he’ll meet some girl who thinks our son is just the cutest and would be better off with his dad full-time. Colby knows I’m a good mother, but women can make men do crazy things.”

“So now what?” Quinn asked. “Your stalker is out of your life, so you can settle down again, right?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ve got a lot to figure out. All I know is I’m tired of living in fear.” Maggie used her finger to trace circles in the sand. “I’m not ready to go back to my old job and put myself out there so publicly yet, though.”

“What about returning to animal medicine?” Quinn said. She remembered when Maggie had left her job as a vet tech to pursue more money in the public relations field. With her fiery personality, Maggie had shot up through the ranks quickly until she was one of the top-paid PR reps in her field.

Maggie shrugged. “I do miss working with animals. I just have to figure out if that’s going to pay me enough to take care of Charlie. It’s like I’m starting completely over with nothing from my past except for my son and my dog.”

“And me,” Quinn said. “I’m not going anywhere this time.”

Even though she said the words, she wondered how much chaos it was going to add to her and Ethan’s already crumbling relationship—that is, if she decided to work things out with him.

“And you,” Maggie said. “But it’s all a mess. I’ve been hopping around from one short-term rental to another. Charlie needs stability.”

The photos of her son on her phone were just out-of-this-world adorable. He had his mom’s freckles, though his hair was blond and didn’t have the reddish tint. He was all kinds of cute, and Quinn couldn’t wait to meet him.