Back in Bliss

Chapter Eleven

“Are you sure I should be here?” Georgia walked into the back room at the Trading Post, following after Momma Marie. The older woman had insisted that Georgia call her Momma Marie and Georgia was going along with it, but not for the reasons Seth thought. Seth had held her hands and promised that Marie Warner wouldn’t really kill her. He’d acted like he was sending her off to some sort of battle he wasn’t sure she would return from.

Seth was scared of the gruff woman and Logan had gone a little green when she’d turned on him, but Georgia didn’t see what the big deal was. Marie was rough, but there wasn’t anything scary about her, not really. She sort of reminded her of Win. Oh, Marie had claws and fangs, but she wouldn’t use them except to protect.

“You’re practically a member of this club, honey. You didn’t shoot a son of a bitch, but you did get shot by one.”

Georgia couldn’t help but laugh. She was pretty sure she should be all PTSD’d out, but the thought that there was a club for women who had gone through hell, and it had lemon crème cake, was actually kind of cool. “It really hurt.”

“But the way I heard it, you made it through. Even after you were shot, you had to make your way out of that hellhole.”

She’d had Nat. Nat had given her the strength to get up that damn ladder even though her arm hadn’t worked at the time. And she’d wanted to see Logan. Even after she’d been shot, all she had been able to see was his face. When she had been struggling up that damn ladder, all she’d been able to hear was Logan’s voice telling her to get the hell on that ladder and get herself to him. She’d done it. She’d made her way up that ladder, and she’d promised herself that no matter what happened, she’d find a way to live through it. “But it was my brother who shot the guy who shot me. And it was Logan who came in and saved me.”

Marie shook her head. “Just staying alive in the face of adversity is impressive, girl. And if you’re going to be with Seth and my Logan, you should start getting to know the women of Bliss. We stick together here. We have to protect this town. Oh, the men think they protect the town, but we know the truth.” Marie stepped through the doors into a big room that had been decorated in lace and antique furniture in one section. The rest was a bunch of organized boxes and looked like the back of a retail store, but there seemed to be a small salon in there as well. A group of women were already sitting around, coffee mugs in hand, talking amongst themselves. “You see the men like to think they’re in charge.”

Oh, she knew all about that. “Absolutely. It’s best they don’t know they’re being manipulated, but I thought all the law enforcement around here were men?”

Marie winked her way. “Not a one of those women in there would put on polyester to save her life, but you don’t have to wear a badge to shoot a son of a bitch. You see the woman with strawberry blonde hair? That’s Rachel Harper. Two husbands and she still had to take her son of a bitch down. All she had was a gun and her dog and cold steel in her veins. Callie there, that’s the sheriff’s wife and her other husband is a big mean-looking son of a bitch. Who had to save them when the chips were down?”

“The woman with the baby shot someone?” She didn’t look like she would hurt a fly.

“She took down a DEA agent.” Marie nodded. “There’s Holly right there. She had to kill a US Marshal gone bad, but only after my boy had taken down a paid assassin. Yeah, that was a rough day. Hope and Lucy there didn’t actually shoot anyone. They took down their son of a bitch with a paring knife and a chair. They tag-teamed the nasty bastard. Real proud of those girls.”

Georgia gulped. That was a whole lot of body count. “What did their bad guy do?”

“He was a horrible human being,” a familiar voice said from behind. Nell Flanders practically floated into the room. She was ethereal with brown hair and wide eyes that reminded Georgia of the fairies in some of the games Seth played online. Oh, he tried to shut them down when she walked in a room, but she’d seen them. Dweeb. Hot dweeb. Stinking hot, make-her-crazy dweeb. God, she loved geeks. Why had she spent all her time on douche-nozzle jocks? She forced her attention back to Nell, who was talking. “He pretended to be an environmentalist to bilk people out of money.”

“He ran a cult,” Marie said flatly.

“Not all environmentalists are in cults, Marie.”

“You say potato, Nell,” Marie shot back. She slid Georgia a look. “And Nell is an ancillary member. She never shot a son of a bitch.”

“No. I’m completely nonviolent, but I do support the right of all creatures to survive. Therefore, I support this group. And I have been shot at by a…person of ill repute.”

“He was a son of a bitch,” Marie corrected.

Nell shrugged. “What she said. I’m not so much into cursing either. Do you think those shoes are really good for the environment?”

Georgia heard a gasp coming from the salon. “Those are so pretty. I love the color.”

It had come from the woman with the strawberry blonde hair. She was lovely, but there was a red rim to her eyes that told Georgia she’d been crying. Not recently, but she’d cried hard enough that her face was still slightly puffy. Damn. A woman only cried that much over a man or a broken heel.

“Thanks. I got them at Nordstrom. They’re Puccis.” She loved the five-and-a-half-inch platforms. Seth had seemed to like them, too. He’d stared at them for a while after she’d gotten dressed and muttered something about how they would look around his neck. They were gorgeous and hot pink, with silver buckles and perfect leather soles.

“I have no idea how you walk in those, but they’re pretty,” Callie said with a smile. She patted her baby on the back. There was another identical baby asleep in a car seat at her feet.

“Do not let Laura see those,” the redhead named Holly said. “She likes to have the best shoes in town. You’re about to be the foot queen of Bliss.”

Actually, that sounded kind of nice. All the women were looking at her with little smiles, and they seemed awfully welcoming.

Of course, sometimes people could smile and then turn around and stab a girl in the back, but suddenly it seemed like her heart was as optimistic as her pussy had been. Her pussy had known deep down that all she needed to do was keep trying until she found the right penis. What if it was the same with friends? What if all it took was to keep getting beaten down until she found a place where she belonged? She’d always thought it would be a big city, but she’d woken up this morning with arms wrapped around her and hope in her heart, and the mountains and river were the setting for her rebirth, not the city. Seth loved it here. Logan had been raised here. Clearly there was something beautiful about this place. “Thanks. I brought a bunch of my shoes. You should see the Pradas my sister-in-law gave me this year. They’re white Italian leather mules with pretty gold studs.”

“I have no idea how you walk in them, either,” Nell said with a sad frown and a shake of her head.

The room groaned collectively.

Georgia waved her off. Oh, she knew where Nell was going. Nell was wearing Birkenstocks and a cotton skirt that obviously needed an iron. Yep, she was a very polite granola, and there was only one way to handle a granola. Never engage. Smile. Talk a little dumb. Never give a granola a target they could fixate on. The good news was, granolas were almost never cruel. They were kind and sweet, and they would take her Emilio Pucci heels from her cold dead hands.

“It’s totally easy. These have a two-inch platform, so it’s really like I’m walking in three-inch heels. Easy, breezy.” She gave the Rachel girl a smile. “Do you want to try them?”

Georgia was a sucker for a teary girl. She’d been the girl who cried in the bathroom way too many times.

Rachel shook her head. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I haven’t worn shoes like that in years. I’m pregnant. I can’t walk in heels.”

But she had worn them once. There was a look of longing on her face. Georgia would bet that she’d been quite the fashionable girl once. She pulled the shoe off. “I’m an eight.”

Rachel’s eyes got a little spark. “Me, too.”

The granola wasn’t done. Nell got in between them. “Do you like those shoes more than the earth?”

A totally easy question to answer. She made sure she looked deeply unthreatening as she responded. “Oh, absolutely.” She passed the shoes to Rachel. “The shoes are gorgeous and never tried to kill me. The earth is actually quite violent. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Poison ivy. The poison ivy was the worst. I got it up my hoo-ha. Seriously horrible. None of my shoes have ever made me want to scratch my own vagina off. My brothers used to take me camping. They didn’t always remember toilet paper. OMG, those look awesome. Look how tall you are.”

Rachel was smiling, her eyes sparkling. “They really do feel nice. Wow. Laura would be so jealous.” She looked down, admiring the heels. “I bet I’m as tall as Max and Rye now.”

Sexy heels could give a woman so much confidence. “They look great on you.”

“I think we should talk about how those shoes are made. And the sole is obviously leather.” Nell had a look of deep consternation on her face.

Never engage the granola. Georgia gave Nell a big hug. “I’m so glad you noticed. You’re so nice, Nell.”

Nell sputtered a little, but her arms wrapped around her as though she couldn’t possibly resist a human hug no matter whether said human was mad about leather or not. “Thanks.”

“I’m so glad we’re neighbors.” She pulled back and winked. “We can be such good friends.”

Nell just nodded and found a seat in the salon.

Marie was suddenly next to her. “I think I might love you, Georgia. You might be the daughter I never had.”

Rachel was shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anyone who was able to shut down Nell. I’m in shock. You just kept right on talking. I never thought to do that. I always try to argue.”

And that was where Rachel went wrong. “Oh, no, you can never win with a granola. They’re really nice and stuff, but you just have to hug it out. If you hug them enough, they totally lose their powers.” Georgia turned a smile up to Marie. “Thank you so much for bringing me here, Momma Marie. I feel so at home.”

Marie stopped, her face flushing, and then she nodded stiffly. “Well, you’re a sweet girl, Georgia Dawson. A damn fine girl.”

She turned and walked away.

“Holy shit. I think I saw a tear in those eyes. I didn’t think Marie had working tear ducts.” Rachel’s mouth was hanging open as she watched Marie start toward the podium. “You are a miracle worker. And you’re Logan’s girl?”

She’d been feeling so happy before. She’d seemed to actually fit in with these women. But she didn’t really because she could never truly live here when it was Logan’s hometown. Someday he would come back here and he’d bring his pretty subs with him or worse, he would get married and bring home his wife and she would look nothing like Georgia, be nothing like her. She would be classically lovely, and she would likely never scream at him and beat on his back as he had to carry her away. “No. I’m sort of dating Seth Stark, I think. But I might still be his admin. I don’t think he’s gotten around to firing me. I actually don’t think he should fire me. I should be allowed to quit gracefully after what I did to him in the shower this morning.”

A wistful smile slid across Rachel’s face. “I remember times like that. Once you get started in with having babies, those times are few and far between.”

“Is this your first?” Georgia was far from having babies. No. Maybe when she hit her late thirties. Maybe. Babies were cute and sweet, but she was still a baby.

Rachel smoothed a hand over her barely there bump. “My second. Paige is with her daddy, well, one of them.” She started to explain.

Georgia waved a hand. “Oh, I totally get it. Two husbands. Twice the sex. Twice the laundry. Twice the putting up with their shit. That’s what my sister-in-law says. Of course, she also says twice the love. She’s happy with my brothers. They’re twins.”

“So are Max and Rye. Max is giving me hell, actually.” She sniffled a little. “I don’t see why he can’t take anything seriously. Just yesterday he was supposed to get a medical exam so we could get life insurance, but instead he punched Doc in the face and got himself arrested.”

“Oh, he sounds like he’s acting out. I used to do that all the time to get attention from my brothers. They would get so involved in their lives, and my dad was never around, so I would pull some stupid crap at school just to get Win to come home for a while. It’s totally not fair. I should apologize to him for that.” It really hadn’t been fair, but at the time, she hadn’t known what else to do. She’d been very selfish. The night before seemed to have changed something in her. She’d gotten a lecture from Logan about halfway through the night. He’d been buried deep inside her, his hips rolling in a lazy, deeply sensual rhythm. He’d talked about communicating. He’d told her she had to talk to him or it wouldn’t work. “Maybe your husband is just trying to get your attention.”

Like she’d been trying to get Logan and Seth’s yesterday. She’d tried to please them by dressing up and cooking dinner and making things nice, and when that hadn’t worked, she’d thrown a fit.

Maybe next time, she’d just get naked. They seemed to really like her naked.

Rachel’s eyes widened. “Do you really think so? I have to be honest. I’ve been a little worried that maybe he was bored with the whole family thing, and this was his way of having fun. I can treat him like a kid half the time. I don’t really mean to. I just get in that mom mode and I start in on them both. Rye will turn me over his knee and show me who’s boss when I start in on him, but Max just seems to pull away. I don’t know why. He would put anyone else on their ass.”

“Because he loves you. I don’t think men are always as rational as women are. I think he could be just as lonely as you are. I heard having kids can be hard on a marriage. My dad tended to get divorced every time he had a kid.”

Rachel’s hands came up, her eyes flaring in obvious revelation. “So he’s doing what he knows to do. Oh god, Georgia. He’s acting out because he’s trying to get my attention. When we first started dating, we had this deal, Max and me. When he acted like an idiot, he owed me sexual servitude.”

She wondered if she could get Logan and Seth to agree to that arrangement. Sexual servitude sounded really nice. “It sounds like that’s what he’s doing then.”

Rachel smiled and gave Georgia the biggest hug. “Oh, I’m so relieved. You’re a lifesaver, Georgia. Why don’t you come out for dinner sometime next week? Bring Seth and Logan. We would love to see them.” She turned. “Marie, I need to go find Max and lay down the law. Can you handle this without me?”

“Sure thing.” Marie stepped up to the small podium and everyone seemed ready to start this meeting thing.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Rachel started to take off the shoes.

But Georgia was enjoying playing fairy godmother. She shook her head. “No. He’ll think the shoes are hot. You can borrow them for a while. I’ll use yours.”

They weren’t what she was used to, but they looked comfy. And they fit, and it was worth it to know she’d made someone really happy.

“Thank you.” Rachel gave her another hug and ran out the door as fast as the heels would allow her.

Nell was standing next to her. “I do not approve of your footwear, but that was a really nice thing to do.”

“Thanks.” Georgia looked Nell up and down. “I love making people over. It’s so much fun.”

“Well, you obviously dress really well. I prefer cruelty-free clothes, though.” She ran her hands along her too-long-for-her skirt and shuffled those totally cruel on the eyes shoes she was wearing.

Oh, someone else needed a fairy godmother. “Nell, I think I can help you there. I just need my credit card and a computer. This is going to be so, so much fun. I love a good makeover!”

Holly’s head turned. “Did someone say makeover?”

Lucy and Hope turned as well.

“That sounds like fun. I’ve never done makeovers before,” the one named Lucy said. “We should have a little party.”

Georgia could totally do a party. She did kind of have the biggest cabin in the town after all. And if Logan and Seth didn’t like their hideaway being invaded by makeup-loving women, then they really shouldn’t have chosen her as their girl.

Marie was standing at the podium. “I think that would be fun for y’all. Now it’s time to get started. Miss Naomi has graciously agreed to teach us all a little about first aid today.”

A beautiful curvy woman with rich chocolate skin and the loveliest hair stepped up. She had a secretive grin on her face, like she was in on a joke no one else knew. “Just in case the son of a bitch you shoot next turns out to be your neighbor. Because that can happen, ladies. Now I’ve brought some supplies and I have a slide show. Let’s get started.”

Georgia took a seat next to Nell and tried to look like she was listening. But her mind was whirling with menu possibilities and how she would set up her little party.

Friends. She was making friends, people who thought she was nice, who thought she was worthy.

Nell leaned over. “Do you really think I could find pretty shoes that don’t harm the environment?”

Georgia was a little surprised when Nell actually reached out and grabbed her hand. Tears threatened. She’d been in damn LA so long, she’d forgotten how nice it was to hug and hold hands with friends and know that she would be accepted. “I promise, I will find them.”

Naomi started to talk about exit wounds and CPR, but Georgia was making lists of appetizers and wines she needed to buy for her party.

Being with friends, helping them and becoming meaningful—that was everything she could hope for.

And if she couldn’t find pretty shoes for Nell, she would make them herself. She was a Dawson, after all. And Dawsons persevered.

Seth slapped a branch back and wished he’d switched into boots for this particular outing. “Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid?”

Logan just followed the man in front of him, never looking back. “I know what I saw.”

“Well, it wasn’t an alien. They have ways to hide their presence in the daylight.” Mel was leading this band of merry men. “Unless they’re playing games with us.”

Mel stopped as though the thought deeply disturbed him.

“I don’t think it’s aliens.” Seth felt a deep need to stop Mel before he started to talk about probes. Mel liked to get real in depth about probing, and he could go into gruesome detail. Apparently Mel had been in the thick of the alien wars for a long time, and being a warrior equaled anal probes. Seth had already decided not to get involved with aliens. Though he did intend to get involved with anal probes. Fuck. He so wanted to fuck Georgia’s ass. He wanted to do it in front of a mirror so he could watch the way her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as he entered her. She was so gorgeous. So perfectly sexy. And those damn shoes killed him. She’d been wearing hot pink ridiculously high heels, and all he’d been able to think about was getting those heels around his neck and driving his cock inside.

“Where do you think Momma Marie took her?” Seth asked, trying to catch his breath. Trekking through a mountain at nine thousand plus feet wasn’t something he was used to.

But Logan wasn’t even breathing hard. He didn’t show a single sign that his muscular body even noticed the stress. “I’m sure she took Georgia to her club meeting. They meet on every second Tuesday.”

Mel turned, his rifle at his side. “That club keeps growing. I’m the speaker next month. I’m giving the ladies tips on how to take down alien species, but mainly I go for the pie. There’s always such good pie there. Not quite as good as my Cassidy’s lemon pie, but Lucy’s pecan comes close. Seth, is it true you’re going to pay for alien DNA detection for the upcoming wedding?”

Logan snorted, putting his hand over his mouth to cover his laughter.

Stef Talbot was a son of a bitch. Bastard. Rat-fink motherfucker. He’d sold him out. Seth had talked to him yesterday, inviting Stef and his wife to the cabin sometime, discussing the upcoming wedding situation. Seth was taking about half of the Texas crowd while the rest would be staying at the Talbot estate. Seth didn’t know Wolf Meyer, but he’d spent a lot of time talking to Leo Meyer on the phone and he’d sent Julian Lodge some hefty checks for Logan’s therapy and club membership. And now he had to pay to keep Mel happy. He was going to kick Stef’s ass. “Yep. Can’t have aliens disrupting a wedding.”

Mel took a seat on a rock. The forest was quiet all around them. “Cass is a little worried that her boys are marrying an alien. It would be just like an alien queen to come after those boys. They’re prime mating material. Sweet boys, of course, but they do have all that alien DNA. And Shelley is very averse to beets. Said she wouldn’t allow a beet-filled wedding cake.”

“We’re not having beets at our wedding, dude,” Logan said. And then he shook his head. “I mean Georgia is probably going to want something fancy when you marry her.”

He’d been right the first time, but Seth was counting the flub as progress. The same way he was counting that damn G on Logan’s chest. There was no way it stood for Green. That G, with its romantic curves, was all about their Georgia, and he wanted a matching one on his chest. Georgia could get a really sweet L and S on that gorgeous curve right over her ass. They would be inked, linked together forever. That was what he wanted. “Georgia can pass the alien test. Aliens can’t wear her heels.”

Mel nodded. “I’ve heard that even the females have terrible arches. I wonder if Shelley wears heels. Cass would be much happier that way. We’ll have to see. But we still need monitors. They’re making plans, I tell you.”

Logan slid him a long look, his lips curling up. “They’re always making plans. But I don’t think this is an alien. Come on. Let’s keep moving. I have a meeting with Nate at one, and I’m on highway duty all afternoon. I get to write tickets to tourists.”

He wouldn’t have to write tickets to tourists if he would just let Seth pay his damn tuition. It was stupid. It was stubborn. Seth had money. He wouldn’t miss it even if Logan went to freaking Harvard. But Logan didn’t want to hear it. He’d been like a dog on a bone ever since he’d walked out of his room this morning. He’d told Seth to come with him and then they’d spent a whole lot of time at the sheriff’s office talking to the park rangers. And then they’d walked like five hundred miles to get to even more trees. The forest was beautiful, but he wasn’t sure why they were here. Logan had said something about a light and glinting, and he’d sounded an awful lot like Mel, who was their guide.

Yep. Crazy Mel was their guide, but then he’d kind of sort of been their guide before. Mel had been a master at taking young boys under his wing and teaching them to kill aliens, protect themselves, and to view purely human pornography.

“Logan, come on, man. Why the hell am I up here?”

“Because Nate is in the cabin and Cam has a new baby.” Logan just kept up the steep incline. “And this has something to do with you.”

“A glint in the atmosphere has something to do with me?”

Logan stopped and turned, frowning. “Nate is going to tell us when he sees the glint off our binoculars. That’s going to tell me where this guy was standing. Did you not listen to a thing I told the park rangers?”

He’d kind of been thinking about Georgia at the time. He’d been daydreaming about getting Georgia back in bed and prepping her for what he really wanted. Both of them inside her, one in her ass and one in her pussy. Sweet, sweet double penetration. And then Logan had shoved a contract in front of him. He hated contracts. He really hated contracts that put boundaries on sex and love and life.

“Tell me again.” He wasn’t going to explain that he’d been flustered by that fucking contract.

Logan took a long breath. “I saw something up here earlier today. It was either a scoped rifle or a camera. I suppose it could have been someone’s glasses, but the park rangers claim no one is up here right now. At least no one who has clearance. Did you see the footprints on the porch yesterday? They were still there this morning. I didn’t make them.”

“It rained last week. We don’t know how long that print has been there.” It could have come from anywhere. The contractors had been working on the house right up until the day before they’d come here.

“It wasn’t there when I got in the day before yesterday,” Logan argued. “The whole place was pristinely clean.”

“What was the print like, Logan?” Mel asked. He was carrying his ever-present rifle as he walked up the steep incline.

“Round toed. Sorry, Mel. It was totally human unless aliens have started wearing sneakers. It was an asshole human. How much would reporters pay to get a look at your new place?” Logan directed the last question at Seth.

Seth shrugged. “Not much. Dude, it’s not like I’m some celebrity. I’m more likely to be in The Wall Street Journal than a paparazzi rag. The Journal doesn’t want pics of my house. They just want to run my stock into the ground.”

But he’d been getting phone calls to his cell that didn’t make much sense. He’d paid to have the number secret, and yet someone with an unknown number kept calling him. Maybe it was time to figure out what the hell was going on. He just wasn’t sure he would find it on a mountain on the other side of the river.

“Someone is watching you,” Logan said. “Or maybe me. Or, hell, maybe they’re watching Georgia. Do you want to take a chance on that?”

Fuck. The idea that someone might be watching Georgia got his blood pumping. He raced to catch up. “Why would someone be watching Georgia?”

“Aliens are always looking for women to mate with.” Mel didn’t look back, just kept to his slow and steady climb. “Once they figured out they couldn’t get any babies out of men, they started looking at our women.”

He needed some of Mel’s tonic if he was going to have that conversation. “Logan?”

Logan’s shoulders moved up and down. “I don’t know. I don’t really think it’s about her, but I have to consider it. If someone’s watching the house, they’re watching Georgia.”

Logan was a little paranoid. Seth had to calm him down. “If it’s a reporter, they’re likely looking to see who I’m meeting with here. When they realize it’s a vacation home, they’ll go away.”

Of course, he had to consider corporate espionage. There was always some bastard willing to sell out for a fat paycheck. His code was protected by about a thousand patents, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t pay to get a look at it. Or at any of the hundreds of projects he had going at any given time. Would they really follow him out here?

It would be easy enough. The property was in his name. His flight plan had been logged.

Had he really once just jogged through the mountains without a single problem? Because he had to stop and take a long breath.

He needed to get back into shape. He was perfectly healthy. He jogged five miles every single day, but it was on a treadmill. The mountains were different. The mountains didn’t care that he could run like a mouse on a wheel.

Mel stopped. “I can see the place from here.”

Logan picked up the small binoculars he was wearing around his neck. “Yeah. This might be the right spot. I can definitely see the window from here. Nate, can you see me?”

He was talking on the walkie-talkie. The sheriff was watching out of the bedroom Logan had used last night.

Nate’s reply came over the radio. “I don’t see anything, man. Are you sure you’re not a little bit paranoid?”

Mel shook his head, giving Logan a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t let them tell you that, son. You’re only paranoid if they aren’t really all out to get you, and we know they are.”

Seth looked down and there was a line of tracks. Athletic shoes like the one on the porch. “I think this is the spot. Look.”

Logan looked down. “Damn. Tell me that’s not the same shape as the one on our porch.”

“Aliens don’t wear sneakers,” Mel explained. “Unless they’re possessing human bodies. I’ve heard that’s been happening a lot lately. I’m not so sure about Doc. I think they might have taken him over. I’ve heard it makes a person grumpy, having two people in one body.”

From what Seth had heard, Doc Burke didn’t need an alien possession to be grumpy. He did just fine on his own. “Give me the binoculars. I want to try something.”

Logan was taking a look around the area. He passed the binoculars before kneeling down. “Fucker smokes. I see two butts here. He hiked in from the road and was here for at least thirty minutes, unless he smokes really fast. These are down to the filter.”

Seth looked through the binoculars. He had to adjust them, but he could plainly see the cabin in all its glory. It rose from the lush riverfront. It was everything he’d dreamed of when he was a kid, right down to the woman who was living there. Before he’d gone into town with Logan, he’d moved all of Georgia’s things into the master bedroom. She was right where she should be, and the idea of someone watching them had Seth’s heart racing.

“Do you see any other tracks, Mel?” Logan asked. “It looks like he hiked back out the same way he came in.”

Seth could hear them moving around behind him, searching for clues, but he was focused on what this guy had been looking for. From this vantage point, he couldn’t see into the master, but he could see the room Logan had taken over. He couldn’t see inside. Perhaps at night he would be able to, but Logan said the man had been watching them this morning.

Seth turned the glasses slightly, and Henry walked across the lawn, moving from his small cabin to Seth’s.

The walkie-talkie squawked and the sheriff’s voice came over the radio. “There it was. I can see it. Wherever you have the binoculars pointed right now is where this guy was looking. ”

Logan started talking to Nate, but all Seth could see was Henry making his way across the lawn, the way he likely did ten times a day.

Was the person who stood here earlier watching the house or was he watching Henry?

Either way, Seth had to find out.