Dylan parked his truck at the back of Tess’ café. He frowned at the staircase leading up to her apartment. “I’m not happy about leaving you here alone.”
“I’m used to being alone,” Tess growled. They’d been having the same argument since they’d left the Park nearly two hours ago.
“I could stay with you for the night?” Kathy offered.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll call if I need you.”
“There’s someone in your apartment.” Dylan’s voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “Wait here.” He slipped out of the truck, all six-foot-five of him, and walked carefully up the stairs.
“I’m going in,” Tess said to Kathy. “If I scream call 911.”
“You should stay here. Dylan can take care of whoever is in your apartment.”
Tess opened her door. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” She followed Dylan up the stairs, stopping when he turned and glared at her. He pointed at the truck and she shook her head. For the first time since she’d known him, Dylan looked angry. Dead-pan, no holds barred, angry.
She stuck her nose in the air and kept moving toward him.
He waited until she was behind him. “Stay glued to my back,” he hissed.
She wasn’t going to push her luck by explaining just what a disaster that would be. She wasn’t tiny, petite, or in need of a white knight in shining armor. If Tess stuck to his back, they’d end up falling over each other. Given the personal space issues she’d watched Dylan struggle with, a full body contact incident would leave him in a complete panic.
He put his hand on the door handle and turned the knob. The lock clicked open. Before Tess could move a low growl filled the air. It sounded like a big, mean dog was standing on the other side of the door, waiting to take an enormous bite out of their retreating bottoms. Dylan’s instructions to stay glued to his back finally made sense.
“Max, down.”
Dylan turned to Tess. “What the…”
The door opened and Sally stood in front of them holding a grinning Max. At least that’s what Tess thought Max was doing.
“I thought you’d be home later. I’ve made dinner for everyone.” Sally smiled at Dylan. “Sorry about that. Max thinks he’s Rambo sometimes, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Max, the dog that was as big as a pony, gave a short, sharp bark to reinforce what Sally had said.
Tess patted Max’s head. “What are you doing here?”
“I read the article. Did you get my text?”
Tess pulled her cell phone out of her jacket and looked at the caller display. “It didn’t come through.” She scrolled through a couple of pages. “It’s on silent mode. You’ll be at my place from five o’clock and staying the night. You’re making dinner. Bring wine.”
The frown hadn’t dropped off Dylan’s face. “How did you get in?”
“Tess keeps her spare key above her door, up here.” Sally reached above the wide timber bead surrounding the door. She pulled a magnetic key box out of its hiding place. “See…easy.”
“We need to talk security,” Dylan muttered. He looked at Sally. “Don’t tell me you keep your house key in the same place.”
“Of course not,” Sally said with a superior smile. “I keep mine under a pot of daisies.”
Dylan huffed then gave Max a hard stare. Max wagged his tail and jumped on Dylan, licking his face with all of the exuberance of a dog that didn’t realize his days of freedom might be numbered.
Sally gasped. “Max. Down.”
Dylan managed to untangle Max’s tongue from his face before wiping the slobbery mess away.
Sally pulled Max back to her side. “You don’t want a dog to take home with you by any chance, do you?”
“Max isn’t yours?”
“He belongs to the animal shelter. I’ve got one more week to find him a home. You look so good together.”
Dylan looked more closely at Max. “I can’t have dogs in my rental, but I know someone who might be interested.”
“Don’t let what just happened put you off. Max is a great dog. He just needs someone who’s got the size and time to teach him how to be a good boy. Isn’t that right, Max?” Max woofed and Sally smiled at Dylan. “Give me a call any time of the day or night. I’ll deliver Max to his new home myself.”
Tess heard a door slam and looked down at Dylan’s truck. Kathy was closing each of their doors.
She walked up the stairs and smiled at Tess. “You haven’t screamed so I thought it must be safe.”
Tess pointed to Sally. “This is my friend, Sally Gray. Sally, this is Kathy, Logan’s mom from Seattle.”
Sally stuck her hand out. “Nice to meet you. And this big dog is Max. He’s an Irish Wolfhound mixed with lots of different things. Come inside and enjoy Tess’ home.”
Kathy smiled at Sally and patted Max’s head. “He’s a very big dog.”
“He needs someone that’s got a big backyard or a ranch. Living in an apartment is too stressful. One wag of his tail and everything disappears off the table.”
Max, sensing impending doom if he wagged his tail, went over to the far side of the room and flopped down on a blanket.
Sally opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of white wine. “Who wants a glass of wine?”
“Not for me, thanks,” Dylan said. “If Tess isn’t going to listen to me, I’ll head home if Kathy is ready to go. I’m working tomorrow.”
“That’s fine by me,” Kathy said. “I want to speak to my son, anyway.”
Tess had a feeling Logan was in for a grilling. Dylan still looked worried, in his normal understated way. “Everything will be okay. Logan didn’t mention my name once in his story. No one’s camped outside the café with murder on their mind and there’s no graffiti on the building.”
“Max and I are staying the night,” Sally added. “He might be a bit of a softy, but if someone Tess doesn’t know comes to the door, they won’t get past him.”
Dylan glanced at Max and Max’s ears pointed to attention.
“No, Max,” Sally warned.
Max flopped back down. He rested his head on his paws and looked up at Dylan through his long lashes.
Kathy laughed. “If I had room at my house in Seattle I’d be tempted to take Max home with me. He has a lovely personality.”
Dylan took his keys out of his pocket and glanced at Sally. “I’ll let you know tomorrow what my friend says. And you…” He handed Tess a business card. “Don’t open your door to anyone you don’t know. If you feel unsafe, call me or the police.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dylan sighed. “We’d better get going, Kathy. I don’t want to say or do something I’ll regret.”
Tess didn’t think that was possible. Dylan was cool, calm and collected. Even when more than one hundred pounds of happy dog landed on his chest.
Kathy gave Tess a hug. “I’ve had a great day. Don’t let that son of mine give you a hard time. From what you told me and what I read in the paper, the senator deserves to be behind bars.” She gave Sally a quick hug. “It was nice meeting you, too.”
Tess opened her back door and watched Dylan and Kathy drive away.
Sally handed her a glass of wine. “Drink this. Then you can tell me why you’ve never talked about what happened when you were a model. It must have been heartbreaking.”
“It was. But first I’m going to give Annie and Molly a call. Do we have enough food for all of us?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve cooked enough meatloaf for a family of ten. Tell them to bring wine.”
Tess picked up the phone and called Annie. It had been a long, tiring and emotional day. She’d hardly had any sleep for the last two nights, but she needed to see her friends. She wanted to explain why she hadn’t been completely honest when she’d told them about her life. Why she’d hidden away from the world and been so paranoid about being photographed.
And more than anything she wanted to talk about Evie, and finally put to rest the shado