Page 70 of The Guest Cottage
Cort backed out of his driveway, and when his headlights hit the road ahead, they both searched the landscape. Other than a few deer, and a possum scurrying across the road, she didn’t see any people or cars.
She texted Pixie,We’re pulling in now, and got an immediate thumbs up in return, meaning Pixie had the phone in her hand. The second Cort turned off the truck, she reached for the door handle, but Cort again stopped her. “Let me check first?”
Okay, that sounded ominous, as if he thought there might be trouble. Numb with worry, she nodded. He opened his door and stepped out—and they both heard the loud sound of running feet on the road, followed seconds later by the closing of a car door. Farther down the road, near the cottage where Marlow lived, red taillights shone for a brief moment. The sight of them sent her heart into her throat. Then the car spat gravel as it raced away, turning up the road that would lead past the tavern and out of town.
Still searching the area, Cort put his own phone to his ear. “Herman, I need you to do me a favor. In a few minutes a car is going to drive past the tavern. I need you to see if you can spot it. No, no idea. It’s a car, not a truck, but all I saw were the taillights.” He listened, then said, “It was hanging around outside Marlow’s place, and Pixie thinks she saw someone on foot by the lake house. Yeah, be careful, don’t approach anyone, and don’t say anything to anyone else.” He nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
Her phone dinged with an incoming message, causing her to jump. She read it, then said to Cort, “Pixie sees us. Should she open the front door?”
“Yeah.” He closed his door and walked around to Marlow’s side.
She was now jumpy, but also in a rush to get to Pixie. Cort kept her close, his attention everywhere until they reached the overhang of the front door. It opened, and he urged Marlow inside.
She took one look at Pixie’s frightened face and gathered her close. “It’s okay now,” she promised.
“Lock the door and stay inside,” Cort said. “I’ll have a look around.”
There was only time for her eyes to flare wide before Pixie followed his instruction. She grabbed Marlow’s hand and hauled her into the kitchen.
In a faint whisper, Pixie said, “I’m so sorry to be more of a bother, but I swear, seeing someone out in the dark scared me half to death. No one is ever around here, and if it was you or Cort, I knew you’d have texted first.”
“Yes, we always will, or we’d at least announce ourselves, not sneak around in the shadows. You were right to worry.” She strode to the window in the door to look out and saw nothing. “Why isn’t your porch light on?”
Pixie paced across the floor. “I had my chores done, and Andy was asleep, and I saw the fireflies . . .”
“I understand. This is my summer for fireflies, too.” Seeing that Pixie was frazzled, Marlow pulled out a chair at the two-seater table and urged her to sit. “Slow down and take a breath. It’s okay now.”
Pixie nodded, but the second her bottom landed on the chair, she started rambling. “I just wanted to sit outside for a minute. When the light is on, it draws mosquitoes and beetles and moths. I sat down on the stoop—”
Because Marlow hadn’t yet gotten her that rocking chair, darn it.
“—and the moon on the water was so pretty, and there were fireflies everywhere. But then I saw the shadow, and I could tell it was a man, and I almost died of fright.” She shoved her hair back as if it offended her, her movements frustrated and full of self-recrimination. “When I got inside, I was afraid that if I turned on the porch light, whoever was out there would know I’d spotted them.” She rubbed her forehead as if it pained her. “I should have contacted the police. Or grabbed Andy and run for my car.”
“No,” Marlow said. The last thing she wanted was for Pixie to possibly expose herself to danger. “Staying inside with the door locked was the smartest move.”
Defeated, Pixie shook her head. “I don’t even have emergency numbers. I never thought that far ahead. Ineverthink ahead. I just keep screwing up.” She looked at Marlow, full of apology. “All I could think to do was get hold of you.”
What a revelation, but of course she was Pixie’s lifeline. In fact, for now, she preferred it that way. Marlow wanted to sit, too, but more than that, she wanted Cort to get his sexy butt inside so she could stop worrying about him. “You did the right thing.” She had more to say, but she needed to think about it first. After all, she wanted to encourage Pixie to be independent. As a mother, she should think ahead, so she could protect herself and Andy. They’d work on that, though.
Sighing, Marlow figured it was one more thing to add to her to-do list where Pixie was concerned.
Again, when her phone dinged, she jumped, then issued a curse. She looked at the screen and was glad to see the message. “It’s Cort. I’ll let him in. You sit—”
“No way,” Pixie said, already crowding in near her side. “I go where you go.”
For now, that suited Marlow just fine. She led the way back to the front door, then peeked out to be sure it was Cort before she unlocked the door. As he stepped in, she asked, “Was that necessary?”
“The door was locked.”
“I don’t mean . . .” She huffed. “Why go out there and prowl around anyway? What if you’d found someone still hanging about?”
His reply was a kiss to her forehead and an arm around Pixie’s shoulders. By silent agreement, the three of them convened back in the kitchen. He pulled out a chair for each of them, then leaned against the wall near Marlow’s shoulder. “No one is hanging around now, but Marlow and I saw someone taking off when we got here. They’d parked up by her place.”
Pleased that Cort referred to it as her place, she wondered if he wanted her to stay. It seemed possible. Even on a disturbing night like this, she’d count that as progress.
Pixie’s alarm visibly grew, which prompted Marlow to cover her hand. “We’re all fine. For all we know, it might have been someone hoping to fish off the docks and not realizing that the homes were in use right now.” That theory sounded believable, and hopefully Pixie would buy into it. All this anxiety couldn’t be good for her blood pressure. Hmm, perhaps that was something they should ask her doctor at her next appointment. It was helpful that Pixie now included her in the discussions after her exams.
When Pixie’s shoulders loosened, Marlow knew she was considering her theory.
