Mrs. Truitt smiled her thanks as she followed her still-silent husband to the hall.
Lynn sat down again and stared at her sandwich. “I wonder if my dad will ever speak to me again.” She shrugged. “Is it sad that the only real reason why I care is because I want to be in touch with Perry again? Dad hasn’t been my dad for so long, it’s hard to really imagine things being any different now.” She cringed. “That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”
“To a lot of people, maybe. But it’s being realistic.” He felt for her. How many times had he faced reality when it came to the people in his life that should’ve been there no matter what? “Sometimes, real life hurts.”
“It sure does.”
Nathan worked on his sandwich, though he barely tasted it. He’d hoped Lynn would volunteer to tell him what else was going on in her life. He’d give her more time, but he couldn’t ignore what the guy said downstairs.
He had a feeling the warning was likely all hot air. But what if the guy found out where Nathan lived? He knew Mia was safe at Little Lambs, but he didn’t like the idea of the guy wandering around his house.
He swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and cleared his throat. “Have you noticed a guy hanging around lately?” He went on to describe what the man looked like.
As he did so, Lynn’s eyes widened, and she set her sandwich down, the food clearly forgotten. “Did Sharon tell you?”
“What? No, a man approached me downstairs. He warned me to stay away from you and all but threatened Mia and me.” He studied Lynn’s face closely. “Am I right to be concerned?” He expected her to say something. Instead, she pulled her phone out and started to text. “Lynn?”
“I’m letting Sharon know so she’ll keep a close eye on Mia.”
“Then I do need to worry.” His chest tightened at the thought of some lunatic thinking he had the right to hurt someone else.
Lynn finished texting and slipped the phone back in her pocket. She turned sad eyes to him. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dragged into this.” With a resigned sigh, she leaned into the back of her chair. “I left the music industry for a lot of reasons. I missed my family, I was tired of the producers trying to make me bend my morals, and I was tired of having no space to myself. Especially when it came to one particular guy.”
Nathan was all ears and motioned for her to continue.
“I think he might have followed the group around while we were touring. I always heard someone yell out that he loved me when I was going on stage for concerts. He’d leave flowers or candy for me at my bus. I ignored it, you know? Figured it was all part of the package. One of those things I had to deal with for living out my dream.”
He clenched a fist. It didn’t matter if Lynn was a pop star or the most normal person on the planet, no one deserved to be treated like that. “He was stalking you. What happened?”
“One night, he broke into my bus. Of course, he was stopped before he even got back to my room, but he managed to escape. That was just the last straw, you know? I’d kept rationalizing my decision to stay. But after that, I knew I had to do something else with my life. Get away from it all.”
“Do you think this is the same guy?”
She nodded. “He’s been leaving notes along with my old guitar picks on my car at work and on my front porch at home.” She rubbed her arms as though she were warding off a sudden chill. “I think he’s the reason why the press showed up at the restaurant and ambushed us.”
Nathan tried to take it all in. If someone was stalking her, why didn’t she tell him? “You should report all of this.”
“I have. They’ve taken notes but said that, since he hasn’t threatened me or trespassed, there’s nothing they can do.”
“We could put some cameras up to monitor your doors.”
Lynn nodded. “We thought of that. Walt—Sharon’s husband—put some up just this last week. Jeb has been careful enough to not come close ever since.” She must have thought of something because her frown deepened. “I left for the hospital early, early this morning. How did he even know I was here unless he followed me? And if he followed me…”
“…then he was waiting outside your house, watching.” Yeah, Nathan didn’t like the sound of that. Judging by the way Lynn’s face had paled, she didn’t either. Was there seriously nothing the police could do? What would it take? Him breaking in and trying to hurt her first? “I think I’m going to stick around until you’re ready to go home. Then a stop by the police department is in order. I’d like to let them know what Jeb said to me.”
The thought that the guy might be lurking outside Lynn’s house at night gave him the creeps and made him just plain mad. He’d love it if Jeb would follow Lynn right to the next jiu-jitsu class. Nathan would be happy to demonstrate a few choke-holds.
Lynn leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry I got you into this. I was hoping that, by lying low last week, he’d just leave me alone. I should’ve known better, though. I just wish he’d give up and go away.” She lifted her chin, her watery eyes focusing on him. “If I’d told you about him before, then at least you’d have had a heads up.”
There were a lot of things he wished had been handled differently, and the way she’d kept things to herself was one of them. He also had to admit a lot of this was the result of an extreme situation. One that he was certain even he wouldn’t have known fully how to deal with.
He reached over and captured one of her hands in his. She squeezed back as though his hand were her lifeline. “Instead of beating yourself up over a situation you have no control over, why don’t you just see this as a lesson in asking for help when you need it?” He stayed serious for several heartbeats before revealing a smile that he hoped would earn him one in return.
There. That pretty smile was exactly what he needed to see.
She ducked her chin again as pink colored her cheeks. “I admit it is a minor character flaw.”
He nudged her in the arm. “Trust me, we all have them.”
