Even the Score(86)

“And on that note, I’m heading in to work.” I giggled and gave him a quick kiss before climbing into my car. “See you in a little bit.”

He winked at me, looked over, and waved at Gavin, who was parked in the street, and stood on the porch until I pulled out of the driveway.



The parking garage was quiet and still pretty dark at six thirty in the morning, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Ellie’s car already in her spot. As I pulled in, I leaned forward to see if she was actually still in her car, but it was empty. Reaching over to get my purse, I frowned as I noticed a folded-up piece of paper in my cup holder that I didn’t remember putting there.

Hm . . . that’s weird.

I opened it slowly.



Every day, I find myself wanting to reach out and pull you in under my wing, but I know that you’ll bolt.



Just know that I’m fighting it . . . hard. Hopefully one day you’ll go ahead and tuck yourself in.



My heart soared as I stared down at Andy’s handwriting. I had no idea how long the note had been there or what made him decide to write it, but I was sure glad he did. I’d never wanted to be taken care of in the past, but with him . . . I liked it. Craved it, even. I wanted to be under his wing, tucked in nice and close. That was my home.

I grabbed my phone and sent him a quick text.



I just found your note. I like it under your wing. Go ahead, pull me in.



Without waiting for him to answer, I smiled to myself and dropped my phone back in my purse as I gathered up the rest of my things. I flung the door open just as Gavin pulled up behind me and rolled his window down.

“Want me to wait today since Mr. Shaw isn’t with you?”

“No, I’m fine,” I called out as I slammed my car door. “Go ahead.”

“All right, I’ll be back before the end of the day.” He waved and drove off.

I hurried to the doorway that led to the lobby, praying that once I got upstairs, I’d have a few spare minutes to set up and make some notes before my meeting.

“Good morning, Ms. Douglas.” Jerry, the security guard, tipped his hat when he saw me.

“Morning, Jerry,” I said cheerfully. “How are ya today?”

“Oh, I’m doing all right,” he said casually, with a big smile on his face. “My knee’s been bothering me a lot lately. I think it’s the change in the weather comin’.”

“Yep. Another Minnesota winter will be here before we know it.” I sighed and gave him a wink as I turned and headed toward the elevator. “Have a good day, Jerry!”

“You too, Ms. Douglas.”

As the elevator climbed slowly, my thoughts drifted to Andy, as they often did. The note that he left, that was tucked securely inside my pocket, gave me the warm fuzzies.

I never got the warm fuzzies.

I loathed the warm fuzzies.

Warm fuzzies meant that I was losing a battle that I swore I’d never lose. In my personal life, just as it was with my business, I never got caught up. I never lost my nerve. Control was my drug, and I was an addict. But my connection with Andy was more powerful than my addiction, and I was useless against it. I was waving the white flag. The warm fuzzies had officially won, and I was totally okay with it for the first time ever.

The elevator doors slid open quietly, and I stepped out. “Hey, Ellie!” I greeted.

Ellie’s whole body jolted in surprise, and her eyes shot up to me. “Oh my God, Dani! You scared me half to death.”

I giggled, shaking my head. “I swear you’re the world’s biggest scaredy-cat, El.”

She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, exhaling loudly. “I know.”

“What are you doing here so early anyway?”

“I looked at the schedule last night and saw that you had an early meeting, so I figured I’d come in and set up, make coffee, all that good stuff.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know that, too.” She gave me a wide grin and returned her attention to her computer screen.

My phone chirped from my purse, signaling a new text. I bit my lip to hide my smile before I even looked at the screen. To my surprise, the text wasn’t from Andy like I’d thought; it was from an unknown number.



Danicka, this is Jerry from downstairs. Someone is messing with your car again. Get down here fast.



“Holy shit. Uh . . . uh . . . I gotta go.” I dropped my stuff on the floor next to Ellie’s desk and hit the elevator button at least ten times, silently hoping that it would come faster the more I pushed it.

Ellie stood quickly. “What’s going on?”

“That was Jerry from downstairs. He’s at my car again.” The elevators doors opened, and I rushed in, frantically pressing the Lobby button over and over. “Call Andy!”