The fact that she’d saved every single one unlocked some previously unknown sentimental part of my heart. I’d saved all her letters to reread while in juvie and they were now in a shoebox in my closet at home.
As I returned downstairs, Chris’s authoritative voice drifted from the living room. Standing in the doorway, I saw they’d moved to sit on the couch, with Gianna still in her dad’s arms.
Not liking the weird vibes I was getting from Gianna, I sat on the other side of her, passing Chris the card I’d replaced in the blue envelope. Gianna’s cheeks pinkened as he read it. Bitch was bad enough, but a daddy’s girl probably wouldn’t like her dad knowing someone had called her whore.
Not that either label were remotely true of her. I’d known chicks who were bitches or whores, sometimes both, and she wasn’t.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” her dad asked.
“It slipped my mind,” she said, biting her bottom lip guiltily.
“This could be serious,” her dad said, not addressing her pathetic excuse. He didn’t need to say aloud that it could be a situation like with Josh.
“It looks like a girl’s handwriting,” I pointed out.
“It does,” Chris said thoughtfully. “But it could still be serious if it’s a female, so we’ll have to file a report so the police are at least aware of the situation in case it escalates.”
Putting an arm around Gianna, I helped her up. “If it’s okay with you, Chris, I’ll drive her there and we’ll meet you. I need to talk with her.”
Gianna’s eyes flew to mine and she looked about to protest but I squeezed her hip to silence her. Since I’d arrived she’d gone back and forth from being cold to holding onto me for comfort.
He gripped both envelopes in one hand, appearing reluctant to let her out of his sight. Finally, he nodded, using his phone to look up the nearest police station. “I’ll text you the address.”
I ended up driving behind Chris to the station. Alone with my girl, I was able to question her. “Why didn’t you tell me about the first letter?”
She shrugged, gazing out the window so I could see only her jaw. “I’d mostly forgotten about it and we weren’t talking at the time.”
Her answer was believable, but something was still off between us. “When did you get the first letter?”
“About a week and a half ago. Monday, I think.”
“Okay, and why did you look mad at me when I showed up?”
Her head whipped around, the blue fire blazing brighter. “Who the hell is Norah?”
Holy shit, now was not the time. How did she even know about Norah? “Where’d you hear that name?”
She frowned and her eyebrows drew closer. “What does it matter? I asked you a question.”
Staring at the back of her dad’s SUV, I told her, “This girl that interns at the gallery.”
“And that’s it?”
I’d allow nothing to come between me and Gianna again, especially some chick who meant nothing to me. Norah was a mistake I’d made driven by a broken heart. “She’s not important.”
“It’s important to me that you tell me the truth. You said you didn’t have sex with anyone when we were broken up.”
Stopping at a red light, I gave her my full attention. “I’ve never lied to you, Gianna.”
“Why are you dodging my questions?” she said in exasperation, crossing her arms under her breasts and distracting me from the multiple problems of the moment.
“Look, we’re almost there and now isn’t the time. We’ll talk about what didn’t happen with Norah tonight.”
“Fine,” she muttered in a way that let me know she’d be giving me hell later. Not that her attitude worried me. As long as she loved me, I could fix anything between us.
The last time I’d been in a police station I was getting arrested for putting Josh in the hospital. Thrown into a cell with Ian, I’d had to watch him pace our cage like a tiger until he’d finally gone to sleep.
This visit was almost as bad. Chris’s wrath was just under the surface as he spoke to the cop taking the statement. Gianna held back tears I knew would embarrass her if released.
Josh’s name was brought up and her dad took over telling the story. When asked if there was anyone else who would want to hurt her, we drew a blank. The first letter came the same day I’d went out with Norah, so it couldn’t be her.
“I don’t know,” Gianna said, her face red.
Officer Novak placed the letters into plastic bags. “We’ll have these checked for prints and get back to you.” He’d looked at Chris as he spoke, having handed his card to him a moment ago.