Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) (29 page)

Upon returning, he parked behind a white plumbing van on the street in front of the house next door to Sunny’s, which gave him the perfect vantage point to watch her front door while it partially concealed his black car from view.

The light shone through the front windows, and he could see the women talking and drinking wine. The sound of their laughter floated to him through the open front windows. He closed his eyes and let the sound surround him, and he imagined Sunny’s laughter as a caress against his skin.

His jeans became more uncomfortable as he imagined her caresses moving along his body and her whispered yearnings in his ear.

The front door slammed, and he opened his eyes to see the three women on the porch as they hugged each other goodbye. He didn’t know how long he had sat there dreaming of the time he would finally be alone with her. He watched her friends head to their car as Sunny stood on her front porch in her pajamas waving goodnight, her stupid yellow mutt running back and forth between the women.

It was the same stupid mutt that ruined his chances with Sunny before. He needed to see her, to talk to her, to explain his feelings. Once she saw how much he cared for her, he knew they would be able to get past this misunderstanding and be together. He had to think of a way to get rid of that dog…

* * *

“Thanks again, you guys,” Sunny called, as Maggie and Cassie headed toward the minivan. “Tonight was fun. I’ll call you. Maybe we can get together again tomorrow. See a movie or something.”

“I can’t.” Cassie simultaneously rubbed Beau’s head and clicked the key fob to unlock the van. “Tomorrow is family day. After church, we’re watching Matt play football in his Old Man’s League, then going for a hike to try to earn Tyler’s nature badge for Boy Scouts. I’ve also got to make four dozen cupcakes for Tiffany’s field hockey team. She’s got her end of the season party on Monday.”

“Oh that sounds fun.” A twinge of jealousy nudged at Sunny’s heart. She wanted that family life that Cassie had with the husband, the kids, the cooking, and all the activities to fill her time.
Well, maybe not the cooking and maybe not
all
the activities. Didn’t we just learn a valuable lesson today about me mixing it up too much with the outdoors?

“How about you, Maggie
?
Are you free tomorrow, or are you hiking or making several dozen cupcakes?” Sunny asked
.

“As if.” Maggie huffed as she opened the passenger door, stuck one foot in, then leaned through the vee between the car and the open door. “I couldn’t make a cupcake if my life or even a date with Owen Wilson depended on it. Wait, for Owen, I would probably at least try.”

Sunny laughed. “For Owen, I would put on an apron and be right there with you, whipping up the frosting.”

“Anyway, I’m on my own this weekend. My boys are both at a three-day soccer camp. They left this morning.”

“Oh good, maybe we can do something tomorrow night then. Unless you have a hot date,” Sunny teased.

“Who? Me?” Maggie stuttered and her purse fell from her hands and hit the pavement. Sunny could swear she blushed as Maggie ducked behind the door to collect her fallen bag. Maybe not. She seemed her normal composed self as she popped back up and scoffed, “Are you kidding
?
You know BOB’s my only date these days.” Maggie loved to tease them about her dates with BOB, her Battery-Operated Boyfriend.

“Maggie, stop that.” Sunny laughed. “TMI- too much information.”

“Hey, you asked.” She shrugged, a devilish smirk on her face.

“Well, if you and BOB aren’t too busy, maybe we could catch a movie or something,” Sunny suggested.

“Well, I’ll have to call you.” Maggie looked down as if something in her purse caught her attention. “I’ve got a lot of work to do this weekend. Big case I‘m working on, you know. I’ll have to let you know.” She smiled and climbed into the car as she pulled the door shut behind her. Through the front windshield, Sunny could see her root around in her purse, then pull her Blackberry free. Sunny watched a funny smile play across her friend’s face as Maggie absently waved goodbye.

“I’ll try to call you tomorrow,” Cassie called through the open window of the van as she backed from the driveway into the street. She dropped the car into gear, gave the horn a little toot, then headed off down the street.

Sunny shook her head and called to Beau to come inside. She didn’t know what was so exciting about the mailbox that made it the Holy Grail of Dog Scents, but Beau couldn’t go outside without making a beeline for the mailman-scented pole. His eyes looked up at her from where his nose was submerged in a fragrant patch of grass. He took one last sniff, circled the mailbox, lifted his leg to leave a yellow trail of urine running down the pole, then loped toward her, his tongue panting in happy anticipation of the treat he would receive for doing such a great job of peeing.

Suddenly, Beau turned his head and let out a low growl. Surprised, Sunny loo
ked up and down the street but
nothing seemed out of place. She took in the Harrison kids playing basketball across the street and the neighbor’s white plumbing van parked in its usual spot next door. Everything seemed normal.

Sunny rubbed Beau’s head and gave him a soft “Good dog”, and he seemed to settle down. Then they headed back into the house and closed and locked the door behind them.

* * *

Turning off the warm water, Sunny placed the third wine glass in the strainer and put the bowls from their subsequent dishes of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream into the dishwasher.

She dried her hands on the dishtowel and squirted a pump of lotion from the dispenser next to the sink into her hand. As she reached to turn the kitchen light off, Sunny noticed the little letter symbol in the corner of her kitchen laptop that notified her ‘You’ve Got Mail’. She rubbed her hands up the sides of her arms to soak up the excess lotion, then moved the mouse to the Inbox.

Sunny clicked the mouse, fully expecting to see another forward from her mom. How many
'
this one really works
'
and
'
you’ve got to try this one
'
make-a-wish forwards could one woman send
?
Did she really believe if Sunny scrolled down and wished hard enough that a potential husband would pop into her kitchen
?

O-kay. Maybe one of those wishes may have worked
. Sunny must have held her breath just right, stood on one leg, and tugged her earlobe when she wished the last time (
Okay, sometimes I make the wish. W
hat can it hurt, right?
) because the email sitting in her Inbox was from Jake.

It was titled
,
We need to talk
, and Sunny got a little chill from the anticipation of him wanting to see her… and from the fear of him wanting to see her because she and her friends had found out about his weird little online dating hoax
.

She double-clicked the message and gave a little start as his email began,
Dear Sunnygirl.
That meant he knew he had been caught on the online dating site. With apprehension, Sunny continued to
read,
I also enjoy movies, reading, and love dogs. I would like to accompany you next time you take yours for a walk. Call me. Jake
.

Hmmm. Not ‘do you
want
to go on a walk with me?’ or ‘
would
you like to have a talk?’ but more of a direct order of we
are
walking and we
are
talking. Sunny wondered if he was trying to be funny or cute, or was this an actual threat?

The phone rang, and Sunny absently answered as she tried to decipher the meaning of Jake’s message. “Hello.”

Sunny snapped to attention as her hello was answered with nothing but the sound of a deep inhale and exhale of breath on the line.

“Hello,” she said again.

More deep breathing. How could the innocent sound of a life-sustaining, involuntary movement cause such a deep fear to rise from the pit of her stomach
?
The fear was a hard lump in the back of her throat, and she struggled to swallow. Her mouth had gone dry, and the hair stuck up from the goose bumps that pimpled her arms.

She sucked in a deep breath and slowly said, “Quit calling me. I have already notified the police.”  Sunny clicked the off button as she berated herself for not checking the caller ID before she answered the phone.

Rinngg.

Sunny jumped and almost dropped the phone as it rang again in her hand. Her heart pounded furiously, and this time she waited for the second ring to see who was calling.

The phone completed its second ring, and Walter’s number appeared in the display.
Is that who had just called me?
Was Jake behind these calls
?

She wished she would have waited for the caller ID on that last call. If it had shown unknown, she wouldn’t have answered, but at least she would have known if the call was coming from her neighbor’s house.

The phone rang a third time.
This is stupid, and Jake is definitely not stupid. He’s the one who told me to watch the caller ID in the first place
.
Sunny clicked the phone on and softly said, “Hello”.

“Hey Sunny, it’s Jake. I saw your kitchen light on and hoped you were still up.”

“Yeah, I’m up. I just got your email.”

“Oh, you did?”

Sunny couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he was smirking.

“That’s good,” he said. “So, you’re expecting me to accompany you and Beau on a walk tomorrow. Because I think we have some stuff we need to talk about.”

Stuff?
What kind of stuff? Like ‘I want to kiss you again’ stuff or like ‘you may have seen me on last night’s episode
of America’s Most Wanted’ stuff?

“Okay,” she said. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, she asked, “Um, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you just call me a minute ago?”

“No, I just got back from a run and saw your light on.” His voice hardened as it changed from the light-hearted banter a moment before. “Why
?
Did you get another weird call
?
Do you want me to come over?”

Sunny’s heart leapt at the thought of him coming over to protect her. She thought about the way he would charge through the door and take her in his strong arms. She imagined his warm lips as they kissed hers, then trailed down her neck, alternately kissing and nibbling and sucking… as his hands moved up under her shirt along her ribs, and his mouth moved down toward the exposed flesh of her…

“Sunny? You still there?”

“Huh? What?” Jake’s voice startled her out of her reverie. Sunny’s mouth had gone dry again, and the kitchen suddenly seemed very warm.

“I said, do you want me to come over there?”

“Um, no,” Sunny stammered and tried to collect herself. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she assured him, though after kissing him, she was not sure she would ever really be fine again.

“Well, you know the number over here. Will you call me if you need me?”

I need you right now.
She wished she had the courage to tell him what she was really thinking.
I need you to be my hero. I need you to not have hurt Walter. I need you half-naked, in my bed, and wielding a pirate sword.
“Yes, I will,” she said
.

“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow, and we’ll take that walk.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight, Sunny. Lock all the doors and be careful tonight.”

“I will, thanks. Goodnight.” Sunny hung up the phone and sighed. How could she want so strongly to add excitement to her life, and yet be so afraid to reach out and grab it when she has the chance?

She spent the day at a park trying to make a connection with some guy she didn’t even know, yet she wasn’t brave enough to tell the one she did know how she felt. But
did
she really know Jake? That was the real problem.

Sunny checked the lock on the back door and called to Beau. She hit the light switch and headed for the stairs, ready to face another night, with only a shedding, slobbering dog and an unfulfilled pirate fantasy to keep her company
.
  

24

Thud.

Sunny’s eyes popped open as she started awake at the unfamiliar noise. Heart racing, she checked the alarm clock. The digital readout shined eleven-forty-eight pm through the dark room.

She wasn’t sure what woke her, but her mind registered the fear her body recognized. Something was wrong. Sunny pushed up to her elbows as she scanned the dark room. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as they took in the familiar shapes of dresser, chair covered in laundry waiting to be put away, lamp…oh God. A huge, dark figure of a man stood silently against the wall of her bedroom. Had her body responded to the sound of his breath as he silently watched her sleep?