California Schemin' - Kate George [7]
I went to stand with Beau, who had finished nailing a board over the broken window in the door.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” I scanned his face for signs of stress. Life with Beau was generally easy. He was laid back, an affectionate and fun-loving guy. But strangers in his house was something out of his comfort zone.
“What makes you ask that?”
“They didn’t find my camera or laptop. They don’t know about my computer, but they could have seen my camera. I think that’s what they were looking for.”
“That depends on how badly they want to see those pictures. It’s possible they’ll try again. Tomorrow you’re coming to work with me. I’m not taking any chances on them finding you alone.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. “I don’t care how determined they are, you are mine, and they can’t have you.”
“Better be careful, they’ll be marking 'doesn’t share well with others' on your report card.” I was thinking that taking me to work was over the top, but I knew better than to try and argue with him when he was worried about me.
“Let ‘em. I don’t think sharing well with others was ever my strong point. Playing well with others, maybe, in the right circumstances. Come on,” Beau smiled at me “I’m taking you into town for dinner.
The next morning as we were getting ready to leave, I rummaged around for a Sharpie and wrote a note on a piece of paper. It read: The Camera is at the Sheriff’s Department. I taped it to the outside of the door.
Beau looked at my handy work and laughed. “They’ll think you’re bluffing.”
“Well I’m taking both the camera and the computer with me, so tossing the house again isn’t going to help them. I’m just trying to save us the trouble of cleaning up again. It’s worth a try.”
He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him as we walked to the truck.
“Did you hear the phone ring this morning?” he asked.
“Yeah, what was that all about?”
“I’ve got some bad news.” He slid into the driver seat. “Michael likes what I’ve done so far, and he wants me to do some more stone work at the house. It’ll be at least a couple more weeks before I’m done.
“How is that bad news?” I asked. I walked around and climbed into the truck.
“You told me yesterday you’re ready to go home.”
“Yeah, but you aren’t. More work is a good thing.” I hoped I was pulling off the appropriate empathetic tone, but my heart was sinking.
Beau smiled and dropped his hand on my thigh, so I guessed I was doing a good job with the whole supportive girlfriend thing.
The day passed peacefully. I sat in the sun reading and surfing the net while Beau pieced the stonework on the outside of the chimney. He packed up as the sun dropped behind the trees, and we headed into Nevada City for dinner and a movie.
We ate at Dave’s Burgers and walked along the old-world streets lit with street lamps and twinkle lights to the theater. The three original Star Wars movies were playing. We bought candy and sat through one and two before I started to drift off.
“Bree,” Beau whispered and shook my shoulder. “Let’s get out of here before the next one starts.”
“Okay.” I stretched and gathered my coat and candy wrappers.
Out on the street Beau put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. We walked down the hill looking in shop windows.
“Such a pretty town,” I said looking at the brick buildings and the lights. The windows were filled with paintings and funky clothes, candy and stuffed toys. “It’s like Disneyland.”
“Only better,” said Beau. “We didn’t have to pay to get in.”
We turned into the dark side street where the truck was parked. Both passenger side tires were flat. We walked up the road. I was thinking we must have driven over a beer bottle.
“Shit,” Beau said. “Someone broke into the truck.”
We walked to the passenger door, and I noticed the window had been broken. I looked through the window and