Page 47 of Then Came You

She shook her head vigorously. Sam could never take Owen’s place. Nobody could. She’d been wrong for even entertaining the idea.

Sam was a good man, a caring friend, and she enjoyed his company. But he wasn’t “her Owen,” and Sam could never replace what she’d lost.

Chapter 16

Sam checked his phone numerous times throughout the day, but there was no word from Gillian. He’d thought about stopping by the coffee shop on his break, but he hadn’t wanted to bother her. He figured she might need some time to process what had happened between them, but he hadn’t expected her to need this much time.

His situation reminded him of when his sister was a teenager and she used to wait by the phone for some guy to call. Only, he wasn’t a teenaged girl! By the time his shift was over, he was disgusted with himself, but that hadn’t stopped him from worrying about Gillian’s safety.

It was almost eleven thirty at night when he left the station, but he decided to drive by her house and check it out. Chances were she’d be sleeping and she’d never know he’d done it, but he’d feel better.

His truck rumbled down the dirt road, and he didn’t pass a single car. He braked when his headlights shone on a deer, which paused to look at him and then bounded across the road and disappeared into the trees.

When he reached her driveway, he stopped and looked down the lane to her house. The place was lit up inside and out, and he wondered if she’d had trouble sleeping or if she always stayed up this late. There was still so much he wanted to learn about her, but he questioned if he’d ever get the chance.

Sweeping his gaze around the area, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but since he was there and since she was up…

“Ah, hell. I’m doing it!”

He pulled into her drive and switched the headlights to low beam. No use alerting Stella to his arrival, although she might have spotted him anyway.

He parked close to the house and turned off the truck. Then he waited a minute to see if Gillian might peek out the curtains or open the door for him, but no such luck. Since he didn’t want to frighten her by knocking on the door this late, he picked up his phone and called.

While the phone was ringing, he saw her silhouette through the living room curtains.

“C’mon. Pick up,” he pleaded.

“Hello. You’ve reached the voicemail of Gillian—”

Sam disconnected and let out a growl. Why hadn’t she answered? If she had company, he figured there’d be a car in the driveway, although she had a two-car garage, so somebody could have parked in there. He doubted it, though. His instinct was that she was upset about something, maybe over what had happened last night, but he didn’t intend to wait to find out.

He got out of the truck and slammed the door hard, hoping she’d hear it and come to investigate. Her front door remained closed, and her shadow had disappeared.

He climbed the porch steps and raised his hand to knock, but then he hesitated. Why am I doing this? If she doesn’t want to talk to me, why am I pursuing her? Why can’t I just walk away?

Then he thought about what his sister had said about not giving up. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a quitter. There was something between them, even if Gillian wasn’t ready to admit it. While he didn’t want to push, he also didn’t want her to back away. They’d made some real progress recently, and he wanted their relationship to go forward, not backward.

Yes, he wanted to kiss her again, but there was more to it than that. She’d started to open up to him, shown glimpses of her true self, and he wanted more of that. He was starting to need it just like he needed his coffee.

Having decided to stay, he knocked on the door twice and called out her name at the same time. “Gillian, it’s Sam. Open up.”

He heard Cocoa first, and it sounded like he was whimpering on the other side of the door. Then he heard footsteps.

“Sam?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

The door slowly opened, and there she stood, wearing the same pajamas as last night minus the robe.

“Come in,” she said, motioning him inside.

He studied her face, looking for signs of distress, but she wore a neutral expression. Somehow he thought that might be worse.

“I tried calling you a minute ago. Why didn’t you answer?”

“Do you want to sit down?”

“Sure.”