she’d had none. The house’s reputation was too well-known. As she’d learned from her first day in town, no one wanted this house restored but her.
She gaped at him in disbelief. “You came here in the middle of the night to apply for a job?”
“I came here in the middle of the night because that’s when I got into town,” he said as though it were the most logical thing in the world. “It didn’t seem worth trying to get a motel room for what’s left of the night, so I figured I’d camp out in the truck until morning. It’s not the first time.”
It was the kind of thing some people might have judged him for, the idea that he’d slept in his truck in the past. Some might wonder if he were homeless. Maggie had worked in the restoration business too long, worked with too many guys who were just passing through, to find it unusual.
“Where’d you get the flyer?”
“The truck stop,” he said. “I wasn’t planning on stopping, but I could use the work and it seemed like as good an opportunity as any. Thought I might as well check it out.”
On the surface, his words made sense. Given the circumstances, not to mention everything she’d put up with the past several weeks, she couldn’t entirely brush away her wariness. “What exactly is your background? Have you worked construction before?”
“Yep. Done a little bit of everything. Whatever paid the bills.”
The words were plain-spoken, his tone even. If he was a liar, he was a good one. She just couldn’t figure out why he would be lying, why he would be there with that flyer at this time of night for any reason but the one he’d stated.
She wished again that she could see his face. Just a glimpse. The moon offered no help, remaining stubbornly hidden behind the clouds. He was little more than a dark shadow looming over her.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“John,” he said. “John…Samuels.”
He’d answered slowly again, taking his time before providing his first name. If she hadn’t been listening closely, she might have missed the slight beat before he offered his last, as well.
That slight hesitation, so brief she might have imagined it, made her hold on to the last bit of wariness she’d been about to relinquish. Why the pause? Because that wasn’t really his name? Or was she simply imagining what she thought she’d heard, her instincts so on edge because of everything that had happened lately she was reading things that weren’t there?
Whatever the case, she wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind to be interviewing a job applicant. It was two in the morning and she was standing in the dark in nothing but a T-shirt and sweatpants, talking to a complete stranger whose face she couldn’t even see.
The man might be trouble, but not the immediate kind. She could wait to deal with him in the morning.
“Well, John Samuels,” she said. “As you can imagine I wasn’t expecting any job applicants right now. We can talk about it in the morning. That is, if I haven’t scared you off the idea of working for me.”
“I don’t scare that easily.”
That was reassuring. Given the number of people who’d probably try to warn him off if he took the job, it was a good quality to have.
“Okay, then,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
There was a flash of motion that might have been him nodding. “Sounds good.”
Maggie slowly backed away, not quite ready to let down her guard. Only when she was on the other side of the street did she finally turn. She marched back to the house, glancing over her shoulder at him every few steps. He never moved her entire way there. She could feel his eyes on her, hot and unrelenting.
Finally reaching the house, she hurried up the steps and rushed inside. She closed the door behind herself and locked it, then sagged against it. She drew in a breath, once again trying to slow her suddenly racing heart.
That had certainly been odd.
Considering the circumstances, she wouldn’t blame the man if he was nowhere to be found when morning came. Despite his words, she had to believe anyone would have second thoughts about working for someone who introduced herself by coming at him with a baseball bat. A reluctant chuckle worked its way from her lungs. And after all the trouble he’d gone to to find the place at this time of night—
The laugh died in her throat. Only then did it occur to her that the address hadn’t been listed on the flyer. At this time of night, nothing would have been open in town, so no one would have been around to give him directions.
So how had he known how to find the house?
The thought drove her back to the window.
He was nowhere in sight. There was nothing there.
It was like he’d never been there at all.
She scanned the darkness frantically, her heart in her throat, the notion that she’d somehow imagined the encounter leaping to mind.
Then she spotted it. The silhouette of his truck, barely visible but unmistakably there.
She slowly relaxed, her shoulders slumping, even if the emotion coursing through her couldn’t quite be described as relief. Instead, her wariness was back, tugging insistently deep within her.
She stared at the truck’s faint outline, almost tempted to go out there and confront him. Embarrassment held her in place. She’d already made a fool of herself once tonight by asking a question he’d had a reasonable enough answer for. She didn’t really feel like risking having the same thing happen again.
Whatever the answer was, it could wait until morning. She could find out then.
And she would, she thought resolutely, turning away from the window to scan the darkness of the house. She’d dealt with enough nonsense when it came to this house.
Whether it came from the man outside or any number of vandals, she wasn’t going to put up with any more.
SAM watched the woman make her way back to the house. Every few steps she’d stop and he sensed her glancing back at him, but he couldn’t see her face any more than he suspected she could see his. A minute later, she finally reached the house and slipped inside.
For what seemed like the first time since she’d come tearing out of the building, yelling and brandishing a bat, he took a breath.
It hadn’t exactly been how he’d wanted his first meeting with his intended boss to go. He’d have to work hard to make a better impression in the morning. He needed this job. It was too perfect for his purposes. In a town this small, there was little reason for a stranger to show up for no reason and stick around.
And he wasn’t going anywhere.
Pulling open the door of the truck, he climbed back into the driver’s seat. He probably should have stayed there in the first place rather than getting out and standing in the open. No wonder he’d caught her attention. Naturally, she’d be suspicious of a stranger standing in the dark in the middle of the night staring at her house.
But after the long drive, he’d needed to stretch his legs. Not to mention, he’d wanted to try to get a better look at the house. It was so dark he hadn’t been able to see much from the truck. He’d thought he might have a better chance of seeing the house from outside.
To see if it matched what he saw in his nightmares.
Even as he thought it, the image rose in his mind, not the building shadowed in darkness, but the one he remembered. A shudder rolled through him, causing his limbs to jerk, the motion completely involuntary.
A ragged breath worked its way from his lungs. He’d never thought he’d be here again, never wanted to return to this town, let alone this house. But here he was.
And