Shadows at Sunset: Sunset Trilogy ~ Book 1 (30 page)

The minutes ticked by painfully slowly. The quiet haunted me, and as each second passed, I worried more and more about Dakota. Something strange was going on, something that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Wild wolves didn’t roam northern New England in this day and age. What one was doing out there frightened me. But what terrified me even more was the person lurking in the woods. I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen someone tonight, but I knew the truth and I wouldn’t forget it easily.

The door handle rattled and my heart nearly skipped a beat until Noah appeared. He snapped off the flashlight as he shut the door. “I didn’t see anything. There’s no sign of anyone.”

My blood ran cold, but I forced myself to appear reassured. “I’m sure it was nothing, then. It was really dark. There’s barely a sliver of the moon out tonight and the patio light wasn’t even on. It must be all those crazy books I’ve been reading lately.” I tried to make light of the situation, wishing I could believe my own words.

“Let’s hope that’s all it was,” Noah said with a sigh as he set the flashlight on the counter. “Does your dad have a liquor cabinet around here? I could use a drink.”

I choked back my surprise. This was a side of Noah I hadn’t seen yet. An older, more mature side. I suddenly realized how little I knew about him. In spite of my hesitation, I resolved to go along with him. “Check the cabinet above the refrigerator. There might be something up there.”

As Noah headed straight for it, I heard a faint scratching at the door. “Dakota!” I gasped as I raced across the kitchen.

Praying that he was okay, I whipped the door open. Dakota trotted in without missing a beat. His head was up and his stride confident. I scanned the floor for drops of blood, knowing I wouldn’t see them against his black fur. Not a single spot of red could be seen on the white tiles.

“Dakota!” I repeated in a half scolding, half relieved tone. “You scared the hell out of me. I told you not to take off!”

I didn’t even consider my words as I said them. Noah glanced at me, his eyebrows raised, as he turned from the counter where he was making himself a drink with a Coke and my father’s bourbon.

I didn’t have a chance to explain how I expected Dakota to understand me. A low growl came from Dakota’s throat, and I immediately looked down at him. He had stopped in the center of the kitchen and glared at Noah.

“Hey!” I said sharply as Noah turned around, his eyes locked on Dakota.

“Laken, uh, what’s going on with him?” Noah asked as Dakota ignored me and raised his lip, exposing his sharp canine teeth.

“I don’t know,” I muttered. Marching around to stand between Noah and Dakota, I pointed a finger at Dakota. “You’d better have a good reason for this, Dakota.” ‘
Don’t mess this up for me, I mean it.
’
Mixed emotions of being pitted between my beloved wolf and the guy who was stealing my heart churned inside me. ‘
Please,
’
I begged silently in a softer tone. ‘
You know how much Noah means to me.
’

Dakota’s growl finally faded. He tossed me a knowing look before whipping around and taking off up the stairs to my bedroom.

I took a deep breath as I turned around to face Noah. “I’m sorry about that. He must be a little on edge from whatever was out there tonight.”

Noah’s anxious expression relaxed a little as he reached for his glass. “Can’t say I blame him. It’s been a more eventful night than I expected.” He swirled the drink around the ice cubes before sipping it.

A daring thought came to my mind. I knew the perfect way to not only forget the person in the woods but also show Noah I could be mature. “Mind if I have one of those?” I asked, tilting my head in the direction of his drink.

Noah raised his eyebrows, apparently surprised by my request. “You really are trouble. Your parents could come home at any minute.”

I glanced at the kitchen clock. “Not likely. It’s only eight-thirty. I’ll take my chances.”

“I thought you said you don’t drink.”

“I don’t. But there’s a first for everything, right?”

Noah looked skeptical. “Perhaps, but that doesn’t make this the right time for it,” he said slowly.

I tipped my head to the side as I narrowed my eyes with a sly smile. “Well, you can either let me try it now while you’re here to make sure I’m safe or I could try one while I’m at some wild party where anything could happen.”

He took a deep breath. “Fine,” he relented. “I’ll make you something weak and you can try it. But just one. And I’m only doing this because it will help you sleep and you might need that tonight.”

“Yeah, I probably will,” I said quietly.

“But not a word to your father. I could get in big trouble for this.”

I rolled my eyes. “I think I can keep a secret. My father doesn’t know everything about me.” There was more truth in that statement than Noah could possibly imagine.

As Noah pulled another glass out of the cabinet, I retreated to the table to wait for my drink. Butterflies danced in my stomach. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I was the good girl. I’d never even thought of stealing a drink from my father’s liquor stash before. It was exciting, but also a little scary.
What are you so worried about? It will probably be so weak that you won’t even feel it. And it’s about time you took a risk. Brooke would be proud if she could see you now.

Noah finished making my drink and returned the bottle to the cabinet above the refrigerator before joining me at the table. We toasted to better times, joking about someday having a date that didn’t get interrupted. I sipped the drink, barely tasting the alcohol. He must have only added a drop of bourbon as I had expected.

We talked for hours, long after finishing our drinks. The alcohol seemed to relax me. Between that and knowing I was doing something I shouldn’t, I almost forgot about the person I’d seen in the shadows.

At eleven o’clock, Noah stood to leave. I tried not to let my disappointment show when he gave me a quick kiss before heading out to his car. As I locked the door, the empty house suddenly seemed creepy and images of stalker movies filled my mind. I contemplated running after Noah and asking him to stay until my parents returned. But Dakota was upstairs, so I wasn’t really alone. And I didn’t want Noah to know I was scared. Only one of us needed to know the truth.

With that thought, I put our empty glasses in the dishwasher and headed up to my room to hide out with Dakota until my parents got home or I fell asleep, whichever came first.

Chapter 18

When I opened my eyes the next morning, bright sunlight filtered into my room through the window. I yawned, stretched, and turned on my side to face away from the window, amazed that I had slept through the night. My eyes closed as I focused on the good parts from last night. Nothing made me happier than Noah’s kisses and the fact that I now had a date for the Homecoming dance. Of everything that had happened last night, that’s what I wanted to remember the most.

Suddenly, I heard a deep sigh behind me. I flipped over onto my other side to see Dakota sleeping on his big fluffy bed. Memories of his reaction to Noah last night darkened my thoughts. As I frowned, Dakota opened his eyes and lifted his head. He studied me, his expression telling me he wasn’t sorry for it. ‘
Fine, Dakota,
’
I thought. ‘
But you’re going to have to get used to him whether you like it or not
.’ When he rolled his eyes at me, I whipped over onto my other side and stared at the wall. It bothered me that he didn’t like Noah, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

After a few minutes, I stood and headed down the stairs still wearing my pajamas. The scent of hazelnut coffee creamer filled the kitchen. My parents were in the midst of their Sunday morning coffee and newspaper ritual when I turned the corner from the stairwell. They wore their robes as they perused the black and white pages sprawled out over the table, the edges curled up against their mugs of steaming coffee.

I trudged over to the coffee pot, craving the caffeine to help me wake up. As I pulled a mug out of the cabinet and filled it, my mother looked up from her newspaper. “Good morning, Laken. You’re up a little late today. Did you have a nice time with Noah last night?”

I splashed some hazelnut creamer in my coffee before turning to lean against the counter. “Yeah. It was nice. He brought a pizza over. And some raw chicken for Dakota, but Dakota was out late.” I purposely left out a lot of details from last night. If my parents knew half of what had happened, from the person in the woods behind our house to my drinking, they’d never leave me home alone again.

“That was nice of him. What else did the two of you do?” She forgot about the newspaper as she watched me curiously. My father didn’t seem nearly as interested in my evening as he continued reading an article, his face angled so that all I could see was his graying beard.

“Just hung out. I asked him to go to Homecoming with me and he said yes.” I knew my mother would love to hear that. At least I didn’t have to hide everything that had happened last night.

She smiled excitedly. “Oh, that’s wonderful, honey. I’ll take you shopping for a dress. I hope you don’t mind doing that with your mother,” she teased, her brown eyes hopeful.

“No, of course not. As long as Brooke can come with us.”

“Sure she can. Does she have a date, too?”

“Sort of. She and Ethan made a pact that if she didn’t have a date by the end of the week, he would take her. And as far as I know, she didn’t get asked by anyone else.”

“Oh, they’ll make a cute couple. Are the four of you going to go together?”

“I don’t know. We really haven’t talked about it. It’s still a few weeks away.” I changed the subject after swallowing a few sips of my coffee. “So, Dad, Noah told me he had to go over to Mrs. Parks’s house to rescue her cat.”

My father nodded without looking up from his paper. “You got that right. I’ve been over to her place a half a dozen times this year to get her damn cat out of that tree. It was his turn.”

I laughed. “Are you sending him out on all of the silly calls like that?”

“Damn right. He’s young. When he gets to be my age and he’s the sheriff, then he can call the shots.” Suddenly my father lifted his head to look at me. “Why? What did he say about that?”

“Nothing,” I assured him. “But I’m glad he told me about it. I have to do a research project on something to do with New England history. When Noah told me about going over to Mrs. Parks’s house, it reminded me that her house was part of the Underground Railroad. So now I have a topic for the project.”

“That’s a great idea,” my mother said. “I’ll be interested to hear what you learn from it. It’s such a shame that she’s let her house practically fall apart since her husband died. The town has offered to help her fix it up to preserve it as a historical landmark, but she keeps refusing. How are you planning to do your research?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it since I just came up with the idea last night. I guess mostly online.”

My mother wrinkled her eyebrows in thought for a moment. “There’s an old library up in Littleton. I mean, it’s so old, I bet some of the books have been collecting dust for fifty years now, especially since the dawn of the internet. Most of them were written by people who lived around here. You should check it out. You never know what you might find. I’d be willing to bet you’ll find some old memoirs you’d never find online. I have the address of the library with my school papers. Remind me to get it for you later.”

“That would be awesome. But first I have to make sure my partner agrees to this topic. It’s a group project.”

“I can’t see how anyone would turn it down.”

I nodded. “I hope you’re right. I’ll be interested to see his reaction when I pitch the idea.” I suddenly realized how much time I would be spending with Xander on this project over the next few months. The idea of it was both alluring and frightening. Pushing him out of my thoughts, I asked, “So, Dad, if you’ve been over to Mrs. Parks’s house a lot, do you think you could get her to give me a tour. I’d love to see the hidden compartments where they hid the slaves.”

“Not a chance,” my father answered quickly, without so much as a thought.

“Too bad. That would be really cool.”

As my mother turned her attention back to the newspaper, I reached into the cabinet behind me for a bowl. After pouring some Cheerios from the box sitting out on the counter, I added a healthy dose of milk. Then I carried it with my coffee and a spoon over to the table.

I set my bowl and mug down in the tiny opening between the sprawling newspaper pages and sat down. As I raised a spoonful of cereal to my mouth, my father turned over his paper to reveal the stack of unread college brochures. His gaze lifted from the article he’d been reading, settling on me instead. “Laken, when are you going to go through these brochures and decide which schools you want to apply to?”

I groaned inwardly.
Never,
I thought, but I didn’t dare answer my father so truthfully. I looked down at my Cheerios as I crunched on them. My words needed to be chosen carefully. As I looked up and swallowed my cereal, my parents watched me expectantly. “Okay, I’ve been giving this some thought. The problem is that I don’t know what I want to major in. And I don’t want to waste money on a school until I know what it is I want to do. So I was hoping that maybe we could reach a compromise.” I paused, studying their reactions. My mother appeared to be open to suggestions, but my father huffed with resistance.

“Laken--” he began.

“Wait, Dad, before you say anything, let me explain. What if I enroll at the college down in Plymouth to take some core classes? I could live here and get a part-time job in town. Then later on, when I decide what I want to study, I can transfer those credits to another school and we will have saved money on the room and board for a year or so.” I shifted my eyes from him to my mother and back to him.

My mother appeared pleasantly surprised, but my father still objected, although weakly. “It’s not about the money, Laken. This is your future. Let your mother and I worry about the money,” he said.

My mother placed a calming hand on his forearm. “It’s not a terrible idea, Tom.”

“Yes, it is. And it’s only delaying the inevitable. If she puts it off next year, who’s to say she won’t continue to put it off?” My father looked back at me. “I never got out of this town, and now I never will. I want something better for you.”

“But, Dad, I love this town and I don’t want to leave.”

A knowing look crossed over my father’s expression. “Oh, now I understand. This is about Dakota, isn’t it?”

I glanced down at my cereal as I tried to think of how best to answer him. Yes, it had a lot to do with Dakota, but the only way I would convince both my parents to let me stay home next year was if I could prove to them that it was best for me. “Dakota is part of it. I can’t take him to college with me. But shouldn’t I know what I really want to study before I pick a full-time college?”

My parents exchanged an unspoken look between the two of them. I thought I noticed a brief understanding in their eyes.

Then my father sighed, his expression softening. “Okay. It’s a possibility. Let us think about it for a while. In the meantime, I want you to take all of these brochures up to your room and go through them. I want you to pick at least three schools you’re interested in whether you apply to them for next year or the year after next. And don’t worry about Dakota. He can stay here with your mom and me. I always figured he would. We’d never turn him out when you leave, and, Laken, eventually you are going to leave here.”

Even though my parents hadn’t officially agreed to let me stay home next year, I knew I had gotten as much of a concession as I would get today. “All right. I’ll get started on it soon.”

“Good. Let us know what schools you’ve decided on by the end of November,” my father said. “And I won’t forget. So put it on your calendar. November thirtieth.”

I nodded. “November thirtieth,” I repeated, making a mental note of it.

My father could be reasonable if I met him halfway, so I would have to make sure I didn’t miss his deadline.

As my parents turned back to the newspaper, I quietly finished my cereal and coffee, grateful to have a reprieve on my college decision, at least for now.

***

Later that afternoon as I sat at my bedroom desk in my black sweat pants and a gray hoodie pouring over my Calculus homework, my phone rang. I dropped my pencil and pushed my book to the side of the desk, grateful for a diversion. I reached for my phone, smiling when I read Noah’s name across the screen.

Suddenly, the Calculus problem I had been struggling to solve was completely forgotten. As I swiped the screen, I stared blankly out the window at the trees stretching up to a bright blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. But I barely noticed the view as Noah’s brown eyes and warm smile flashed through my mind. “Hi, Noah,” I said.

“Hey. I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing today.”

His familiar deep voice sent goose bumps racing down my arms and legs. I couldn’t help smiling at my memories of last night, at least the good one of his kiss when he had arrived. “I’m fine, although I’m doing a lot better now that you called.”

“Then I’ll have to call more often.”

“That sounds good to me.” I could only imagine the love-struck smile that tugged at my lips.

“Did your parents get home soon after I left?”

“I’m not sure since I went up to bed. They were here when I woke up this morning.”

“And you were okay? I mean after I left,” Noah said hesitantly, his voice worried.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I have been okay?” I really didn’t need him to answer that. The strange wolf and the person sneaking around in the woods last night appeared in my thoughts, but I wasn’t about to bring them up. As far as I was concerned, it would be better if we both forgot about them. “Dakota was here.”

He laughed softly. “You’re right. What am I saying? He’s not one to mess with. You were definitely safe. I hope he’ll learn to trust me someday.”

“He will. Just give him time. He can be leery of strangers.”

“Well, hopefully I won’t be a stranger to him for long.” Noah paused, and just when I was thinking of a way to change the subject, he continued. “Have you thought any more about what you saw?”

“Not really. I’m trying to forget it.”