The Echo of Old Books

by Barbara Davis

“I was just . . . I didn’t think you were home. I rang the bell but no one answered.” “So you thought you’d just let yourself in?” “No!” She held up the book in her defense. “I was just going to leave this inside the storm door, then call and leave a message when I got back to the shop. I tried the mailbox, but it’s full.” Ethan eyed the book, then looked at her, frowning. “It’s illegal to go into someone’s mailbox.” Ashlyn blinked at him. Is it really? “I wasn’t going to take anything. I was just going to leave the book.” “Why?” Ashlyn shot him a nervous smile. This wasn’t going quite the way she’d hoped. “I have some questions. And I’ve learned some things since the night you came to the shop. I left you several messages but I never heard back.” “So you came to my house.” It sounded bad when he said it. Intrusive and a little bit creepy. “Not to see you. Well, I’d have to see you, but I wasn’t planning to bother you. I wrote my questions down on Post-its and stuck them to the pages so you could look them over when you had time. If I had known you were here, I wouldn’t have . . .” Ashlyn let the words dangle. He looked tired and annoyed, as if she’d caught him in the middle of something. “I’m sorry. It looks like I picked a bad time.”

super freaking creepy!! but like, in a cute way... cute stalker