"How do you think Rob will feel that you’re back to life outside of Castle Delaney?” Alice's voice was in my ear, as intimate as my own internal voice, since I had my Bluetooth in while I went through the client list in my home office. I was copying down the names of everyone who had mysteriously decided they no longer needed our services. I was going to put things to rights, that morning; they could look me in the face and deny that Rebecca was behind this. I wondered who would tell me the truth.

I glanced at the clock again. It was just after sunrise. I hadn’t been able to sleep. It would be a while before I could start my rounds.

"He doesn't have to like it," I said. I scratched the cat in my lap behind the ears, until a furry head smooched my chin. "I have work to do."

"How are you doing?" Alice asked.

"Should I do my chin-up-buttercup routine with you too or do you want the ugly truth?"

"I hope you know I'm not going to scold you for having complicated feelings about the complicated boy."

"I miss him," I said. Saying the words out loud, flatly, made them feel both real and more manageable. "Isn't that ridiculous? We barely spent any time together, really. And I already feel lonelier without him."

"Aw," Alice said. "You have me. And the cats."

“You’re right, I know that. I deserve better.”

“Yeah, you do,” Alice said. “But hearts can be made out of idiot sometimes.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, Alice.” But she had made me smile faintly anyway. My sister always knew how to brighten my mood. When she wasn’t making me crazy. “I have a bunch of errands to run this morning. And then I’m having lunch with Mom and Dad. If you want to provide back-up…”

"Are you going to tell them about what's going on?"

"Which part? The part where I had sex with an inappropriate man without being appropriately married? Or the part where my sex life led to the destruction of a business they spent thirty plus years building?"

"You're being dramatic."

"Well, I get my dramatic from Dad, so..."

"It'll be fine," Alice promised. "They love you, no matter what a swathe of destruction you carve through Rhode Island."

"You aren't making me feel better."

"I'll try again later. I have meetings through lunch, but call me after three if you need to talk."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too."

I hung up with Alice, took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. Conflict of any kind gave me a squishy feeling in my stomach. That was why I’d spent the morning avoiding Rob’s calls; I knew he’d be imperious as always, telling me what I needed to do. I bit down on my lip as my phone rang yet again. But this was a different caller. A former client.

"Hi, Naomi," the receptionist said sprightly. "I'm calling from Dr. Z's dentistry. We wondered if we could set up a daily cleaning after 8pm?"

"I can do that for you, absolutely," I said. I felt a sudden sense of lightness. And sure enough, as business hours opened, more calls came in. Our clients were coming back.

Thank god for that bright spot, because without my phone connection to Alice, I was nervous as hell. I kept jumping every time the windy, rainy day outside caused the branches of the willow tree in the yard to scrape against the roof.

A sudden noise in the next room caused me to jump again, snatching my phone out of my pocket. My heart beat out of control. Then two waving white tails appeared in the doorway, just visible over the edge of my desk.

"You guys startled me," I scolded the cats, who did not seem remotely apologetic. I scooped them up into my lap, feeling my heart slow again to normal as I stroked their fur. They flopped on top of each other, shameless in their competition for belly rubs.

There was a distant thump.

The cats were right there with me.

It had to have been a noise from outside: an animal, maybe, or a big branch falling off the tree. I eased the cats off my lap, unhooking their claws from my jeans. Getting up from the desk chair, I picked up my cell phone again, turning it nervously in my hand.

The cats suddenly fled the room, their bodies low to the ground. They were fleeing for their beloved hiding space behind my refrigerator. Growing nervous, I eased the office door quietly shut behind them, popping the doorknob lock shut. It would only take a few seconds to open it from the other side, but it was something.

I went to the window, pushing the blinds aside and pressing my face against the glass so I could get the best look possible down at my backyard.

A flicker of motion. A man. Entering my house through the glass sliding doors.

I pressed my back against the wall, overcome with a sudden sickening fear. My hands shook as I dialed Rob's number, trying to stay calm despite the sudden dizzying surge of adrenaline. Rob picked up after the first ring.

"Hey," he said, his voice full of concern. “Where are you?”

"There's someone in my house, Rob. Maybe more than one person."

"You need to hide," he said. "Buy us some time to get to you. Joe is calling 9-1-1 right now, the police have already been alerted you’re in trouble. We're on our way."

"I locked the door. I can go out on the roof. By the garage. It'd be hard to see me from the ground."

"Do that." In the background, I could hear Liam rapid-fire on the phone, the roar of the Suburban’s engine.

I quickly opened up the closet door in my office, pulling at hangers, dropping a few to the ground. Hopefully once they broke into the room, they'd waste time searching. Walking as softly as possible, I crossed to the window and slid my fingers under the sill, easing it slowly up. My backyard looked serene: rain specked the poured-concrete patio, my brightly colored patio umbrella waved in the breeze, and beyond the yard were the swaying green pines. There was no sign of anyone at all.

Tucking my cell phone into my bra so I had both hands free, I eased myself out onto the roof. The shingles of the roof were rough under the soles of my bare feet.

I had to reach up to get my fingers on the top of the window sash, and the sense of hanging out over the ground below, stretched to my full height, made my head swim. I hated heights. I dragged down on the window. It stuck, just barely open. Just enough to give me away. Biting down on my lip, I leveraged my body weight, hanging off the sash. It ground the last half-inch shut.

I shuffled on my knees across the roof to the bay window by the garage, nervously climbing over the peaked roof of the garage so I could hide from view of the office window. Then, settled with my feet braced on the roof and my back against the curve of the roof window, I fished my cell phone from my bra. "You still there?"

"I'm on my way, Naomi. Just hang on."

"I'm hanging on. Pretty much literally. Don't have much choice." There was a shake in my laugh.

"You're a brave girl," Rob said. "I've seen that before.”

“I know I’m brave. I do your laundry.”

But despite the brave words, my hands were shaking so badly that I was afraid my clumsy fingers would drop the phone. My adrenaline made the world a dark-edged blur.

"I don't feel brave," I whispered, my voice so soft I wasn't sure Rob could hear. "I feel terrified."

"I'll be right there," he promised.

He didn't say there was no reason not to be terrified.