Chapter 37

Nichole had her whole life packed up and ready to be shipped to California. There were six boxes. That’s it. She’d donated everything else, given a few things to friends, let the woman next door take whatever she wanted, and was ready to go.

There was her lunch with Lana and then her flight later that afternoon. She had to pinch herself as she watched rain fall out her window. The weather had turned cold and miserable. She wouldn’t miss days like this where she didn’t want to go out, but she had to. Being able to go jogging most mornings or head to the park or the beach on the weekends would be amazing.

Maybe that’s why she’d traveled so much. She’d hated living with the cold, rainy, or snowy weather. After dropping her boxes off, she went back to her apartment one last time. On the way there, she noticed a guy standing across from her building who’d been there the day before.

Was she making things up in her mind? The weather wasn’t good enough to sit outside like this dude. She’d thought about going over and confronting him, but not after what had happened on her last assignment. This guy keeping tabs on her scared her. It made her think he wanted to do something bad.

A shiver snaked down her spine as she entered the building and turned back, seeing his eyes on her. No doubt, the man was watching her. Before, she’d thought she was being paranoid, but she wasn’t.

Someone was watching her. Thank God she was moving. She wouldn’t be here after she left for lunch. There wouldn’t be any coming back this way to do one last goodbye. After lunch, she would head directly to the airport and wait in the security area.

For a moment, she wondered if she should call Jesse, but what could he do other than worry? This wasn’t a big deal. She would be fine. Just one lunch, and she wouldn’t be in Chicago.