Naomi’s eyes filled with tears, and she walked to Gemma. “Then you weren’t looking hard enough, hon. I’m glad you didn’t marry that man. It would have been a mistake.”
Damn straight. “Especially since he was fucking Christina Big Tits at the time.” Gemma got out a letter opener. She should at least look. Jesse had brought it for her. What if it was actually from him? Her heart rate sped up just a little. A good reason to stay away. She was serious about the love thing. She really didn’t want it. But he was too tempting. And Bare-Chested Ape Man was, too. Damn him. “Patrick and I lived in the same world.”
Naomi sat down. “Your world is very narrow from what I can tell. And not particularly pleasant. Why aren’t you joining the party?”
Because those people scared the crap out of her with their babies and happy lives and small-town world. Everyone knew everyone else. Everyone seemed to accept everyone else. It was a façade. She wasn’t a dumbass. If she scratched the surface, she would probably find out that Callie hated Rachel Harper and had affairs with half the town, and sweet-faced Nell was really a horrible person. At least Max Harper was honest about his assholiness. “I don’t have anything in common with them.”
“Did they give you a class in self-delusion at Harvard?” It was obviously a rhetorical question since she didn’t wait for an answer. Naomi held up the package. “Who knows you’re here?”
“I left a forwarding address, but that was to our place in Chicago.” She looked at the package. She wanted to go back to the window and watch those two men, but they had been leaving. And it wasn’t like she could go after them. The package looked to be tightly taped down. Gemma started to hack into it. “It’s probably from someone at my old firm. They could find me pretty easily. I didn’t exactly get a chance to clean out my desk. After Christina Big Tits pressed charges, they fired me and wouldn’t let me back in the building.”
A single eyebrow arched. Naomi wasn’t past thirty-five, but she had the motherly attitude down. “Really? I suspect that is not her real last name.”
Someone had been damn serious about taping that package down. The whole thing was wrapped in thick tape. “It might have been Fake Tits. Not sure.”
Naomi leaned forward, her dark eyes sympathetic. “You know this wall you’ve built around yourself is going to have to come down someday.”
“I don’t see why.” She freed one side and went to work on the other. She’d worked hard to build those walls. Taking them down would be a poor use of her time.
“Because you’re never going to find happiness if you don’t.”
“Happiness is overrated. Ask my mom.” Her mom was the reason she didn’t believe in happily ever after. Her mom had done everything right when it came to picking her husband. And he’d died anyway. No forever. No joy. Just an aching sadness and a hole that couldn’t be filled.
“Honey, you should ask your mom. I think you would find she wouldn’t have changed a thing about her life. She’s worried about you. I am, too.”
Gemma finally pried the box open only to be met with a layer of plastic. What had she left behind at the office? No pictures. She hadn’t had any. They’d sent on her expensively framed degrees to Chicago and they now sat in a box on the kitchen counter. Would they really send her all the office supplies she’d kept? “Don’t be worried about my love life. Worry about my career. I haven’t gotten a single callback.”
Naomi was like a dog with a bone. She just wouldn’t let go. “That Jesse seemed like a nice man. Why didn’t you stay and talk to him?”
“Because I don’t want to get my heart ripped out.” She pulled back the plastic and gagged a little. Fuck. She hadn’t left that in her desk. “Looks like someone else had their heart ripped out.”
Tension prickled along her spine. There was no blood in the box, just an organ that had been surgically removed, if the neatness of the incisions was any indication. Someone had sent her a message. A heart. Dead and unmoving. A useless thing, a little like her own.
Naomi put a hand over her nose and looked inside the box where the brownish-gray heart lay. Nothing else. Just a heart. “Okay, gross. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t get my mom.” She followed Naomi to the door. “You don’t need to get anyone. It’s a prank.”
Naomi shook her head. “It’s a threat. Calm down. I’ll be discreet.”
Naomi strode off the porch and made a beeline for Nate Wright. He waved a hello to her as he cuddled his baby close. Gemma frowned as Naomi discreetly whispered something to the sheriff that caused him to hand off his son and start walking her way. As though he had sonar hearing, Cam Briggs perked up and started following, too. The rest of the party continued, but the two lawmen strode her way.
Nate had a fierce scowl on his face as he climbed her steps. “Seriously? You’ve been on the job for less than twenty-four hours and you’ve picked up a crazy?”
Gemma shrugged. She hated to admit it, but she actually would feel better if Nate knew about it. It was a heart. A freaking heart. She buried the fear deep. It wouldn’t help to show it. “You know how to pick ’em, boss.”
Cam smiled, the buttons of his shirt open and showing off tanned skin. “I’m excited. It’s been boring around here since Hope killed her ex. What have we got? Creepy letter? Voice mail threats?”
Nate looked into the box. “Heart in a box.”
Cam, the asshole, actually fist pumped. “Awesome. Who’d you piss off, Gemma?”
Honesty. It was the word of the day. “Pretty much everyone who’s ever met me.”
Nate turned to Naomi. “You’re a nurse, right? I’ll have Caleb take a look, but I would appreciate your input. Is that thing human?”
Naomi took another look at Gemma’s present. “It’s too small to be human. I think we’re probably looking at a canine heart.”
“Someone killed a dog?” Gemma asked. That was horrible. Someone’s sweet puppy had been murdered so some asshole could scare the crap out of her?
“You were okay when it was human?” Cam asked.
“No. I’m not okay with any of it, but I like dogs more than most people.” Dogs didn’t sleep around on her and take credit for her work. Maybe she should get a dog. She’d never been able to have one in New York.
Naomi shook her head. “It’s a cadaver heart most likely. It might be a swine heart. You can buy them pretty easily. Or sneak one out of most teaching hospitals. It’s been preserved. Formaldehyde. Ick. This is why I didn’t go into research. I hate the smell. Who would send you a heart in a box?”
“I don’t know.” She suddenly felt weary. She’d been forced to walk away from her job, but it looked like it had followed her to Bliss. She turned away. She meant to keep up the tough-girl attitude, but she didn’t have to stare at it. “I’ll make a list of the cases I’ve worked on. There are a few where I was either lead or secondary counsel, but I almost always had face time with the clients or the opponents. Some of them were really pissed off.” She hated to beg, but she felt the need. “Could we please keep this quiet? I would prefer to just be the bitch, not the bitch who gets hearts in the mail. Just the four of us, okay?”
“I have to talk to Caleb, but he won’t mention it.” Nate pulled a set of latex gloves out of his pocket. Gemma could only imagine how much he must love his job. “Who gave this to you?”
Fuck. She did not want to bring him into this.
“McCann. I saw him walk up with it.” Cameron Briggs was way too observant.