12. Gabby

He was back. One day after I called the idiot out for being a liar and a thief, then demanded he leave me alone for the rest of eternity with every ounce of energy I had in me, and here Diego was again, back at Trudy’s.

This was becoming creepier by the minute, especially when he appeared at the opening of the alley when I stepped out the back door of Trudy’s and into the alley with a bag full of garbage, almost as if he’d been watching and waiting for a moment to corner me somewhere alone.

He didn’t have a bouquet of bloodred roses this time, however, just a dinky, half-wilted weed infested mess of daffodils that he appeared to have pulled from someone’s flower bed on the way here.

I wasn’t sure if the daffodils were because of my visit to Rosewood the day before, where they must’ve refused to sell him anymore bouquets, or because he knew he no longer had to pretend to be rich for me. In either case, I wasn’t amused.

Tossing the trash into the dumpster, I let the heavy, metal lid