Chapter 32

“A stalker?” I asked, stunned and weirdly jealous. Of course Natalie would have a stalker, as beautifully stunning as she was. I would never be pretty enough for that. I was more surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.

“Ugh, mom, he’s not a stalker. Just…an enthusiastic fan,” Natalie shrugged.

“A fan? This man has been sending you gifts, showing up where you work. He acts like you two are married or something,” Mom shook her head. “You had to call the cops on him last time he showed up.”

My mouth dropped. I thought Mom was maybe exaggerating, but getting the cops involved? No wonder she was worried.

Natalie rolled her eyes. “It was just a misunderstanding. He was just being protective, he thought I was in trouble,” Nat said.

“Being protective? He’s the one you need protection from!” Mom said.

Natalie threw her head back and groaned. “Look, I don’t have time for this, my date is waiting for me.”

Mom sighed. “I can’t believe he’s making you drive yourself. You know, back in my day, men acted like actual gentlemen. They would pick us up for our dates, meet the parents…”

“Bye, Mom,” Natalie said impatiently. She bounded down the porch steps to her car.

I stepped inside and stood by Mom, who watched Natalie until she got in her car and drove away.

“I’m worried for your sister,” she said, closing the front door.

“What happened the night she called the cops?” I asked.

Mom waved her hand at me, then placed the back of it on her forehead. “I can’t talk about it, it’s too upsetting.” She rubbed her temples. “I have a headache. Get me the cold compress, would you?”

Mom walked towards the living room and I headed into the kitchen. I found Dad at the table reading a newspaper. I walked to the freezer and opened it.

“I just heard about the stalker Natalie called the cops on,” I said. Dad didn’t react. “Crazy, huh? What happened?”

Dad turned a page. “Ask your mother.”

I frowned. I couldn’t have any sort of normal conversation with my parents. Everything just got swept under the rug instead of actually talked about. I already knew that of course, but somehow it was still a surprise every time I attempted to glean any sort of information from them.

I dug around in the freezer and finally found the compress under a bag of peas. I grabbed it and shut the door.

“Well Dad, nice talking to you as always,” I said as I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

An unenthusiastic “mhm” was his only response.

---

As I laid in bed later that night, tossing and turning, I couldn’t help but think of the growing number of coincidences between Natalie and Logan’s mystery wife.

After a couple hours of trying to turn my brain off and force myself to sleep, I gave up on the struggle. I clicked the lamp next to my bed on and walked over to my desk to grab my laptop.

I opened a search engine once the computer was powered up. I paused, unsure how to even begin my search with the little information I had. I typed “Natalie Whitaker” to start. That just resulted in photos of her and lists of the movies she’s starred in, plus a website for an unrelated doctor by the same name.

Next I typed “Natalie Whitaker stalker.” Nothing.

I thought for a moment, then typed in “Natalie Whitaker police report.” I scrolled through the results. Still nothing useful. The only things I found that were about Nat were some semi-related articles about the small indie movies she had been part of that involved policemen as part of the cast.

I thought I should move this search party downstairs to the living room, that way I could maybe catch Nat when she returned from her date and ask her for more info. I closed my laptop and stood, then I hesitated. I was being ridiculous. There was no way Natalie could be the mystery woman I had been buying and planning things for…right? The odds of that were so, so small. And yet…

There was only one thing to do: consult the bestie.

I walked back to my night stand and grabbed my phone. “You up?” I sent Maria.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She sent back surprisingly quickly.

I started to type out the whole situation, then erased all of it. This was too much for a text conversation. “Can I call?” I finally replied.

“Oh boy. Yeah, of course,” was her response.

I punched the call button. She answered almost as soon as it rang. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s nothing bad. I just…couldn’t sleep. My mind has been kind of racing,” I said.

“With what?”

I hesitated. “I need you to swear on everything that’s holy that you will take these secrets I’m about to divulge to your grave. You can’t tell anyone, especially at work.”

“Ooh, that juicy, huh? But seriously. Who am I going to tell?” she said in response to that request. “You’re the only work gossip for me, baby.”

“Aw, babe!” I laughed. “But…I dunno, just in case you get a wild hair and feel like gossiping with, say Elena in the pantry,” I said.

She snorted. “Hard pass,” she said.

So I explained everything: Logan’s being married, the dates I had planned and the gifts I had helped pick out, the time we had dropped Logan off at the studio, and even the night I bailed him out of prison.

“Oh my god,” she said once I had finished. “So…what’s keeping you up? Trying to figure out who his wife is?”

“Well…sort of. I just had this wild thought tonight that it might be…” I felt even more ridiculous, now that I was saying it out loud. “Natalie.”

There was a pause, then she said in an incredulous voice: “Natalie?”

“Yeah. There’s been just a few coincidences.” I said, then told her everything I had learned that night.

“Okay, I can see why you think that. But come on, if Natalie was married to the Logan Hatfield, she wouldn’t keep it a secret. She would have told the world the minute she consummated that marriage,” Maria said.

I hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, you’re right. Natalie was rubbing Chance in my face, and he only has maybe a quarter of the looks that Logan has.”

Maria snorted. “You’re being generous there.”

Maria and I chatted for a little while more about our weekend plans, then we got off the phone. She had made a lot of sense. Natalie was not known for keeping her mouth shut. She had gotten in trouble more than once for breaking NDAs and letting spoilers slip about the movies she’s been in. A marriage — especially to someone like Logan — would be impossible for her to keep secret.

Still…I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that there was something fishy going on here. I decided I would wait up for Natalie after all.

I gathered my laptop and phone and went downstairs. I would just ask Nat a few questions, I decided. Just enough to put my mind at ease and put those irrational thoughts to rest once and for all.

I set my laptop on the couch as soon as I got to the living room. I walked into the kitchen to get myself a glass of water, and that’s when I heard it: a woman’s scream coming from right outside the door.

I dropped the glass. It shattered into a million pieces as soon as it hit the floor.

“Natalie!”