Even if Julian didn't reply to my messages, I could still find out where he was.

One of his colleagues was an old high school friend of mine.

A quick text later, and I had his schedule for the past few days.

I hadn't realized—during all these days we'd been in silent treatment, he'd gone out of state to a conference in Crestwood.

I grabbed a jacket, took my car keys, and headed downstairs.

I pulled up outside the research building at Crestwood University just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

I'd driven through the night. To stay awake, I sat in the car sipping coffee from a vending machine.

Until someone knocked on my window.

"Excuse me, this parking is reserved for conference attendees and their families."

I rolled down the window and saw a girl with a slightly off-center ponytail.

A little too coincidentally—that bear charm was dangling from her hair.

"I'm here to see someone."

I looked straight into her eyes. "Julian Wright. That guy on the placard—he's my husband."

The girl's face instantly shocked.

"Unless you're staff or family, you can't park here."

Then, as if she hadn't heard me, she repeated herself.

"Julian Wright is my husband. Doesn't that make me family?"

"You can't prove you're Professor Wright's wife."

Her response almost made me laugh. Yeah, who carries their marriage certificate around?

I leaned against the window frame and looked at her.

"Then could you please go get Professor Wright for me?"

I needed to talk to him.

The girl's expression immediately shifted to one of disgust.

"Another one of Professor Wright's admirers, using that as an excuse to get close to him, right?"

Julian's admirers? Me?

When Julian was chasing me, this girl probably hadn't even started college yet.

I didn't want to engage further. I started raising the window, planning to call Julian.

The call still didn't go through. I was starting to wonder if he'd blocked me.

The sun was climbing higher, the summer heat becoming oppressive. I squinted—until the next moment, when my windshield was suddenly covered in white.

I straightened up and adjusted the dash cam.

Because someone was splashing paint on my car.