You Shouldn't Have Come Here

“He was dressed in blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a white T-shirt, exactly what I expected. Crossing the porch with a few large steps, he casually jogged toward me. He was tall, at least six feet, tan, and had a muscular build that was clearly from working with his hands and not in a gym.”

Jeneva Rose portrays Calvin as a handsome farmer, a fitting love interest for a romance novel. Grace says Calvin is what she expected because, unbeknownst to him, she investigated him on the internet—as he did her. The way he hurries toward her car implies eagerness to meet her; later, he claims he turned the ranch into an Airbnb because he was lonely. In truth, Calvin locked up his previous guest and wishes for Grace to take her place.

“This was the awkward part of hosting guests. I never knew if they wanted me to stay and chat or leave them alone. I was sure Grace was the latter but I was already drawn to her like a moth to a flame or them damn coyotes to my chickens, so anything I could do to buy more time with her, I would.

We had more in common than she knew. I too had to keep busy. Idle hands, as they say, are the devil’s workshop.”

This quote, with Calvin trying not to seem overeager for Grace’s attention, operates on two levels. For most of the novel, he seems like an innocent country boy falling for a city girl. However, his framing of himself as both a moth and coyote implies a prey-predator dynamic—with Grace being revealed as the ultimate predator.

“Every year, I close my eyes and throw a dart at the map of the United States. Wherever it lands, that’s where I go for vacation. […]

My life is very routine everything is planned and planned again every minute of my day is scheduled. This gives me freedom in a way.”

Later, Calvin muses on whether or not withholding truth is tantamount to lying. Here, Grace honestly explains her method of choosing annual vacations, but these “retreats” involve murder—a way for her to escape her mundane life as a “banker,” wife, and mother.