He tilted his head slightly, holding his sandwich between strong, capable fingers. Considering her, maybe, and what she wasn't saying. "I wasn't going to say boring."
She took a bite of her sandwich, letting the flavors burst over her tongue. Saving herself from having to make conversation, at least for the moment.
"What's your favorite thing about the job?" he asked.
"Meeting new people," she said. "Even if we're working with a company we’ve worked with for years, there's always something new to learn, someone new to meet."
A smile crossed his lips. He pointed a fry in her direction. "I remember you always liked to sit next to the new kid when school started. How many kids did you welcome to Bear Lake Elementary? There was Ginny, Aiden...what was the scrawny kid's name? The one with the glasses? Eli? E.J.?"
"Elijah," she said softly.
She'd forgotten about that in the flurry of moves that had come after Bear Lake. After the first two back-to-back moves, she'd found it harder and harder to connect with children her own age, knowing she and Mom might have to move again, probably in the middle of the night.
"You always loved making new friends," he said. "Just like your mom."
She started to tremble. Had she stopped reaching out before she'd even recognized she was doing it? In some effort not to be like her mom, when things had first started being difficult...?
She didn't know. She'd spent so long trying to block out some of those difficult times in the years where her childhood had ended so abruptly.
Nick's radio squawked, and she saw the instant shift as he answered the dispatcher. He listened and then pushed a button and responded.
He swiped the last bite of sandwich off his plate but didn't stuff it in his mouth. "I'm sorry to rush off, but—"
"Duty calls." She found a smile for him. At least with him gone, she could ruminate without having to pretend that everything was okay.
But he didn't instantly turn away. His eyes considered her for a long moment. "It was good to catch up. If you need anything... I hope you'll call. Me."
She smiled tightly and nodded, because it was all the promise she could make.
She watched him walk away, stopping to say something to the waitress and then pressing cash into her hands before he let himself out of the wrought iron gate and striding purposefully toward the parking in front of the restaurant.
How could it be both unnerving and peaceful to be with someone? Nick had been a figment of her childhood memories... Someone she hadn't seen in fifteen years. And yet, he could make her smile with his recollections of their shared past.
Which also...hurt. Because of Mom, and everything that had changed after they'd left Bear Lake.
She didn't know if she should see him again. She should pack up her bivouac and car and return to Chicago. Staying could reopen wounds from the past.
But she still didn't have the closure she’d sought after Mom's death. How could she both love and hate someone so much? How could she let go of Mom when she'd died with so many things unresolved between them?
She couldn't leave. Not yet.
3
After a second nearly sleepless night, Kylie found herself on the lake, just down from her campsite, as dawn broke. Her feet dangled from the end of a small, wooden dock, her toes inches above the water.
A soft fog rolled over the water's calm surface. It was so early that, for now, most of the animals must still sleep. There was no croak of a bullfrog, no cricket singing. Not even the splash of a fish to break the silence.
It was cool enough that Snow laid beside her without panting, only their soft breaths breaking the silence.
What was so wrong with her?
She'd felt it since her childhood, a disconnect between her and the world around her. Though yesterday at lunch, Nick had mentioned how easily she could make friends, it was rare for them to stick.
She couldn’t blame everything on her mom, either, and on the way she’d moved them from place to place, the way she’d been unable to hold down a real job. Kylie would like to blame her problems on her mom's flightiness, but the reality was that Kylie hadn't had an easy time of it since she'd made the decision to settle down. First, in college, waiting tables and buying her first apartment. She'd had acquaintances from class, from work, but she hadn’t had a best friend. Hadn’t had someone to call when her apartment flooded in the middle of the night.
She'd hoped for more when she'd begun working with the CPA firm, and for a while, it seemed maybe she'd found it. She liked her job, did well at it, even if she sometimes found her clients challenging. She'd met Michael at a singles event through her church, and they'd settled into an easy, steady relationship. Until the end, at least.
Her mom was absent for most of that, moving six times in the seven years between when Kylie started college and Mom’s death.
It really felt as if she didn't fit anywhere.
Maybe part of the disconnect Kylie felt was the insomnia she'd battled her entire life. She often woke uncomfortable in the night, no matter the comfort of the bed—or the bare ground, as was the case right now. She'd tried softer beds, firmer ones, even done a sleep study once. The doctors had been unable to diagnose any reason she should wake and be unable to go back to sleep.
She didn't know what she'd hoped to find coming back here, the place where most of her earliest and most treasured memories had come from. The place she'd felt the closest to her mom, before things had started to fall apart.
Maybe she was as bad as her mom, always searching for something that was never to be found.
She tried to pray, tried listening for an answer as the sky slowly brightened, as fish started splashing and sounds from the two older couples on the other side of the campsite started their morning routines.
And then the sound of an approaching engine cut through the morning stillness. Two car doors closed.
And then voices. "I thought I told you to stay in the car."
That sounded like Nick. But why in the world would he be here this early?
It had seemed he'd come upon her by chance while she'd been having lunch yesterday. Was he seeking her out now?
Why?
A second voice joined his. A younger, female voice. "Like you thought that was going to happen."
There was a loud sigh, and then Nick's voice again. "Well, at least make yourself useful and hold this."
Footsteps crunched, and she could tell they'd stopped near her campsite, but as she looked away from the still lake and over her shoulder, woodsy trees and brush hid her from their sight.
"She's not here," came Nick's voice again, sounding disappointed.
And from the other side of the campsite, an older male voice shouted too loud in the silent morning, "Try down by the water!"
Should she be disturbed that her neighbors were keeping tabs on her? She'd only been here two nights, but whichever one had spoken seemed to know where she was. At least someone was looking out for her. When was the last time anyone kept tabs on her, cared about her comings and goings?
The two older couples seemed to be friends, both with fifth wheels parked in spots next to each other. The only other campers in the state park. They played cards on the picnic table between their two RVs late into the night. They seemed nice enough that she shrugged off any concern.
Footsteps crunched again, and she looked over her shoulder to see a uniformed Nick round an orange-leafed bush and come into sight. He was followed by a petite figure in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with the same chestnut hair Nick had, hers pulled into a ponytail behind her head.
"Hey." Nick greeted Kylie with his trademark easygoing greeting and a smile that made her stomach flip over.
He held up a medium-sized paper bag. "Brought some breakfast from Pat's Doughnut Shop."
Her mouth instantly watered, and she patted the planks beside her. "Join me in my breakfast nook."
Snow's tail thumped against the planks as Nick stepped onto the small dock, se
nding it swaying slightly.
Behind him, the girl hesitated at the end of the plank. She held a cup holder with three paper mugs tucked in it. She looked to be about eleven, so... Not his daughter, surely?
He nodded to the girl. "My kid sister, Gentry."
Nick knew it was a risk bringing his kid sister along on this visit, but he had a twelve-hour shift ahead of him, and his mom had begged him to drive Gentry to school.
He couldn't wait to see Kylie again, not after glimpsing the vulnerability she'd shown yesterday at lunch. Last night had seemed interminable. Hours and hours of watching cars putter by at the speed trap, all with no action.
He looked over his shoulder to Gentry and jerked his chin to get her to join them on the short dock.
"No fishing pole?" he asked. "The bass are probably biting this time of day. Perch for sure."
He rustled in the brown bag and pulled out a donut covered in chocolate and sprinkles. He handed it over to Kylie, along with a paper napkin.
Her instant smile was worth the early morning rushing around.
"I used to have one of these every Saturday morning," she said with a wistful smile.
He rustled in the bag again. "In case your tastes have changed, I also got some plain chocolate and a couple of jelly-filled."
She shook her head slightly. "Give me the sprinkles."
He handed it over and sat next to her as Gentry leaned down and reached over his shoulder for the bag.
"Filled donuts are gross," his sister muttered.
"Are not." He tried to pull the bag out of Gentry's reach, but he didn't try too hard, and she pulled out a plain glazed, giving a triumphant, "ha!"
"Watch it, twerp," he said.
"Thirty minutes until drop off," his sister reminded him with a nudge to the back of his shoulder.
"I know." He scooted the drink container closer and nudged Kylie's knee, pointing to the coffee and sugar packets stashed in the middle. She took one gratefully and sipped the brew black, her eyes closing in apparent joy.
"That's good," she whispered. "Thanks."
He'd do it every morning if it got this reaction. There was something viscerally satisfying in making her happy.
"What grade are you in?" Kylie asked Gentry, then stuffed a bite of donut into her mouth.
"Fifth," Gentry said through a mouth full of donut.
He tapped her foot with his boot as a reminder to watch her manners, but she just rolled her eyes.
Kylie's eyes cut to him. "So you must've had a fun time in high school with a baby sister."
He could vividly remember the horror he'd felt when his mom had told him she and Dad were expecting. He'd been sixteen and self-absorbed enough to think mostly about how the new baby would affects his last two years of high school.
Plus, it had been weird for all his friends to realize his parents were still intimate at their old age! Like he’d needed all those jokes.
"It definitely killed my social life," he agreed. "I missed the homecoming basketball game because mom needed me to babysit."
Gentry shoved his shoulder. "You said chicks loved it that you took such good care of your baby sister."
He grinned. "Did I? I don't remember that." Of course being good with a baby had gotten him some looks, but he'd been too immature back then to do anything about it.
"I'll bet your friends think he's pretty cool," Kylie said to Gentry.
Gentry's face clouded, and she shot a look in his direction. "They used to."
His heart beat fast. He'd purposely avoided any mention of last year's scandal yesterday when he'd been with Kylie.
Not that she wouldn't hear about it around town. Folks in Bear Lake had big mouths.
He shook his head slightly, donut turning to sawdust in his mouth, but Gentry responded with a quiet, "She's gonna hear about it anyway."
Maybe, but he'd hoped to have a little more time for Kylie to get to know him again before her opinion took a dive.
"Last year, Nick's girlfriend Farah skipped town after she scammed a bunch of people out of their retirement funds."
He winced.
"Ex-girlfriend," he responded automatically. He hated the flush that heated his neck and face.
He hated how it sounded. Hated even more that it was true.
He could still remember the piercing ache in his stomach when he'd discovered what she'd done. The sense of betrayal and the heart-rending grief at knowing she wasn't who she’d said she was, that she’d tricked him, that their entire relationship had been a lie. At least on her side.
Fool that he was, he’d fallen for the lying scammer.
He slanted a glance to Kylie, wondering if Gentry's revelation would erase the friendly warmth in her eyes.
But all he saw was compassion in their blue depths.
"That sucks," she said softly.
He nodded. More than she knew. He'd been thinking of ring shopping while all Farah had thought about was stealing as much as she could before she skipped town. Then, he'd been the one to suffer when folks from town lost their trust in him, somehow believing he should've known better. He'd been investigated by the FBI. And even now, the captain gave him all the suckiest jobs on the squad.
He checked his watch as Kylie fed her dog the last bite of donut. "We've got to get going." He stood, and Kylie craned her neck to look up at him.
"Thanks for breakfast. That was...really nice."
Nice? He didn't want to be nice. Didn't want to be lumped in the Friend Zone, though if that was all she could give him, he'd accept it.
Gentry bent to pet the white dog.
"You get that taillight fixed yet?" he asked.
"Not yet."
"My shift lasts all day, but I'll come back tonight and fix it for you." It was presumptive, and he saw she flash of Gentry's eyebrow raise behind Kylie.
But he also saw Kylie's soft smile. "You don't have to do that."
"I don't mind." He let himself be presumptive again and reached out to cup her shoulder. A friendly gesture. He wished he could do more.
He forced himself to let go, to follow Gentry off the dock. He'd be in trouble with his mom if his sister was tardy. "See ya later," he called back to Kylie, who waved him off with a smile.
"Thanks for breakfast," she called after him.
Gideon and Pieter had hit town late last night. Gideon had done some reconnaissance while checking in to the one hotel in town. No one named Kylie was checked in. He'd asked about a B&B and discovered there were several that he'd have to visit today.
There'd been no late-night coffee shop on the small Main Street, no sign of her through the window of the one, nearly empty, cafe where he'd witnesses a high school kid mopping floors. The town apparently rolled up its sidewalks at nine p.m. Just like home.
Not that that helped him in his mission...
Now, mid-morning, and he'd come to the tiny police station where his contacts said the ping on her driver's license had originated two days ago. Pieter stayed outside, playing with his phone. Maybe texting his girlfriend.
The station was tiny too, tinier even than the one back home.
Behind a tall counter, four empty desks were separated into cubicles, but someone sitting at any of the desks could see to the front counter. The desks and counter sported piles of paperwork that looked very familiar from his SEAL days.
A uniformed cop—one who looked a few years younger than Gideon—looked up from his desk, then rose and came to meet Gideon at the counter.
Desk duty. Must be a rookie.
"How can I help you?"
Gideon scanned the guy's metallic, badge-shaped name tag. Officer Harris.
Gideon put a photo of the lost princess on the counter facing the young officer and slid it across. "I'm looking for someone, hoping she might be staying here in town."
He didn't mention that his sources had showed her license had been dinged in the state system, that she'd been here two days ago. She could've been passing through, but Gideon hope
d differently. He needed to finish this for Alessandra.
The cop's eyes flicked to the photo and held for a fraction of a second too long.
"She in trouble?" he asked coolly. A little too casual.
"She's a friend of my wife's." It was only a little stretch of the truth. He wasn't ready to divulge more, not about Alessandra or his purpose here. He didn't want to tip his hand too early, didn't have feet on the ground here and couldn't risk spooking her and sending her running again.
The cop's steady gaze didn't flicker as he held Gideon's gaze. "I pulled her over for a broken taillight a couple days ago."
He already knew she’d been pulled over. What he didn't know was where she was staying. Did she have family here? He hadn't been able to find any connections with his computer searching other than a decades-old address, one that had been dark and silent when he'd driven by last night.
"Do you know if she's still in town? Where she might be staying?"
The other man shrugged, his face as neutral as any professional poker player.
But Gideon had an itch behind his shoulder blades that told him the other man was fudging.
And his gut told him that no matter how he spun it, the cop wasn't going to divulge what he knew about Kylie to Gideon, even if Gideon told him about Alessandra and her family.
Pieter stood on the sidewalk next to the quaint Main Street, phone to his ear as he watched the passersby.
"Gideon's team turned up a report of Mother's passport going through customs at DFW yesterday. Gideon believes she might be coming here." Dallas was too close for comfort. If Mother had a hired driver waiting, she’d be here in several hours.
"What do you think?"
McKenna's voice never failed to soothe him. It had been a month since he'd seen her in person. He'd attended one of her rodeo queen pageants in Wyoming. A month was too long. He missed the feel of her hand in his, the kisses that belonged to him alone.
"I think there's a chance he's right. Hopefully if Mother sees me out in the open, she'll come to me." With Gideon along, that choice would be as good as turning herself in. And slightly less risky for Pieter. He'd been on the wrong side of her wrath too often, and she'd apparently become more dangerous as of late.
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