“There’s every need. You’ve done nothing wrong and received the brunt of not only mine, but my sons’, displeasure. We’re all very protective of Katherine. I often have to remind myself she can take care of herself.”
“Her grandfather says she’s the toughest one of the bunch.”
A puff of humor shot through Mike’s nose. “That might be the only thing that old geezer and I agree on. She is tough, butshe shouldn’t have to be. As much as I want to make things easier for her, I don’t have that power. But I can see how happy she is when she’s around you. How at ease. It’s scared the hell out of me.”
Cody frowned, not understanding why that would be off putting for Mike. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
A sad smile lifted his lips. “You’d think so, huh? But when you love someone so damn much and you’ve seen them endure unimaginable pain, you can’t help but be fearful the good will go away again. That the bad times are waiting in the wings to steal her joy. That’s not a way to live, but it’s impossible to get out of your head.”
Cody let his fingers drift through the fur at the top of Bailey’s head and searched for the right answer. “I wish I could tell you I’ll never hurt her, never cause her pain. But you and I know that’d be a false promise because life happens and we can’t control so much of the shit that comes our way. What I can tell you is I’ll do everything I can to keep making her happy—keep making all three of us happy.”
Mike cleared his throat and swiveled back toward the window. “That’s all I can ask for.”
Bailey pranced over to Mike. She edged her nose into his hand.
Chuckling, Mile crouched and hooked an arm around the dog then scratched behind her ears. “She’s a good girl.”
Cody wasn’t sure if he meant Bailey or Katherine. “The best.”
“Well, that’s enough of that,” Mike said, standing. “I talked to Owen, and they had no luck tracking down that truck.”
The news crushed down on Cody. He’d been so close to catching this asshole just for him to slip through the cracks once more. “Did he get a chance to go through the files I sent him last night?”
Mile frowned. “He didn’t mention anything. What did you send?”
“I pulled up names of inmates recently released from the county jail. I started to cross check the names with their arrest records. Looking for anything that might pop out or point toward Katherine being involved in any way—even on the periphery. I didn’t make much headway, so I sent the list along to Owen.”
“He’s had his hands full,” Mike said. “Why don’t you pull up the list and we can pour over it together. I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
Tedious research wasn’t something he enjoyed. Something told him doing it with Katherine’s dad would make the task even more laborious. But Mike needed to act, and he needed to further cement his relationship with the man who was so important to Katherine.
“It might take a while. You up for it?”
“There’s nothing more important than finding the man harassing my daughter. I’ll stay here all night if I have to.”
Cody nodded and left the room to retrieve the computer he’d left in the living room the night before. He hoped he had one hell of a poker face. Last night had been heaven with Katherine sleeping in his arms. Tonight would be hell if her father chose to join them.
With the dinnerdishes put away and her father finally gone, Katherine sat on the deck and watched Ollie figure out the best way to play with his new best friend. He couldn’t run around the yard like he had the night before, but Bailey gently placed theball in Ollie’s lap after fetching. As though she understood the boy couldn’t chase her right now.
Cody stepped outside with a full wine glass in each hand. “You said you like white, right?”
She smiled up at him. How was it possible to feel so damn lucky when her world was in such shambles? “I did. Thank you.” She accepted the glass and scooted over in the glider to make room.
He sat, then took a sip before setting down his glass and circling an arm over her shoulders. “I needed something to take the edge off. My head is spinning after looking at all that data with your dad.”
“You guys were at it for hours. Did you find anything?”
“I wish. I swear we looked at every person released from the county jail in the last year. We even started looking at recent arrests, thinking that the criminal potentially involved could still be incarcerated. We made some calls, did some digging, but came up empty every time. We can’t find one thing that makes sense in connection with you.”
Sighing, she leaned against him. “Can we put it away for the rest of the night? I just want to sit here and enjoy being with you—enjoy listening to Ollie giggling down there with Bailey.”
He brushed his fingertips against the side of her bicep. “It’s nice to hear him happy. He’s not sullen or grumpy even after breaking his leg.”
“You weren’t the one who gave him a shower,” she said, thinking back to the horror show cleaning her son had been.
“Fair point.”
Questions brewed inside her like an impending storm. As much as she wanted to take her time with Cody and just enjoy what was happening between them, her life made that nearly impossible. She didn’t have just herself to think about. There was a child involved, and his needs came first.
