He felt her gaze boring into the side of his head.He didn’t, he couldn’t look at her.
“You mean here?”She gestured out the window, “or here?”This time she pointed at him, then herself.
“Well, both I guess.It’s dangerous,” particularly for her.John Smith not only knew her face, but for whatever reason, was intent on securing her.Or killing her.Ty wasn’t sure which.
He didn’t love the classic camper attire.It had felt over-the-top until their first night in camp.Now he felt like he understood it better.They expected people to look down on them, so they played to the gallery, so to speak.And they didn’t care what anyone thought about them.He liked that.
In some ways, Alice’s journey to the future had changed her so much, he hardly recognized her, but in other ways, she was more herself than when he’d first met her.There was joy in her now and no sign of the careful way she’d examined the world from behind a wall built of prejudices of the time.
The pure line of her jaw, the lips, her eyes…
Her lips curved up, her gaze warming.“No regrets.”She paused.“You?”
“No regrets here.”He had to keep looking at the road, but he managed to give her an emphatic glance.
She gave a small chuckle, but then her equipment made a small sound and he frowned.
“Are you picking up something?”
“I’m not sure,” she said.She unbuckled and made her way back to her equipment.
She had adapted to the future—and its technology—very quickly, as if she’d always been meant to belong here and now.
“If it is the beacon, it’s very faint.”
He took turns watching the road, and trying to see her in the rear view mirror.
She bit her lip.“I’m going to turn off scanning for now.We don’t want to attract attention.”
“No,” he agreed, with an almost shudder as he recalled the attention they’d attracted last time they’d interfered with time.
Alice closed up the equipment and returned to her seat next to him, letting her gaze take in the scenery.
Wyoming was a spare place, with a rugged beauty that said, “yes, I’m pretty but don’t take me for granted,” Ty decided.He wouldn’t want to drive this road, in this RV, in the winter.
Alice gave a slight shiver and pulled her sweater edges together.“I don’t know why I expected summer to be warmer.”
Ty grinned.“You’re too used to the desert heat.”
Dark clouds hung low, hiding the tops of the distant mountains.They were heading straight for a storm, or so it seemed to him.He could already smell the freshness of the rain-washed air blowing in the vents of the camper.He leaned forward and adjusted the temperature, warming up the air.
“I’m not used to hearing the words ‘cold front’ used this time of year,” she agreed.“It’s a good thing Mel had us pack for changeable weather.Our light weight clothes won’t work.”
“At least I can still wear my camper hat,” Ty said.Their research had shown the best way for them to “hide” in plan sight was to wear bright colors and hats with pins from camping sites all over the country.Ty had bonded with his immediately.
He slowed for the turn toward Cody, thinking it was probably a good thing that Mel’s grandparents didn’t live in the area anymore.The temptation to take a respite in a safe spot might have been overwhelming.But they’d retired to Florida.A cousin of Mel’s now lived in the house she’d been raised in.
And if somehow the opposition had managed to start tracking them?The one place he didn’t want to lead them was back to Mel’s past.
Chapter12
Jack entered the control room and set the soda can down on Mel’s desk.She glanced up, giving him a flickering smile that made his heart stutter.It always did.
“Thanks.”She popped the top and her lips closed over the edge of the lifted can for a long sip before she set the can a safe distance from her keyboard.“I needed that.”
He needed her.
He hadn’t had time to take her for granted.They’d been too busy trying not to get erased from time—or returned to their regularly scheduled time lines.
