If that meant he got to keep her, he’d lose it without hesitation.
He’d spent yesterday recalibrating the palm scanner at the house to her biometrics. He hadn’t asked. He’d just done it. Preparation was the only way he knew how to love someone.
“Well.” Louisa appeared beside him with a pot of coffee and an expression he’d never seen directed at him before. It looked suspiciously like delight. “Wyatt Meyer. What can I get you, honey?”
“Not yet, I’m waiting on someone.”
Her head tilted. “Wyatt Meyer on a date. I didn’t think I’d live to see the day.”
“It’s just coffee.”
“Honey.” She bumped one hip against the booth. “I’ve known you since you were a scrap of a boy. You sit at the counter. Drink your coffee black. You barely talk. Then you leave.”
She gestured at him. “Today you’re in a booth, you’re wearing a shirt that isn’t flannel, and you keep looking at the door.” Her smile grew wider. “That’s notjust coffee.”
He shot her a smile. Louisa had the kind of cheerful omniscience that made resistance futile.
She folded her arms. “The chief engineer from the NORPAC rig?”
He gave her a sideways glance.
Louisa chuckled. “Honey, if I don’t know something in this town, it’s not worth knowing about.”
“Jen.” He folded the napkin some more, securing the creases with a stroke of his thumb. The way his dad had taught him. “Her name’s Jen.”
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Louisa said.
Wyatt looked at her.
She shrugged. “I read the news. Saw what happened on that rig. What you both did.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “She is.”
Louisa patted his shoulder. “You’ll be just fine.”
Then she left him alone with his thoughts.
And his nerves.
Jen walkedin eleven minutes later.
She wore a moss-green sweater, her dark hair loose over her shoulders. The bruising around her eye had faded to a faint yellow shadow. The cut on her cheek was a thin pink line now, almost gone.
But he saw it.
He would always see it.
She spotted him, waved and smiled.
His heart rate jumped so fast it hurt.
She slid into the booth across from him, bringing the scent of fresh air with her as she unwound her scarf. “Have you been here long?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just got here.”
“Liar.” She pointed to the tiny origami whale, still smiling.
She reached across the table and took his hands. “It’s so good to see you.”
