Just listening.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
A humorless breath leaves me. “Sorry doesn’t change the dead.”
The second the words leave my mouth, I know they came out rougher than I meant.
She hears the edge in them and doesn’t flinch.
“I know,” she says quietly.
That lands somewhere low and strange.
The room goes still again.
I finish my coffee and set the mug down.
“You can shower if you want. Bathroom’s down the hall. Towels should be in the closet. There’s spare clothes in the dresser. I’ll check outside.”
Her eyes flick to the window. “You think they found us already?”
“No.”
“Then why check?”
“Because that’s what I do.”
That one comes out too sharp. I see the tiny flinch she tries to hide.
Damn it.
I drag a hand over the back of my neck.
“Julie.”
She looks at me.
My voice comes rougher than I want. “You’re safe here.”
For a second, she just stares.
Not yet trusting me, but maybe wanting to.
That is enough for today.
She nods once and heads toward the hall.
I watch her go longer than I should.
Then I open the front door and step out into the cold.
Pine. Wind. Quiet.
She is in my safe house. Drinking my coffee. Using my shower.
It should feel temporary.
Manageable.
It doesn’t.
It feels like the beginning of trouble.
The kind a smart man avoids.
Maybe a smarter man would’ve kept his distance.
I was done for the second I saw her on that stage.
