Page 84 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“Tylenol helps.”

He probed it with his finger, and she winced at the pain.

“Sorry. Just… It’s an ugly wound. You probably need to keep it covered.”

“Band-Aids don’t exactly adhere to my hair. I suppose I could shave my head.”

She’d expected a smile, but his expression was solemn. “It doesn’t look infected. I brought some antiseptic wipes.” He dug into his backpack and came out with a little square package, which he ripped open.

The sting had her yanking away.

“Hold still.”

Easy for him to say. But he finished quickly and dug into the backpack again. “I found this at the pharmacy.” He held out a red-and-white bandana. “I thought you could wrap it around your head to keep dirt out of the wound.”

She took the square cloth, tamping down the vanity that had her wanting to refuse. She wasn’t exactly the bandana type. She was touched he’d bought it for her, touched he’d thought of her. She folded the cloth, wrapped it around her head, and tied it in the back. “How do I look?” Ridiculous, she was sure.

The quirk of his lips, the tenderness in his eyes, told her he wasn’t thinking she looked ridiculous.

After a moment, he cleared his throat and looked away. “Let’s clean it often. Anything else hurt? Between the tumble down the mountain Wednesday and being grazed by a bullet yesterday, you must be in pain.”

“Nothing serious. I bumped my head after the bullet… maybe got a concussion, which explains how out of it I felt coming down the mountain.”

“Show me.”

She touched the spot, and he looked. “Pretty big bump.” Gently, he kissed it, then pulled her close again. “When I heard that gunshot…”

Tucked against his chest, she felt his quickening heartbeat beneath her ear.

“And then I worried you’d disappear again.” He backed away and laid his hands on her face. His gaze, filled with sincerity, with affection, met hers. “You didn’t murder my sister. I knew it. Deep down, I always knew it. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

Those were the words she’d longed to hear for a decade. That James understood. That he believed in her, despite everything.

The truth churned in her stomach. She had to tell him. For them to have any real future, she had to tell him everything. If that ended whatever was brewing between them…?

Then she’d deal with it. She wouldn’t have a lie between them. She couldn’t. James deserved to know.

He brushed her hair back from her face, tenderly avoiding her wound, and bent his head. He kissed her forehead. The corner of her eye. Her cheek.

Finally, his lips met hers.

She opened up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him closer. This, this is what she’d wanted. This is what she’d spent a decade longing for.

Everything else faded until all she felt, all she experienced, was James. The boy she’d known ten years earlier faded. The man he was now, with the whiskers, the past she knew little about, even the haunted eyes… All of it. She loved all of it.

All of him.

How could those feelings not have faded, disappeared, after so much time? They hadn’t. Now, the years slipped away. Her current life in Seattle slipped away. All that mattered was James. This man who cared for her. And, if that changed after she told him the truth, all the more reason to savor the moment.

Too soon, he angled away, then hugged her. His heartbeat was racing. So was hers.

It was absurd, this moment. A child’s life was on the line, and they’d paused for a kiss. Except… except love was never absurd.

“I’ve been fighting that since the moment you stumbled into my backyard Monday.”

“I thought you hated me.”

“God knows I tried.” He rubbed her back. “But I never let go of the hope that everybody was wrong.”