Page 149 of The Best Shot

She kept her eyes on my hand. “You took my side.”

“That’s not a hard thing to do,” I said.

“Hale.” Her voice softened. “You know damn well that hasn’t been my experience.”

I covered her hand with mine before she could go back to cleaning the cut.

She looked up then.

“You didn’t ask anybody anything,” she said. “You didn’t check with one soul. You just went.”

“Baby.”

“And I liked it.” Her mouth twitched, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “A part of me has been walking around since four this morning pleased as hell. Shaun has had that coming since he was seventeen, and somebody finally handed it to him. I’d be lying if I said I was sorry about that.”

She looked down at our joined hands and brushed her thumb carefully beside the cut. “But he’s not worth you.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t say okay yet.” She met my gaze. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Who sits with your daddy on Tuesday?”

I went still.

“If that deputy had decided differently last night,” she said. “Or if Shaun had come at you sideways with a gun or a knife, who drives out to that park?”

I’d planned an answer for every argument.

But not that one.

“Nobody,” she said. “He just sits out there. And he wouldn’t even know what he was waiting for.”

“Fuck,” I said.

I hadn’t thought about Harry. Not once. I’d gotten in that car and driven straight toward trouble without him crossing my mind.

“Fuck,” I said again.

“Hey.” She moved before I could sink any deeper into it, pushing herself into my lap. “You got distracted for one night in eleven years. That’s not the sin you’re about to make it. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad. I’m saying this because I need you to come home.”

My arms went around her. Her hands came up to my face.

“Just…don’t do it again.”

She said it softly, not even asking, really. And Lord, I wanted to hand it to her. Sitting there in my own kitchen, holding her close with two weeks left on the clock, I wanted to give her that more than I’d wanted most things in my life.

“I won’t do that again.”

Her hands softened against my face. I kept going before the relief could settle. “I won’t be reckless again. I’ll be careful with myself. I can promise you that.”

“What—”

“I’ll think about my dad and I’ll think about you. I’ll think about what happens after.”

Her eyes searched mine.