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She studied him until he took one step down. “Yeah. Me, neither.”
“It was strange. It seems like a test that could crush all of us should at least have stung.”
She made a strange face.
“Are you sure that Harper’s didn’t hurt?”
He reclaimed the step he’d ceded.
“You don’t think—” At her grin, he stopped. “She definitely won’t want to have her ears cleaned for a while.”
He should have left then. It would have been his wisest choice, but when had he ever gone for those?
“Are you taking the elevator?” Without waiting for her answer, he climbed the last two steps until they stood together on the landing. After passing by her, he headed for the bank of elevators. He reached for the button, but she must have had the same idea as their fingertips brushed when they touched the plastic.
She jerked her hand back.
“Sorry,” they chorused.
The lights above the doors indicated that all four cars were on higher floors.
“Was that all you wanted?”
She shot a glance from his hand to his face and back to his hand that he held wide. He immediately lowered it.
“I just wondered if you needed something else. Besides checking on me.”
Willow cleared her throat and bent to lower Luna into her stroller. The infant kicked her feet and fussed, so she lifted her again.
“I was just thinking about what you said.”
“Which thing?” he asked. “I said a lot of stuff. Too much, if we’re being honest.”
“The part about ‘Anonymous’ getting around.”
“It was just a joke. Mostly.”
“Well, I think you might be right.”
“Because someone who sent a nastygram to your business wouldn’t want to sign his John Hancock? Or that someone revealing dirty little family secrets or threatening to blow our place sky-high wouldn’t want to wear a mask?”
“When you say it that way, it makes perfect sense. No self-respecting lowlife would raise his hand and say, ‘Hey, over here. It’s me.’”
“That would save both of us a lot of trouble if they did.”
She seemed to accept that, which, for some reason, calmed him. He didn’t need her questioning when he was suspicious enough for them both.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he said as the doors of the world’s slowest elevator slid open. “Did you ever decide if you can find a spot for Harper at Tender Years?”
She had just parked the stroller in the back of the elevator, while he’d stepped over to select the floor, but at his words she spun around.
“Wait? You want Harper to come to the center? I thought you were insisting on in-home childcare.”
“I need something right away. There are plans for a day-care center for staff at Colton Oil, and I might be able to get in on that eventually, but for now, yours might be the best choice.”
“Why would you want to bring her to my center after everything I’ve just told you?”
“Compared to a shooting and a bomb threat? Anyway, Mustang Valley’s not a big place. The town isn’t overflowing with options.”
