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“Can you… can you look up Jerry’s phone? See where he’s at?” She didn’t look at him as she spoke. Instead, she kept her gaze on her hands.
After a long moment, he picked up the phone again. Who was he kidding? He’d have done it even if she hadn’t asked him to check.
He typed in Jerry’s number and waited while the app worked. Took a deep breath when he saw the results. “He’s in Fargo. Four and a half to five hours away.” He pulled up his weather app and entered Fargo. “They got hit with the storm, too,” he said. “Didn’t get as much snow as we did, but I-94 is closed, so they’re snowed in, as well. So even if we leave tomorrow morning, he’ll be five hours behind us.”
“Thank God.” She stared at her fingers, twisted together. “But I don’t like that he’s chasing me.”
“We’ll get to the compound before he catches up with us,” Gideon said, hoping it was the truth. Crossed his fingers that they wouldn’t run into trouble between Boughton and Helena.
* * *
Alex stared at the television screen, watching a rerun of Grey’s Anatomy. She’d never seen the show, and was sucked in after a few episodes. On the other bed, Gideon was scrolling through his phone. Reading news stories.
At one point, he glanced at the television. Frowned. “Didn’t you already see all the episodes of that show a long time ago?”
“I’ve never seen it,” she said without thinking.
He stilled, and the air in the room tingled with his curiosity. “Really? You’ve never seen it?”
“No,” she said, regretting the word as soon as it left her mouth. She stared at the screen, no longer hearing the dialogue or following the plot. Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the mistake she’d made.
“Not once?” he asked, his voice expressing his astonishment. “I thought all teen-aged girls loved that show. Dr. McDreamy? All the drama? And you never watched it?”
“No,” she said, her voice flat. “I didn’t watch much television growing up.” Only when her mother was at work and she was alone in the house. And certainly not after she was on the street. Survival was a daily struggle. A luxury like watching television was incomprehensible.
He shifted on the bed beside her, and she felt his gaze on her face. “How come?” he asked quietly.
“I just didn’t. Okay?” She pointed the remote at the screen and stabbed the ‘off’ button. The screen went dark. She might be willing to share a car with Gideon. Sharing the story of her life? Another matter entirely. That was a closed book.
She stared at the remote, turning it in her hand and examining it like she’d never seen one before. Gideon’s gaze made her skin prickle. The air in the room became thinner and thinner, as if all the oxygen had been sucked up by his curiosity.
Finally, he swung his legs off the bed. Shifted so he was facing her. “How come?” he asked, his voice quiet. Sympathetic instead of probing. Kind instead of disapproving.
His empathy almost had her blurting out her story. Spilling all the sordid details.
“I couldn’t,” she said, gripping the remote so hard that her fingers ached.
He didn’t say anything more. Just continued to watch her. Finally, his stare was too much to bear. Knowing it was non-judgmental, that he’d be comforting and not condemning if she told him about her life, she tossed the remote onto the night stand. Leapt off the bed and rummaged in her purse for her Kindle. She sat back on the bed and opened it, staring blindly at the initial screen. An ad for a book she’d never heard of.
When the book she’d been reading appeared, she focused on the screen, but didn’t see the words. Instead, scenes from her life on the street scrolled through her mind. Running from the cops. Running from a group of older boys who’d tried to corner her. Sleeping behind a grocery store dumpster, waiting for them to throw away the expired food.
Mary catching her stealing from the convenience store she owned.
Her eyes prickling with tears, she stared at the Kindle and pretended to turn the pages. Gideon shifted on the other bed, but he continued to stare at her. His gaze burned where it touched her skin. Part of her wanted to turn to him and tell him exactly why she hadn’t watched television growing up.
A larger part was terrified of doing that. She was afraid she’d find judgment in his gaze. Disapproval. Or, worst of all, pity.
She tried to focus on the book she’d been reading, but her attention kept wandering. She frowned, realizing she didn’t remember anything that happened on the last few pages. Before she could re-read them, her phone rang.
Alex scrabbled for it. Saw Sierra’s name and exhaled in relief. She touched the icon. “Sierra. Hi.”
“Alex, are you okay?” Sierra said. “You feel all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, frowning. What was her partner talking about?
“Where are you?” Sierra asked.
“In a tiny town in North Dakota. Trapped by a storm. I’m in a motel. Waiting until the roads are clear and I can leave.” Alex cleared her throat. “Everything okay at work?”
