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I went back down the hall in a daze and was almost inside the door before I heard the lowered voices. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if they hadn’t been making an obvious effort to keep things quiet.
“Six years is a long time, Lauren. Things change. People change.”
“You can tell yourself that, Jack, but people don’t change that much. You’re not meant for this, wasting your brain and your talent in some small town. Don’t forget I know you well.”
“Youknewme well. And even then you didn’t know all of me. I’m not the same person I was then.”
“You could come back, you know. You left your doctoral work right in the middle. You could finish and get any number of high profile jobs.”
My gut tightened and I tried to swallow. Jack had talked about continuing his education, but he’d never told me he’d started the program.
“I thought you’d come back,” Laurensaid. “After you’d healed. I wanted to be with you, but every time I came you told me this was something you had to do by yourself, so eventually I stopped trying.”
“I’m sorry for that. I didn’t handle it right. Didn’t handle a lot of things right during that time.”
“I loved you. And if you hadn’t been shot, it would be you and I making plans for our future.”
I heard Jack’s sigh and I rested my head against the faded wallpaper.
“You can’t know that, and I’m not altogether sure we would be. And there’s no point in this, Lauren. The past is the past.”
“Come back with me,” she said. “We can pick up where we left off.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Because of her?”
“Because of her. She’s my future.”
“If you marry her, there’s no going back. You’ll be under the microscope just as much as she is. You’ll never have the chance for a high profile position or a spot in the agency. She’s the daughter of felons and it’s never been proven without a reasonable doubt that she wasn’t involved in their operation.”
“You don’t want to go there,” Jack growled.
“Her whole family is a con. Are you a hundred percent sure that she loves you as much as you love her? Would she protect you at all costs? If she did, she’d know that marrying you was the worst thing she could do for you and she’d back away.”
“That’s enough, Lauren.”Jack sounded tired.
Her voice grewsofter and I had to strain to hear. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. I still care about you.”
I couldn’t stand to listen anymore and I needed to escape as soon as possible. I needed to tend to Leanne Mosely and lose myself in work. I slipped back into the kitchen and my gaze immediately went to Lauren’s hand, which rested on top of Jack’s in an intimate gesture. Jack pulled his hand away, and I didn’t make eye contact with either of them as I went to get my bag from the counter.
“Jaye, I—”
“I’ve got to do a hospital pickup,” I interrupted. I headed to the fridge and got out a bottle of water and resisted the urge to hold it to my forehead.
“Who?” Jack asked.
“Leanne Mosely.”
“Hell. I’ll go with you.”
“No need. It’ll be a quick trip, and you probably don’t need to be out and about with a killer on the loose. Where’s Agent Greer?” I still hadn’t managed to meet Jack’s eyes and I had a hand on the doorknob when I asked the question.
“He went outside to speak to another agent and get all the case files for me. I asked him for copies of everything so I could work this from my end too.”
I finally managed to work up the courage to turn and look at Jack face to face. I couldn’t play poker as well as Jack, but I knew how to blank my face when I needed to, how to pretend nothing was wrong.
“That’s good,” I said. “Will you have protection?”
