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“I don’t know.”
“But I really don’t need company tonight. You can go home. I’m sure you’re tired since you just had a full shift.”
“I’m not leaving. I’ll sleep on your couch. But I’m not going anywhere. Think of me as your own personal bodyguard until this guy is caught.”
“That could take weeks!” She hollers, her hands on her hips, wobbling on her hurt leg.
“Either you let me stay or we get you set up in the jail. That’s the only way this thing is going down.”
“Or you could just go home to your own damn home and leave me alone!”
Hellish glee darts across my face. “Well what do you know? We find how to make you swear!”
“Grrr!” She stomps off. Or attempts to. It’s more like a peg leg pirate trying to cross the heaving deck of a ship.
It’s absolutely adorable and there’s no way in hell I’m going any damn place.
Because if there’s even a slight possibility that there’s a person out there that thinks she needs to be eliminated, then they’re gonna have to go through me first.
She pulls a saran-wrapped pan out of the fridge and hobbles over to the microwave. “What’s that?” I ask.
“Dinner,” she answers shortly.
“And that is?”
“Fine. It’s meatloaf. And there is enough for two but I just don’t understand why you won’t leave.”
I pace slowly up to her, knowing that she’s scared. She doesn’t want to believe that she might be in danger. It’s easier just to pretend that I’m being unreasonable.
And hell! Maybe I am. Somewhat. But I can’t leave her.
I grasp her shoulder and pull her close to me, smiling when she sinks into me like she can’t stay upright anymore. She needs my strength. And I’ll gladly give her every last bit of it. I’ll gladly give up every damn thing to make sure that she’s safe and happy. Or at least safe. Because if I have to give up my own life to keep her safe, I will. She means too much to me.
Hartley sighs. “We need to eat. I have to go in early for a meeting. So I need to hit the hay early.”
“Fine. Let’s get some food going and you can tell me all about yourself while we eat.”
She cringes and I laugh. “You don’t want to talk about yourself.”
“Not really. There’s not much to tell. I’ve lived here my whole life except for when I went off to college.”
“Where was that?”
“Syracuse.”
“And did you enjoy yourself?”
“I did. It was nice to get away from certain things in town.”
My ears perk up. “Like what?”
“Oh you know. Just silly little fights with certain people.”
“Like who? Are they still in town?”
“Yeah. Believe it or not, the guy that’s my boss, the admin guy for the library? He and I almost dated in high school. But I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to date anyone. He didn’t take it well.”
I pull out my notebook, which she doesn’t notice because she’s locked up back in the past. Her eyes are soft and unfocused. But her mouth is tight and there’s wrinkles across her forehead.
