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“That disappoints you?” I was as perplexed as she seemed to be.
Alyssa shrugged, trying to appear casual. “I guess I just thought we’d choose a place together. I thought you, um, didn’t you say something about, um, moving in? Maybe I heard you wrong…”
I suddenly realized she thought that by buying a house on my own, I didn’t expect her to move in with me. Chuckling—and receiving a heavy scowl for it—I took the top paper and set it in front of her, tapping one specific section. “Look at the address, baby.”
A second later, her whole countenance lit up like I’d been hoping it would. “You bought this house?” she gasped. Almost shyly, she looked at me again, her cheeks tinged with pink. “For me?”
“Of course, it’s for you, baby. Everything I do from now on will be for us.”
She looked around, her face filling with wonder, and breathed, “Us. This is our home.”
“They threw in everything, so you can keep or toss whatever you want,” I told her as I grabbed two mugs and fixed us each a cup of coffee.
“Seriously?” she chirped as I set her drink in front of her.
“Seriously.”
Alyssa took a small sip of the steaming liquid, then bounced in her seat excitedly. I started to say something else, but the color abruptly drained from her face, and she hopped off the stool and raced out of the kitchen. I was hot on her heels, and when she fell to her knees in front of the nearest toilet, I held her hair back while she released what was in her stomach. Which wasn’t a lot because she hadn’t eaten much yesterday and hadn’t had her breakfast this morning. Unfortunately, her body didn’t care, and she dry heaved, her small body shuddering as sweat beaded on her skin.
When she was done, I helped her up and set her on the sink before giving her a glass of water to rinse her mouth. “I’m calling the doctor,” I informed her.
“No, don’t be silly,” she said. “I shouldn’t have had coffee and sugar on an empty stomach. I know better than that. I was just excited and not thinking clearly.”
What she said made sense, but I wasn’t sure I agreed. However, I let her have her way for the moment, choosing not to tell her that I was going to make an appointment as soon as the office opened. She went upstairs to shower, and when she returned, she didn’t look a whole lot better.
“Here.” I pushed a plate of pancakes slathered with butter and syrup—just the way she liked them—toward her with a fork and glass of orange juice. “Eat. Or we’re going to the doctor.”
Alyssa picked up her fork and took a bite, then gave me a fake, overly bright smile. “See? All better.”
I grunted in response and watched her closely while I fixed my own plate, but when she’d eaten every bite, I considered that maybe I’d been overreacting.
“Awesome breakfast,” she said as she hopped off her stool and took her dish to the sink.
“Put that down,” I told her firmly. “The dishes are my job.”
“But you cooked.”
I raised an eyebrow and stared at her.
She looked as if she might argue some more, but then she gave me that same fake smile and squeaked, “Okay. You win”—which made me very suspicious—“I’m going to do a little exploring.”
I watched her walk out of the room, and after a minute, I decided to go after her, but then my cell rang, and I saw Mac’s number.
“Prez.”
“It’s done. Fuckers tried to get out of town, but they were stupid as shit and bought bus tickets with their debit cards. They came out of hiding, and we took ’em from the station. Quietly. But I have to preserve our relationship with the sheriff, so…” He trailed off, and I filled in the blanks.
“You tell him where she is yet?”
“He’s in a training exercise until this afternoon. You’ve got until then to figure shit out.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“Yes, you do,” he agreed before hanging up.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and went in search of my girl. We had shit to work out before her father complicated everything. When I walked down the hall toward the front room, I heard the sound of vomiting and hurried to the bathroom by the front entry. Alyssa was bent over a toilet again, losing everything she’d eaten for breakfast. “Shit.” I grabbed a hand towel and wet it at the sink, then knelt behind her.
She’d twisted her hair up into a bun, so I laid the cool fabric on the back of her neck. When her stomach finally stopped heaving, she collapsed back against me, and I used the cloth to wipe the perspiration from her face before setting it across her forehead.
