AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look around the monitor. Troy’s a few yards away, talking to an Asian man in his sixties.Fuckers.
Troy nods with a smile and heads toward me.
I quickly close the browser, groaning at how there’s not enough time to clear the search history first like I normally do before I leave the library. Not unless I want Troy to see what I’m doing.
“Hey.” He leans down and kisses my cheek. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here.”
“I was just typing something. My journal. Which Robyn wanted me to keep. But I’m done now.”
His brow puckers into a confused frown. “Why didn’t you type it at work? You can do that, you know.”
“Change of view. And I prefer not to do my personal stuff at work. Besides, Bailey needed a break from her training. So, I took her to the park for a bit and dropped her off at home before coming here.”
He nods like that makes sense. I ease out a long breath. Thank God the man had said Troy’s name and loud enough so I heard him; otherwise, Troy might have seen what I’d been doing and pieced together my real identity.
“I have to go to Eugene on Thursday,” he says. “You want to come with me? You can look into getting a laptop. If you want.”
I push the chair away from the table and grab my purse from the floor. “Really? I’ve been thinking about getting a secondhand laptop so I can use editing software for my photos.”
And so I can sit on my patio and type out Angelique’s journals while Bailey plays in the backyard.
50
TROY
June, Present Day
Maple Ridge
Five weeksafter I offered Jess the job as my assistant, I steer my truck into the empty parking spot for the Ash Fall’s Annual Sunshine Festival. Gravel crunches under the tires.
“So many vehicles.” Jess’s voice is so low, I barely hear it. But the tremor in it pivots me in my seat.
Her gaze is directed out the passenger window, her hands fidgeting on her lap. I thread my fingers with hers and give her hand a reassuring squeeze. There has been a lot of hand-holding and kissing and spending time together over the past five weeks, even though what we have between us doesn’t have a label.
But during the day when she’s my assistant, we’re professional. No kisses. No touching. No anything that isn’t part of the job description. And, like I suspected, none of my employees give a damn that I’m with her. They like Jess, and that’s good enough for them.
“Don’t worry; you’ll be safe,” I remind her. “We’re just here to do research. Like a reporter.”
I’ve been coming to the annual festival for as long as I can remember, but this will be the first time I’m attending with the intension of seeing what works and what doesn’t.
“I’ve got this. I’ve got this. I’ve got this.” Jess’s words tumble out in a whispered chant.
“Hey, if you’d rather not be here, I can take you home.” I was an idiot not questioning if the festival would be too much for her. She seemed fine with the idea when I initially brought it up, but now that we’re here, she’s clearly having second thoughts.
She turns her head to me. “No, I’m good. I want to do this. Like you said, it’s research. I like research.” She smiles. The tilt of her lips is small, but her eyes confirm the smile is genuine.
“Okay, but if it gets to be too much, we can leave.” I’d rather not be the cause of her having another flashback. Hell, I’d rather she doesn’t have any more flashbacks, period. But without knowing what happened to her, I have no idea if the festival will contain any triggers.
We climb out of the truck and, while holding hands, walk over to join my brothers, Zara, Emily, and Simone by Kellan’s SUV. The dogs are at home because the festival will be too much for them, especially for Bailey since she is still undergoing training.
Lucas and Simone are acting like they haven’t seen each other for several days, even though they’re married. Her arms are around his neck and his are around her waist and their gaze is lovesick and horny.
A car slowly pulls past us, and Avery waves from the passenger seat. Noah’s driving.
Jess stiffens, the movement almost imperceptible.
I lower my mouth to her ear. “Is something wrong?”
