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“I’m saying it’s possible.”
“I’ll take that risk for you, babe.”
Except she didn’t appreciate his amusement. “Every time we talk about this, you do that, you laugh at me. This is serious. It’s a serious thing. The danger is real. I know it’s real.”
He frowned. “How do you know it’s real?”
“The letters said so,” she said, tapping the pen on her cheek.
“You just found the letters after your mom died. Why did your mom tell you to fear the internet before there was danger?”
Sometimes his lack of interest was frustrating, more because it meant she had to repeat herself than anything.
“Danny, just trust me, please,” Tess said. “The danger has been real for a long time.”
Her only concrete confirmation of it came in the letters. Tess wished her mom had been honest before she lost her life. Just like her, Anne must have believed there was time or her mom hoped the danger would go away on its own.
“Anyone ever hurt you?”
His frown would be sweet, if she wasn’t sure it was incredulous in addition to being confused.
“You can’t understand, baby, okay?” she said. “It’s not about being hurt. We’re trying to stop the hurt.”
“We are?”
Exhaling, she rid herself of the frustration. He was so… Danny. Staying mad at him while he was providing a shining example of his simple outlook was impossible. As she sat there, scrutinizing his profile, Tess experienced a new kind of negative emotion. Beyond guilt, the weight of her worry for him exceeded anything she’d felt before.
Anne knew what she was running from and her focus had been keeping her child safe. Tess had been safe. But now it was her responsibility to look after someone else and she was at a disadvantage. With no clue as to what the danger wanted, she couldn’t be sure to avoid it or keep it from hurting Danny.
“Do you have a gun?”
His attention flew from the road to her and back again. “Why do I need a gun?”
“For protection,” she said. “I don’t know what this thing is. I don’t know what wants to hurt me… I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
Though her concern was real, he once again showed little awareness of how genuine the threat could be.
“Don’t you worry ‘bout that, Little Red. I got all the guns I need right here.” Taking a hand from the steering wheel, he squeezed his fist to showcase his bulging bicep. “Check that out.”
Scaring him wouldn’t achieve anything. Giving up, at least for that moment, Tess let him keep his innocence.
“Amazing, baby,” she said, earning herself a grin.
Danny was proud of his physique with good reason. It wouldn’t hold up in the face of gunfire, no defense would. Not any they had at their disposal. Her mother had to think there was a chance of weapons being used against them, she wouldn’t have left a gun with Figgs otherwise.
“You ready to tell me where we’re going yet?” he asked, breaking her trance.
Tess had been staring at nothing, thinking about nothing for God only knew how long. “I told you.”
“A state,” he said. “Don’t know more than that.”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
It didn’t help that she hadn’t been to the building for years and didn’t actually know the nature of its current form. Tess hoped she’d recall its exact location when they got to the area. Figuring something would be familiar, she would pick out landmarks and streets that she did recognize. The building was easy to visualize, how they’d got there wasn’t so simple.
“The truck stop up ahead has a grocery store, it’s small, but I’ll get something good,” Danny said. “Cook you up something special.”
As always, he didn’t fight her. Danny always accepted her. Even when he teased or questioned her, he never gave any hint that there was anything she could ever do that would anger or upset him.
