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“I’ll tell you, but not out loud.” I wrote down the town in Oregon on a scrap of paper I had next to my laptop and handed it to him. “My parents don’t know that, and I want to keep it that way for now. Josh’s network of angry white guy terrorists is after me. Maybe I’m an easier target than the new governor. Between the stalking, media hounds, and leaked sex tape, Austin isn’t the right place for me anymore.”
Hank slumped over, covering his face with his hands. “Damn. I should have seen this coming.”
I sat up, then pushed myself onto my knees. “I don’t want to leave.” I reached out a hand and slid my fingers over the nape of his neck. “Especially you.”
He turned around and pulled me into his arms. I crawled onto his lap, breathing him in. He sank backwards so that we were both stretched out on the lounger with our arms wrapped around each other. He kissed the top of my head, his hands running over my shoulders and arms while I pressed my face against his chest.
“Sally.” Our legs twined together. I held on to him, my breathing shallow, like a marathon runner finishing the longest race of their life.Finally,was all I could think.
What sounded like a gun fired in the street in front of the house. Glass fell from a window behind us and broke on thepatio. Hank shoved me off the chair then covered me with his body. More shots fired—I flinched, whimpering against Hank’s shoulder. Dogs were barking at other houses. Something big crashed through a window of my parents’ house. The world exploded.
CHAPTER FIVE
Glass shattered and the ground shook. I coughed, raising my T-shirt up to cover my mouth. Dust and clouds of peppery smoke enveloped us.
Hank leaped up and ran toward the front yard. I raised a hand to try and grab him but he was too quick. I snatched my cell phone and laptop then stumbled onto the grass by the pool at the far side of the yard.
“Sally,” Hank barked, reappearing through the side gate and jogging toward me. “Get over the ladders and go into my bedroom in my mother’s house.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“No. Move it, I don’t want anyone to know for sure that you’re still here.”
He hustled me to the ladders and helped me to climb over. “Back door is unlocked. My mother probably slept through it all. Her night meds are strong. Put these ladders inside the house too. And unlock my front door.”
Sirens were approaching and an alarm blared from somewhere. Hank ran toward the front of my parents’ house. Istaggered toward his back door, dragging the ladders and my laptop as best I could.
I’d just pulled everything in through the door when the kitchen light snapped on. “Who is that?” Hank’s mother stood there in a nightgown, with pink slippers on her feet, pointing a gun at me.
Ms. Bridger suffered from Alzheimer’s. I’d heard from my mother that caring for her was beyond what Hank and his sister, plus paid caregivers, could handle. They were trying to get her into an assisted living facility.
“I’m your caregiver, Ms. Bridger. Hank sent me over because he has a work emergency.” I sounded remarkably calm, even as I gripped the ladders. “Put that gun down now. You wouldn’t want to hurt anybody.”
Her arm dropped a bit and she pivoted to look toward my parents’ house. “What was that noise?”
“Naughty kids, with fireworks,” I improvised. “I ran outside to look.”
“Fireworks. They’re gonna burn down the whole neighborhood. I should go give them a piece of my mind.”
“The police are there. You’re in your nightgown, Ms. Bridger.”
“Oh.”
I put the ladders down as gently as I could, not wanting to draw her attention to them. Her gun arm dropped. She stared toward the flashing lights shining through her closed curtains.
“How about we get you back to bed?”
“Who are you?” She squinted at me.
“Your nurse. I’m here to help out however you need.”
“You don’t look like a nurse,” she said with a frown.
My short shorts and tight top probably weren’t standard for people in the caregiving industry.
“You’re right. But Iamyour nurse. Let’s get you to bed.It’s very late.” It was in fact barely past ten. I put my laptop on the table. She rubbed her chest with the gun hand and I held my breath. “Can I take that from you?” I kept my voice courteous. “I’ll get it put away.”
She stared at her gun like she’d already forgotten she’d aimed it at me. “Okay.” She’d always been such a sweet lady.
