Page 71 of You Found Me
“Most do. City or small town, makes no difference.”
“I guess.” Cities always felt like they were in a constant state of change, which suited her. She’d grown up in a hundred different towns, on a thousand different stages. Life in motion had always felt right.
But now, driving through this town, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like to stay in one place. It seemed so foreign, but it also seemed nice. Like a spa day. “What was your high school like?”
“Same as any other. Classes. Homework.”
“I never went to high school.”
He eyed her. “How’d you get around that?”
“We spent a lot of time on the road, so I was homeschooled. I always wondered what it would be like to go to class and hang out after school. I also really wanted to go to a school dance. I always thought prom would be cool.”
“I skipped it,” Ward said with a don’t-ask finality that hit all of Della’s curiosity buttons.
“Rachel let you get away with that?”
“She didn’t get a say.”
“Bet shelovedthat.” Della eyed him. Something was behind that glare. “So why’d you skip it? You can’t dance?”
“I had somewhere else to be.” His lips pressed down in a tight hard line.
“Where?”
“The Marines.” His jawline was so tense now that she could see the muscles flexing along his neck.
“Lucky for me, then.” She kept her tone light. “If you hadn’t, I’d be facing this all on my own.”
He snorted. “I doubt that.”
“Well, maybe not totally alone. I’d have my sisters. And Greg.” She turned away from him to look out the window. “I doubt they’d have been as fanatical as you about keeping me safe, though.”
She saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel in his reflection. “I’m not a fanatic. I’m a professional. You’re safe with me, Lucy.”
He said it like a fact. Like he was the brick wall, or the mountain.
Like no matter what happened, he would stand between her and danger and make sure it never touched her.
Nobody had ever said anything like that to her before. Nobody had ever made her feel that protected.
She hadn’t even known she needed it, until now.
Wires Crossing’s town square was a literal square bordered by the four main streets of town coming together. In the center stood a large red-brick building with arched doorways and a bell tower with a clock straight out ofBack to the Future.
The streets on all four sides featured cute little boutiques, antique shops, restaurants, and people.
Every tree and old-fashioned streetlight was wrapped in fall-colored leafy garlands and flags featuring pumpkins. Stacks ofhay bales had been placed in each corner, and here and there, scarecrows with funny faces perched on benches, on the hay, or hung from a lamp.
They passed under a banner that read “AppleFest, October 22 & 23, Costume Contest, Pie Contest, Art Vendors, and More!”
“That sounds like fun.” Della pointed at the sign. “We should go to that. If we’re still here, I mean. Will we be?”
“Thought you’d want to get back to the city as fast as an airplane would take you.”
Della watched a teenage couple pause to sneak a kiss. It was so delightfully normal. The entire town had a nothing-bad-happens-here atmosphere. “I wouldn’t have to go that fast. If you catch the guy tomorrow, I could take a few days. I’m on break after all.”
Ward turned down a side street next to a store called The Catwalk with a window display of sweaters that looked perfect for the crisp fall air.