Page 17 of Salvation

“You must be exhausted,” Sarah said. “God, I’m such a bad cousin. Come on. Would you like a shower? A nap? How long can you stay?”

Anna laughed. She hadn’t thought ahead to anything other than finding Sarah. Now that she was here, she had no clue. “Well, I could stay a few days if that’s okay.”

“Youhaveto stay,” Sarah insisted. “We have a lot of catching up to do. But first things first.”

Sarah led her to the apartment on the second floor and shooed her straight into the shower. When she was done, Sarah led her back downstairs, out the back, and toward a separate building standing across the service lot behind the café and saloon.

“We’ll set you up in the place above the garage. It’s not much, but you’ll have some privacy here.”

The stairs creaked and dust rose as she walked, but when they came to the slope-roofed area above the garage, it was airy and cool.

“We’ve been meaning to fix it up, but I think it will be okay.”

“It’s great.” Anna already loved the Navajo rug and the sunlight streaming through the dormers on the shady north side.

“There’s a small living room in the front…” Sarah motioned as heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs behind them. “…a half-bath over here, and two little bedrooms in the back. You can have the one on the right.”

Soren came lumbering into view, and it seemed he hadn’t heard, because he was looking behind him, talking to someone else. “You can have the room on the left—”

Soren stopped short when he saw Anna. A second later, Todd appeared behind him. There was a lot of Soren taking up the landing, but there was plenty of Todd to take in, too. The sandy-brown hair was still mussed as if he’d raked his hands through it several more times. His face was lined and weary, but he brightened when she met his gaze. At least, she thought he did. Or maybe it was the light?

For a second, the squeak of the overhead fan was the only sound in that small space. That and the sound of her skipping pulse in her ears.

“Wait. I was just saying Anna could stay here,” Sarah said.

“I just talked Todd into staying for a few days,” Soren replied.

When Todd had just come up the stairs, he had looked reluctant. But now, he seemed to be just as eager as she was.

Sarah looked at her with awouldn’t-that-be-awkwardlook.

Awkward? Anna pursed her lips. Nope, it wouldn’t be awkward at all.

“We can share,” she said, trying far too hard to sound nonchalant. Wondering why she liked the idea so much. “That’s fine.”

She smiled at him, and the two of them fell into a half-dazed, gazing-into-each-other’s-eyes state. She’d never seen eyes quite as blue and honest as his. Well, it felt like she had, but she couldn’t put her finger on where or when.

“Okay with me,” he whispered.

She nodded, holding her breath. “Okay with me, too.”

Chapter Five

“You just got here. You can’t leave.”

Todd shook his head. Soren kept saying that, but Todd wasn’t sure he should — or even could — stay.

“Where else will you go? What will you do?”

He had no clue, but hanging around witnessing his cousin’s newfound family bliss was definitely not the right place to be. How could he see little Teddy every day and not have his heart crushed?

“You have to stay, man,” Soren went on.

Soren didn’t seem to understand how much he was asking, and Todd wasn’t sure he could endure staying. Until Soren walked him up to that little den of an apartment over the garage and he saw Anna again. She stared at him in surprise, and instead of thinking about what he might lose, he thought about what he stood to gain.

Mate. Mine.His bear jumped up and down inside.

His heart started pounding, the blood rushing through his veins.

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