Page 13 of Second Chance Savior

“Oh, shush. River used to call me Grumpy Charlie when we were growing up.”

She snorted.

Rolling my eyes, I racked my brain for a way to pinpoint that off feeling. “I usually walk to my yoga class in the mornings, but I’ve been taking my car instead. And I didn’t go to class at all the past few days. I’ve been avoiding walks to my favorite places in general. I thought I was just tired. But in hindsight, I think it’s more than that.”

“It could’ve been your subconscious trying to keep you safe. You think someone’s been watching you?”

“Shit. It’s possible.” I’d still been fighting the truth of this threat against me. But my gut told me this was real. “I can’t believe this.”

She reached over and squeezed my knee. “Hey, you’re safe here. I’m glad you called me. You know I’d do anything to help, and you can stay with me as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you. I have faith you can kick the asses of any bad guys who come my way.”

She grinned. But Brynn didn’t disagree because we both knew it was accurate. This woman had skills.

“I’ll notify the people I know in the domestic terrorism unit,” she said, “see if they’ve heard anything, and they can put out feelers with their informants. Hopefully, we’ll be able to confirm or reject the existence of the threat and decide how to handle it. The question is what you’d like to do in the meantime.”

“I can’t up-end my life based on a vague report. Thefundraiser at the botanic gardens is tomorrow night. Months of work have gone into planning it. If I suddenly pull out, it’ll be a disaster.”

The event would benefit victims of human trafficking. It was part of the launch of my office’s new initiative.

“Actually, I was referring to River,” she said. “What do you want to do abouthim?”

Ugh, I was too tired to untangle that conundrum. “I don’t know what to do about River.” I never had.

“I’ll need to talk to him when he gets to town,” she said. “So I can get the details on the threat and what he knows about Stillwater.”

I nodded. Was he still heading to Denver after I’d hung up on him? I had to assume so. River had always been intensely determined when he put his mind to something. I remembered how he’d get obsessed with writing some piece of code or breaking some personal record, and he’d keep a single-minded focus until he’d done it.

Then again, I had never been able to hold River’s attention for long. With me, he’d always found it easy to say goodbye and not look back.

Brynn’s gaze was far too shrewd. “You said you were engaged to his younger brother. But it seems like all your unresolved feelings are aimed at the older brother, not the former fiancé.”

“It’s that obvious?”

“Am I wading into love triangle territory here? Because if so, count me out. I love you Char, but that’s too much drama for me.”

I laughed. “Nope. No angsty love triangles.” As a teenager, I’d had a little crush on River, but I’d banished that foolishness long before I ever dated his brother. “Ross and I had a low-drama relationship, and it ended the same way. Heactually got married a couple years ago. Even invited me to the wedding.”

“Did you go?”

“Um, no. I was too busy.”

“Too busy avoiding his older brother?”

Wow, she had good aim outside of archery as well. “I didn’t see the need to dig up that history. Istilldon’t see the need.”

“Then you don’t have to speak with him in person if you don’t want to,” Brynn said. “I can handle it.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m a big girl. I couldn’t have won a single election if I shied away from confrontation.” I took a deep, steadying breath. “I can deal with him tomorrow, and then the FBI will take over whatever this threat really is, and we’ll go from there.” There would be no need to work through any lingering feelings. Soon, River would disappear from my life once again. As if he’d never been here at all.

“Why don’t you get some sleep.” Brynn stood. “You know where the guest room is. I need to make some calls.”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Unless you want that shot of whiskey after all?”

“Tempting. But no. I’ve got enough problems without adding a headache.”

---