Page 7 of Cole

When they got into the car a few minutes later, Dawn asked, “So why the change of plans?”

“Dawn!” Benji turned to face the back seat. “Guess who was there today?”

“Amelia?” the woman guessed.

Since they spent so much time with Annie and Benji, Dawn and Andrew knew most of what went on in their lives.

“Well, yes.” Benji laughed. “But someoneelsewas there.”

“Oh?”

Annie could hear the concern in Dawn’s voice, just because they weren’t keen on unexpected people showing up. And Cole Halverson had definitely been an unexpected addition to the outing.

“Who was there, Benji?” Dawn asked.

“Cole Halverson!” Benji turned back around to face the front windshield as Annie guided the car toward the exit of the parking lot.

“Seriously?”

“Yep. He was there with his best friend and some other family members.”

“I bet you were over the moon,” Dawn said, sounding a bit more relieved.

Her dad—after much debate between him and Annie—had finally agreed to loosen the security strings just a bit, especially for Benji, when dealing with familiar settings and events or if they were set up by trusted people, like Jay Halverson. Which was why they’d been allowed to go to the gym that day, even though Dawn and Andrew wouldn’t have been able to do a full security sweep ahead of time.

Oh, and because she’d caved and now had a gun strapped to her leg.

“If you and Andrew are going to be inside, can I take off the gun?” Annie asked as she found a parking spot near the ice cream parlor. “Please?”

Dawn sighed. “You’ve had it on this long. Just leave it.”

Annie had figured that would be her response, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“You two, get out,” Dawn said. “Then I’ll get out after a few more minutes. Andrew’s inside already.”

With a nod, Annie opened her door and stepped out, while Benji did the same.

“I hate that we can’t live like normal people,” Benji muttered as she joined him on the sidewalk.

“He just doesn’t want anything to happen to either of us.”

“But you can’t say it’s not annoying.”

“What’s annoying is that there are people out there who make such tight security necessary.”

“It still bugs you what Dad requires, though,” Benji said. “You just asked Dawn if you could take off your gun.”

He had her there. “But when she said no, I didn’t argue.”

Benji just shook his head as he turned away from her and took a step toward the parlor. Annie didn’t hesitate to follow him, wanting to be away from the car by the time Dawn got out.

Thoughts of their conversation slipped away as they stepped into the cool—literally and figurately—interior of the nineteen-fifties styled ice cream parlor.

Annie looked around, spotting Andrew immediately. He sat facing the door, and when their gazes met, Annie smiled and gave him a little wave.

When they were around people they were likely to spend more time with, she and Benji had been told to acknowledge Dawn and Andrew. That way, if they had to come along with either of them, they could claim a previous relationship.

She hated all the machinations because it made things seem less… genuine. But it was the price they had to pay if they wanted to be out in public more.

---