Page 9 of Stone
Kevincrossed the street at the end of the drive and climbed into a white truck. A few seconds later, he pulled away. Shortly after that, Viper’s SUV passed by.
Knowing they had someone watching their back, Simon eased away from the window, then turned to find Juliana staring at him. Perched on the bed, she had her heel resting on the floor, the damp paper towel still encasing her toe.
“Let’s finish cleaning that up, and then you can tell me what’s going on. Or what you know about it,” he said, moving toward her. Her eyes tracked him, but she didn’t respond.
Kneeling before her, he gently removed the damp towel. The bleeding had stopped, and it needed ointment and a good Band-Aid.
“You believe me,” she all but whispered. He looked up, then frowned. “I haven’t even told you anything or said anything, but that guy scared me, and you…you didn’t question me.”
He rocked back on his haunches. “He scared you, that was enough for me.”
“You don’t think I’m being dramatic? Or making things up?”
He kept his expression as neutral as possible, but her words gave him a glimpse into the type of people she’d had in her life, and he didn’t like it. “I think you’re fully capable of being dramatic and making things up. But if you did, it would be stories about gnomes, or shape-shifters, or pioneer women, or time travel. It wouldn’t be something that scared you. I saw the fear in your eyes, Juliana. It was genuine.”
She studied him, her expression telling him she wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.
“I’ll go grab the first aid kit and we’ll get this wrapped up. Then can you tell me what that was all about?” he suggested. The best way to show her that he meant what he said was through actions, not words.
She hesitated, then nodded. He rose and jogged down the stairs, everything he’d learned about Juliana in the past few minutes percolating in his head. Their coffee dates had been filled mostly with talk of their livesnow. Of their jobs, their friends, what they liked about Mystery Lake, their favorite places—and things—to eat. They hadn’t had a chance to work backward yet. Backward to the days before they were on their own—before she went to college and he to the military. Backward to the days of high school and younger—to their families and their lives long before Mystery Lake.
Those years weren’t something he thought about often anymore, and he tended not to talk about them. Until today, he hadn’t noticed that Juliana had done the same. Despite her easy smile, quick laughter, and genuine joy in her current life, he now understood that it had not always been this way for her.
Filing those revelations away, he grabbed the kit and headed back upstairs. For the moment, they had more immediate concerns.
“I can take care of it. It’s not as though it’s the first stubbed toe I’ve had,” Juliana said as he entered the room.
“You can, but this is easier,” he said, taking a knee in front of her and setting her foot on his thigh. He examined her toe again. What caught his attention, though, wasn’t the injury but the design on her toenail.
“Cute butterfly,” he said. Her nail, painted in a deep blue, sported a tiny red, orange, and yellow butterfly.
Juliana smiled. “The woman I go to for pedicures, Marcela, sometimes brings her daughter, Luz, into work with her on Saturdays. About a year ago, I noticed Luz drawing an adorable little ladybug and asked if her mom could draw the same design on my toe. It’s become our thing now.”
He half smiled. “Yeah? What other things has she drawn?”
“Tinker Bell, SpongeBob, a horse, a sunset, a daisy. Too many to remember.”
“What’s been your favorite?” he asked as he finished with the ointment and applied the first Band-Aid. Given the placement of the injury, she’d need two.
Juliana flashed him one of those smiles that lit her entire body—not just her lips or her eyes or her face, but it emanated from every inch of her, like the glow of a warm fire. “A box set of books.”
Of course. He should have known. Not all librarians read obsessively, but Juliana did. She’d talked about her favorites during their coffees, and he hadn’t been surprised to find the bookshelves surrounding her fireplace stuffed with both paper- and hardbacks.
“Any particular box set?” He had the second Band-Aid on, but he liked her bare foot resting on his thigh, so he remained on one knee, casually wrapping his hand around her ankle.
“One of my first favorites, Nancy Drew,” she replied, her nose wrinkling a tiny bit as she grinned with obvious love for the childhood series.
He chuckled as he absently rubbed the arch of her foot. Silence fell between them, and his mind returned to the man at her door. The fact that he scared Juliana was unacceptable, but today was only their third date. He had no right to demand answers. Or wrap her in Bubble Wrap and be the one who protected her from the world. Despite how much he wanted to do both.
“So,” he said on an exhale.
“You want to know what that was about,” Juliana said.
“Only if you want to tell me,” he replied.
Her eyes searched his, then she huffed a laugh. “Liar,” she said, sliding her foot from his thigh and rising. “You want to know regardless of whether I want to tell you. You just won’t bully me into it if I don’t want to.” She paused as he stood.
He exhaled. After only two dates, she knew him well. Thankfully, the knowing went both ways. She might be teasing him, but she had no intention of withholding anything.
