Page 55 of The Couple's Secret
“I told her it was ‘Do you have any plans for the weekend?’”
Josie crawled toward him, pressing her chest against his back. She rested her hands on his shoulders and breathed in his aftershave. “Then what?”
Boots laced, he turned his head and kissed her lightly. “That was it.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t take that long to eat. I thanked her for the meal and did the dishes. She stayed at the table awhile, drawing.”
Wren was always drawing. She hadn’t yet shown them any of her art. They’d both asked but she’d told them none of her stuff was ready for anyone to see. Josie suspected she just didn’t want to let them in. After all, she’d shown it to Erica, Misty, and Harris.
“How long was she at the table?”
“I don’t know. Ten, fifteen minutes? I didn’t try to engage her at that point,” Noah said. “Didn’t want to push my luck.”
“That’s a lot though.”
Josie slumped, ecstatic and disappointed at the same time. Parenting was weird. If that’s what this could be called. Noah kissed her again and then stood to retrieve his phone from his nightstand. He punched in his passcode, tapped, swiped and then handed it to her. Josie’s breath caught in her throat.
“Wh-what is this?”
“Wren left her sketchbook open. It was on the kitchen table. She took Trout out back for a few minutes.”
“Noah!” Josie chided, even as her eyes traced every detail of the portrait Wren had lovingly drawn of her father. “That’s an invasion of her privacy.”
“Swipe left,” he said.
In spite of herself, she did, only to gasp. This drawing was far from finished but there was enough detail to clearly identify them—Josie and Noah—in profile. They were face to face, smiling at one another. It was beautiful. Dex had been right. His daughter was far more artistically talented than he’d been, which was saying a hell of a lot.
“Noah,” Josie breathed. “This is…”
“Not a drawing of us as villains.”
She laughed. “That’s good news, but you shouldn’t have taken these pictures. I just had a talk with her about privacy. You have to delete them.”
He took his phone back, gazing at the picture. “It was a plain-view search.”
Josie rolled her eyes. Trust a law enforcement officer to use the plain-view doctrine to justify snooping in his own damn home. Josie would have lectured him, but she was positive she would have done the same thing in his shoes. They both wanted so badly to know more about Wren.
“I don’t think Wren would see it that way,” Josie told him. “Please delete them.”
He turned the screen toward her so she could watch him delete the photos. “I never intended to keep them,” he said. “I felt guilty as soon as I took them. I just wanted to show you.”
“Thank you.”
Noah put on his belt, securing his pistol in its holster. “I’ve got to go. See you in the morning?”
Josie nodded. It would be heaven to sleep in her own bed again, even if it was without him. “Noah,” she said before he reached the door.
His shoulders tensed. Turning slowly back to her, he said, “I think we should go forward with the vow renewal. Drake suggested finding a way to incorporate Wren into the ceremony. To demonstrate our commitment to her as well as each other.”
Noah knew damn well that the vow renewal was not what she wanted to discuss but she was instantly distracted by Drake’s suggestion. It was brilliant. Why hadn’t she thought of it herself? Probably because her anxiety over wanting Wren to open up to them consumed every moment she didn’t spend obsessing over the Lachlan/Stevens case.
Still.
“Wren is pretty guarded,” Josie said. “It’s a great idea, but do you think she would even be open to it?”
“No way to know unless we ask.”
