Page 36 of Guarded By the SEAL
“And sugar,” said Ivy, climbing down from her stool to grab the sugar bowl Wyatt had set out.
Teslyn clucked her tongue. “Not too much.”
“Two scoops?” the girl asked.
“One.”
Ivy seemed to consider that, her lips settled into a pout. “I have three pancakes?”
Teslyn put a hand on her hip. “Two.”
“With syrup?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Ivy smiled. “Okay.”
Teslyn shook her head as she turned the flame off beneath the skillet. “Marilyn used to let me have the whole bowl,” she said quietly to Wyatt.
He gestured to Ivy’s cup, which was barely off-white by the time Teslyn got done with it. “She make you coffee like that?”
“Sometimes, when she wasn’t too hungover to get out of bed.” She brushed past him. “That’s why I drink tea.”
How many pieces of Teslyn’s life were chosen solely because they were the opposite of what she’d grown up with? He thought of the way she dressed, all pants and buttoned-up collars, suspecting he was on to something. “Why do I get the feeling that’s your motivation for a lot of things?”
She glared at him, the intensity of the look gone so quickly, he wondered if he’d imagined it. “Who knows why people do things?” she asked. “Eat a pancake.”
“And stop talking, is that it?” He stabbed a pancake with his fork and brought it to his plate, cutting off a piece and popping it in his mouth. The chocolate chips were melty and chocolatey, contrasting with the perfect golden fluffiness of the pancake. He made a display of liking them for Ivy’s sake, though the sentiment was genuine. Teslyn made a damn good breakfast.
When everyone was finished, he volunteered to do the dishes, surprised when Teslyn appeared by his side to dry them. “Maybe,” she said quietly.
“Maybe, what?”
“Maybe it was the motivation for a lot of things.”
He felt like he’d spotted a wild rabbit while on a walk through the forest, and he was staring at it, hoping it wouldn’t run away. He said nothing, waiting to see if she would fill the silence.
It took her a while, but she did. “I never wanted to be like her. The way she dressed, the way she talked. All of it.”
“That’s why you dress conservatively.”
Teslyn nodded as she dried the skillet. “She wore leather pants and halter tops to McDonald’s. I hated the way people looked at her, the way men would stare at her body. But she loved it.” She shook her head. “Like it was the only way she knew to communicate with the opposite sex. It was pathetic, really.”
It seemed the more she told him about her childhood, the less he liked Marilyn and the more he wanted to shield Ivy from the storm. But Marilyn was dead, and danger was still very much out there.
He stopped washing dishes and dried his hands, looking for his phone. Logan hadn’t texted, which meant he still hadn’t found Marilyn’s high school. That seemed insane. How hard could it be to locate something so basic? Yet he knew the other man was the best there was, and if he couldn’t find the information quickly, then no one could.
His thoughts turned to their options, and he said them out loud. “Maybe we should go to the Georgia State Patrol. Even if our bad guy had ties to local law enforcement, his reach wouldn’t extend this far.”
“Absolutely not.” Teslyn dropped a dirty metal spatula into the sink with a clang.
“We have to figure out who’s behind this. Right now, they’re looking for you, not the real perpetrator. The sooner we clear your name—”
Her eyes shot to Ivy and back again, her voice a harsh whisper so her sister couldn’t hear. “They’ll take her away from me. I may never get her back, even if they believe me. If they don’t, I’m going to jail for arson. Did you think about that?”
“The truth is on your side. We can make them believe the truth.”
She sighed. “How?” She shook her head. “That’s a chance I’m not willing to take.”
