Page 13 of Faith
Both cats stood when they heard Nina, stretching and yawning, then sitting and facing the bedroom door as they waited for her to come out.
Zeke wasn’t sure if she would leave the room or go back to sleep. He didn’t move, letting her choose for herself. When the lock on the bedroom door snicked open, Zeke and his cats all looked up.
“Why are you sitting there?” she asked, smiling when Gene and Franklin greeted her with meows.
She looked healthier than the night before. The circles under her eyes were faded. A glow that wasn’t there when he picked her up made her look more like the girl he remembered.
“I wanted to be close,” he confessed.
She glanced at the bedroom he said he was going to sleep in and smiled. “Thank you.” Franklin wound around her feet, and she bent down to pet him.
Zeke nodded and rose to his feet, scooping up Gene to keep from reaching for Nina. “Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Um, should we call Monty?”
“He didn’t come home last night.”
“What? Is he okay? What about his family?”
Zeke shook his head. “He doesn’t have a family. He’s single, unless you count the business.”
“Oh, I thought…” She nibbled her lip. “Do you think he’s okay?”
“He will be. Let’s get some food, then we can go see him or go get you clothes and then see him or whatever you want to do.”
“What about your job?”
“Obviously, my boss knows what’s going on.”
Nina nodded. “Oh, right.”
Zeke fixed breakfast and filled her in on the high points of his and Montgomery’s lives over the last twelve years. Military, searching for her, Montgomery started the business.
“When did he get divorced?”
“Divorced? Mont’s not divorced. He’s never been married.”
Nina exhaled a confused sound. “Neither of you ever settled down.”
Zeke wanted to tell her he couldn’t imagine loving anyone else, but all he did was shake his head. “Mont’s thrown himself into work. We both did, I guess. He’s done very well. Saved a lot of people.”
“That’s what you do? Save people?”
“We keep people safe. Protect them. Whether it’s a witness or an informant or someone who needs us for a short term.”
“You’re heroes.”
Zeke grunted. “No. We’re just people who know what it’s like to lose the most important person in our lives.”
Her soft gasp said she understood what he was saying. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them back. “I wish I hadn’t left.”
“You’re back. That’s what matters.”
Nina smiled. She picked up her empty plate and carried it to the dishwasher. She grabbed Zeke’s plate and mug, putting all of it in.
“What do you want to do first? Do you feel safe leaving here?”
She sucked in a breath. “I didn’t even think about that. I… I don’t know.”
