Page 13 of Crossing Paths
“No leaving aloneorstaying at the house alone. Buddy system’s mandatory wherever you—we—are.”
Norah swallowed a groan. She should’ve known that sharing the Leifsen situation would lead to full lockdowns.
Still rubbing Molly’s back, John gave a slow grin. “I like this plan. Figure I’ll take advantage of that time-share I have.”
“What?” Norah was confused. “You’re going on vacation?”
A hint of red touched Molly’s tan cheeks. “No. He’s talking about my bedroom. He’s not nearly as funny as he thinks he is.”
John’s grin widened. “Actually, I’m funnier.”
“Let’s go back to this very bad buddy system idea,” Cara said, and Norah gave a nod of agreement.
The thought of having one of her sisters—or worse, Henry or John—along when she went to one of her training sessions with Dash made Norah cringe with preemptive embarrassment. Everything seemed to be snowballing, making her wish she’dkept her mouth shut. Leifsen hadn’t done anythingdangerousyet, and she had Dash to help her. Instantly, she felt guilty for wishing she’d kept the secret from her sisters. It was just that everything was getting socomplicated.
“It’s not practical to drag someone else to all my classes,” Cara said. “I’m not forcing anyone else to sit through a two-hour lecture on the psychology of education. That’d just be cruel. Besides, we should focus more on protecting Norah, since she’s Leifsen’s target.”
“I know it’s not ideal,” Molly said.
From the firm set of her chin, Norah knew her sister was going to dig in. When it came to the safety of her family members, Molly could be unyieldingly stubborn.
“But—”
“I—we—can all carry pepper spray,” Norah blurted, not caring if she sounded desperate. Shewasdesperate. Shelikedher training sessions with Dash, how strong they made her feel, and she didn’t want to cancel them until they rounded up the troublesome Devon Leifsen, which could takeweeks. Bringing a sister along to the gym wasn’t going to happen, however. She would be teased for infinity, and even an audience of one would rob her of any sort of concentration. “Tasers too. And we can stay in public areas when we’re out.”
“We should make sure to keep our phones within easy reach,” Cara added, taking some of the focus off Norah, to her relief. “I learned my lesson the hard way about having a cell handy.” When she shivered, Henry covered her hand with his and squeezed. Cara offered him a grateful smile.
Norah felt a slight twist in her gut. It wasn’t jealousy, really. She didn’t want Henry for herself, but she had to admit she wanted what he and Cara had, their easy closeness. She wondered what it would be like to have a person who looked at her like she was their whole world.
“How about regular text check-ins?” Norah racked her brain for other options, but Molly hadn’t lost her look of determination yet, and she was starting to despair.
“I like the buddy system,” John said, wrapping a huge arm around Molly and hugging her against his side. With a surprised grunt, Molly grabbed his shirt to catch her balance as the motion nearly slid her off her chair. “Just think, Pax. You and me together constantly, twenty-four seven, not a moment apart for days,weekseven. It’ll be like a honeymoon but with more togetherness.Constanttogetherness.”
“Urgh.” The sound Molly made was disgruntled, but Norah noticed she tugged her chair closer to John’s rather than trying to escape his enveloping hug. “Fine. No buddy system. Phones, Tasers, pepper spray,andcheck-ins.”
Relief filled Norah, and it was hard holding back a delighted laugh when she caught the subtle wink John threw in her direction. Her sister’s boyfriend acted like an easygoing goof most of the time, but he noticed things, and he had Molly pretty well figured out. It wasn’t really a surprise, since he spent most of his time focused on her. A tiny twang of envy pinged through Norah again, but she ignored it.
Molly leaned forward, her gaze intense on Norah. “I know we all tease Bennett by calling him a stalker, but you can see how thisis different, right? Bennett respected Felicity’s boundaries, even at the beginning, when he was just a PI tailing her in hopes of finding Mom. Leifsen blasted through your legal and personal boundaries so hard, he left a Kool-Aid-man-shaped hole in them.”
“I know they’re not the same.”
“Good.” Molly sat back into the curve of John’s arm. “And you’ll follow the safety precautions, no exceptions or whining?”
Norah was about to agree to Molly’s terms when the doorbell interrupted her.
They all went still. Norah tried to avoid answering the door as a general life rule, but Cara had a good reason for going pale and stiff at the chiming sound. After all, the doorbell had sounded the start of her kidnapping.
Molly extracted herself from John’s hold and stood. “I’ll get that.”
As she moved out of the kitchen, John followed closely. Norah, Cara, and Henry stayed silent, listening as the two crossed the living room to the front door. Norah felt a bit silly, since Cara—and even Henry, by association—had a good reason to be tense about visitors, but Norah didn’t have that excuse. She just had her ingrained hermit-like tendencies to blame. From her spot at the table, she couldn’t see the front door, so she strained her ears to hear what the new arrival was saying.
“Can we help you?” Molly asked, sounding cautious but not overly concerned.
“Hi!” The bubbly voice was oddly familiar, and Norah frowned as she ran through her mental databases, trying to remember where she’d heard it before. “Is Norah home?”
Cara and Henry looked at her, their eyebrows raised in exactly the same way. Norah wanted to laugh at how quickly they’d becomethatcouple, but she was too preoccupied with trying to place the woman.
“Depends.” That was John, his happy-go-lucky tone not hiding the implacable thread of steel in that one word. “Who are you?”
