Page 20 of Code Name: Atticus
“Nah, I’m here for work too.”
He took a sip of his drink. “How long you in town?”
“A couple of weeks, maybe.”
“We should catch up properly,” Luke said. “Coffee sometime?”
“I’d like that,” I said when I saw Brenna slip out of the ladies’ room and head outside. Luke was facing the opposite direction, so as long as we were careful, he shouldn’t spot her. “Text me where and when. I should get going.”
“Hot date?” he joked.
“Something like that.”
“Wish I could say the same. Working dinner for me, which means I’d better see if my co-workers are here yet.”
We hugged, slapped each other on the back, and I left.
When I didn’t spot Brenna right away, I worried she’d walked home alone. I was just about to call and give her an earful when I saw her waiting around the next corner.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“He didn’t see you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“He said he had a work thing,” I responded. “He wants to meet for coffee while we’re both here.”
“Nice,” she muttered, folding her arms as she headed off toward the house.
“Hey. Hold up. What’s goin’ on?”
“You get to see my brother, and I don’t.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “I bet if the two of us put our heads together, we can come up with a reason you’re in town too.”
“Won’t that be too risky?”
“It would be better than accidentally bumping into him again. This way, you control the narrative.”
“Good point.” When she smiled, I breathed a sigh of relief.
As we walked,I noted the quiet residential streets, the lack of foot traffic, and the parked cars that had been there when we left. Everything looked normal, but I made mental notes of the license plates and potential observation points anyway.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Brenna said as we reached our front gate.
“Running through our game plan for tomorrow night.” I punched in the security code while scanning the street one more time.
She worried the inside of her cheek. “To be honest, I’m too exhausted to even think about it.”
“You go ahead. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Can’t sleep without checking the locks twice?” she teased over her shoulder.
She was a few steps up when I couldn’t stop myself from saying something I knew I shouldn’t. “Hey, Brenna?”
“Yeah?”
“I had a really nice time tonight.”
