Page 52 of Colton in the Wild
So when did you become a coward?
She wasn’t, she told herself firmly. The dodging ended now.
“Where are we going?” Spence asked after they were back in his SUV, still sounding somewhat nervous.
“Somewhere where we can look at this place we love,” she said.
Yet again, he looked surprised, but she saw one corner of his mouth twitch, as if he liked what she’d said. She’d meant it, she did love this place, although maybe not quite in the “get out there and learn every inch of it from the ground up” way he did. No, she preferred flying over it, where she could see the incredible vastness, the amazing range, from the water of the sound to the towering mountains, with every variation in between.
She especially savored this time of year, despite the lack of an actual nighttime. She loved the way the snow forever on the peaks contrasted with the fresh green of new growth below and, in turn, with the deep blue of the water. It made her heart swell; made her feel lucky that this was where she’d been born and raised.
“I got a text from Officer Reynolds,” he said as they stopped at one of Shelby’s few traffic signals. “He said Portland may have a line on the ex-wife, and he’ll let us know.”
“If it turns out to be her, remind me never to set foot in Portland again,” she said as the light changed.
A few minutes later, when Spence pulled the SUV to a stop atop a slight rise just outside of town, where they could sit and look at everything she’d just thought about, she wondered not for the first time if the man could read her mind.
Her stomach gurgled a little but she ignored it. Food could wait. This could not. And then Spence reached into the back seat and came up with a small cooler. He opened it, dipped in, and showed her a bundle wrapped in paper. She knew at her fist whiff that it was one of the delicious roast beef sandwiches from the shop just above the marina.
“They said it was your favorite,” Spence said.
“It is,” she agreed, impressed yet again, both that he’d thought of this at all, and especially that he’d bothered to find out what she particularly liked. And in view of that, she decided eating could come first. But she’d do it fast.
“Then let’s go sit down out there and eat. You’re burning up a lot of energy in that therapy,” he said. “Mrs. Cowell is quite a taskmaster.”
“She said I should call her Liz. I feel like I’ve been honored.”
“I can see why.”
“We’re pushing for me to be off the crutches after two weeks.” She gave him a sideways look. “And on to using the cane you got for me.”
He didn’t even react. As if it were the most obviously normal thing in the world for him to go out of his way to both pick up the device and think to place it where it would inspire her to work toward it.
Judging by the way he looks at you, it’s already worked out in his mind.
She hoped the taskmaster was right.
Chapter 28
Spence was really glad he’d stopped and picked up lunch. He knew it was just a delaying tactic. But so what? Was any guy ever not nervous about “the talk”?
He got out of the SUV and grabbed the tarp he always carried in the back, because you never knew up here when you might need to protect something from an unexpected burst of rain or snow. He walked over to the spot he frequented himself, with the best, most glorious view down to the marina, over the sound and to the mountains on the other side.
He busied himself a little more than necessary before going back to get Hetty. And lectured himself while he did it. Either she had meant what she’d said in the cave, or she hadn’t. Hetty was inherently honest, but maybe she’d been too rattled or hurting too much to dig deep. Or maybe she had been thinking she needed him to get out of there, so she’d better not make him mad.
No. That wasn’t Hetty. She would never admit to what she had that night if it wasn’t true, even if she was in pain.
Would she?
When he’d helped her over to the chosen spot and they’d settled in, she took the sandwich while he reached into the small cooler, brought out and popped open two cans of soda.
He chewed his own first bite of roast beef sandwich a bit more thoroughly than was really necessary. What did he know about it? He’d never in his life been serious about a woman before. At least, not as serious as he was now.
Maybe because you were waiting for her.
He stopped chewing. Sat there staring out over the vista that felt like a part of him down to his soul, with a mouthful of meat, cheese and the tangy sauce that gave it the kick he liked.
Could it be true? Could that be another reason, maybe the real reason, he reacted the way he did when clients would come on to him? He’d never really considered it before, but after that night in the cave, he’d thought about it a lot. He had realized that it was like flipping a switch; that he’d be going along just fine until some woman started the game and, almost with an audible click, he’d turn on that Spence, the one who could banter like the biggest playboy in town. And all the time, underneath, he’d known he was anything but. That it was the mask he put on. The protection.
