To my continued fucking surprise, he’d called me three days later and asked if I would be interested in tutoring Asami in Spanish. I hadn’t even thought about it, I agreed instantly. He brought her over the very next day, and from the way it sounded, he and his wife were interested in having me teach her more languages in the future. I had warned him I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be close by—and he’d frowned before his phone rang and distracted him—but it still gave me hope. The truth was, it made me feel even more included. More a part of them. It was the nicest feeling but at the same time, it made my heart yearn for all kinds of things.
And that was how the last month had gone. I’d gone to another mall and my first outlet mall, even though I hardly bought anything because I couldn’t spend extra money with the future up in the air. I’d gone to the movies with company twice and had even gone with Asami and Hiromi sledding after another snowy day. That was when I’d learned that they were sisters, which blew my mind.
And now, today, we were at a bar that felt way too packed.
So it was because everything was going so damn well that I was trying not to take it personally that Alex hadn’t reached out once. Why should he? There was no need to think about my whereabouts when I was living so incognito, and he knew firsthand I was on my way to being back to normal health-wise. I’d even stopped leaving notes at the house in case he got there and wondered where I was. I hadn’t wanted him to worry.
“Really? He just sent me a text like fifteen minutes ago,” Selene said.
I rubbed my lips together.
We’d had some nice moments together. We were friends. And if I liked him? Who wouldn’t? Especially once you got below that prickly-ass exterior.
As grumpy as he was, the man had a heart of gold and the face of an angel.
And the body of a superhero.
He’d been the first person in a long time to show me care and kindness, and my poor, deprived heart had only reached toward him with open arms once I’d started to feel safe around him. I could dream a little dream. Rebuild my life step by step.
That’s what I was focusing on.
The attorney who had helped us the day we’d gone to Alex’s family’s office had called and told me where they were at with my situation. They had sorted out whatever it was that needed to be done with the local police. They had dealt with my car insurance, and I’d have a check coming in hopefully sooner than later. She had also brought up that they were still working on changing my name.
It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but some part of me hoped that it would be the last.
Which was the reason why I had decided that the second I had my new license, passport, or whatever identification they gave me, I would leave. I’d decided that I liked North Carolina. Unlike what my grandparents had always tried to stress, I figured I would be just as safe in a city as I had been in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. There were enough people where I could hide. There were also plenty of smaller towns where I could hopefully find a reasonably priced place to live.
Plus, I’d be close enough to still see my new friends, Selene and Hiromi, when they were free. Asami had been making it real clear that we were going to be friends too, so it sounded to me like that was in the books. I would also be close to Alex’s grandmother. Not that I thought calling on her was something I would ever use lightly. You didn’t have the nuke codes and throw a hissy fit.
And Alex would be within hollering distance if I needed him.
I was trying my best to build a life, and here was just as good a place as any.
Better really.
If I was a little… lonely over his absence, it was my fault for getting attached. I knew better. I definitely knew better, and if I saw him again—if he came back before everything was settled—I could go back into our friendship with my expectations in place. The world was a big place, and I’d finally sort of been able to take my blinders off and experience it.
And it was pretty wonderful.
I took another sip of my beer, feeling just a little bit more relaxed. There was no reason to be sad. I was here, out, trying new things, and that was exactly what I wanted. What I had always dreamed of.
“…he want?”
“He wanted to know where we were,” Selene answered.
I kept my attention on the crowd of people around us. This wasn’t my scene at all, I’d decided right after we’d gotten here. But I had to get a little more used to being in crowds. I still couldn’t put my face under the shower spray, but that was different.
For once, things were looking up instead of forward.
And that’s what I was thinking about when I squinted.
Because by the door to the bar, shouldering his way through the crowd, was a face I recognized.
Alex?
“Look who showed up,” Hiromi said, either seeing him or sensing him close by.
“Aww, you’re in trouble,” Selene whistled. “What’d you do, Gracie?”
I jerked. Was he scowling or was it my imagination? “I didn’t do anything.”
What was he doing here, giving us that face like he had something to be annoyed with? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d been the one to tell me to contact Selene if I needed something. If my friendship with her was a problem, then too damn bad. I wasn’t giving it up.
That didn’t seem right either though, and my brain moved along to the next mystery.
“He goes out in public?” I asked them, knowing he could hear me despite all the sounds in the bar. The mall was one thing. This was another.
“Once a blue moon,” Selene answered, lifting her arm and waving it wildly like he hadn’t seen us the moment he’d come through the door or before. “He doesn’t like being around big groups of people usually. Too much noise.”
I blinked just as the tall, dark-haired man came to a stop at our table. In a light button-down shirt under the familiar black jacket he usually wore and jeans, he could have been a gorgeous anyone. A perfect anyone.
But he was so much more than that, and it was weird to think, as I looked around the room, that no one knew the truth about what else resided within those muscles and tissues and bones. He didn’t even have a beanie on. Could people really be that oblivious?
It wasn’t so hard to give him a friendly smile and say as casually as I could, “Hi, stranger.”
He looked from me to his sister and niece and gave them both his tiny, warm smile.
Selene, who was the closest to him, gave him a side hug.
“You didn’t say you were coming!” she told him with a bright grin as he moved to pat Hiromi’s back. “It’s not even my birthday!”
His gaze flicked back toward me. His smile wavered. “Gracie.”
A gruff “Gracie” was all I got? I’d had my head on his shoulder a month ago. I’d held his hand back then too.
“Come with me to get a drink,” Hiromi said suddenly, poking her aunt before pushing her chair back.
It wasn’t the fact Selene got up immediately that prickled my senses, but the fact that she did it with a smile on her face I’d only seen her use when she was being sneaky.
“Want something?” Selene asked Alex.