Not what I thought he’d say. It was almost as if I was seeing him in a new light, and maybe… I didn’t hate it as much. Though, I certainly didn’t have a fucking clue what to do with it.
“I wanted more of a simple life, I guess.” He gave a halfhearted shrug. “Go to work and take down bad guys, then go home and unwind. I didn’t think it was too much to ask for. But before I knew it…”
“You were caught up in something that turned out to be way bigger than you,” I finished for him.
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Uh,” I cleared my throat, shaking away whatever weirdness was swirling around us. “We should get inside, Agent Priestley. The snow has probably already seeped through those house shoes. I don’t know how you’re still standing there.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, blinking down at his feet as if he had just now realized he was standing in two feet of snow. At least they had rubber soles. “Please… call me Ford.”
His eyes pleaded with me in a way that I couldn’t ignore.
I swallowed thickly, and dipped my head in a nod before practically choking out, “Ford.”
Why was that so hard?
“Thank you,” he said softly before turning and heading into the house.
I stood there for a long moment, letting the cold air cool down my insides, which suddenly seemed to be taken over by an inferno. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn I had a fever. But there was no way I was sick. It had to be the crash. We’d been going like mad and the adrenaline had been coming in waves. It had to be everything catching up with me.
I needed more sleep. Might have helped if I slept in an actual bed instead of passing out on the couch that was older than I was, like I had earlier today. I’d been way too tired to make it up the stairs once I got the fire going. I hadn’t so much walk to the couch but crawled.
Yes, sleep. A whole night’s worth of it, that was what I needed.
Once I’d cooled down enough, I headed back inside, slipping my boots off and leaving them on the rubber mat just inside the door, right next to where Ford had left the pair of house shoes I gave to him.
The very ones I had gotten for my brother as a Christmas gift last year.
The ones I never had a chance to give to him since he never showed. I’d waited for three days here, hoping he would surprise me and spend the holiday with me, all the while, knowing he wouldn’t. Just like every other year.
Our relationship was strained, to say the least.
Just as it was with the rest of my family.
That was a mess I didn’t want to think about.
Anyway, I liked that Ford had those house shoes to use. I was glad that someone was getting some use out of them.
Clearly, I wasn’t thinking straight if I was glad about Ford wearing the house shoes.
Sleep.
Yeah.
That was what I needed. A good night’s sleep.
11
Austin
I was up most of the night.
Couldn’t say why, though.
I was completely drained from the events of the last few days, but yet I tossed and turned all night long.
It was no wonder I was grumpy by the time the sun came up and I forced my heavy lids open because it was painfully obvious I wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep.
