“I was a baby, so I don’t remember any of it. Thankfully.”
“And your birth parents?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked for them.”
“Are you going to?”
Why the fuck did I ask her that?I just met the woman, and here I was digging into some deeply personal shit.
She opened her mouth to respond.
I held up a hand to forestall her. “Don’t feel like you have to answer that. I hate it when people I don’t know pry into my life, so I’m sorry.”
She waved me off. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. Our family is different than most, especially around here, so I understand being curious. Plus, it’s kind of fair play in this case, right? I probably know more about you and your family history than I have a right to -” She fell silent for asecond, then glanced down the hallway, brow furrowing. “Does Jack know who you are?”
I followed her gaze. Jack’s voice was distant, like he’d retreated into the bedroom. I doubted he could hear us, but I still lowered my voice, just in case. “I don’t think so.”
She followed suit. “I thought he might not. He doesn’t own a TV, after all, and still gets his news from the local paper, the sports section of which is pretty shit. Then again, the rogue shampoo ad might have snuck into it, and he does know who you are and is just trying to make you feel like a normal person.”
“That would be pretty decent of him,” I said.
“Jack is pretty decent.”
Are you?I wanted to press, but didn’t.
“Do you…” She chewed on her bottom lip in a way that suddenly made it hard to focus on anything else. “Do you mind my asking what you’re doing here?”
I let out a deep breath and stared down at my beer. That was a loaded question. One I’d anticipated before coming out here. One I’d made up a million answers to. But right now, I just couldn’t bring myself to lie. Jack trusted her. She seemed nice enough. Maybe I could risk telling her a little bit of the truth.
I lifted my gaze back to her. “I needed to get away from it all.”
There. Simple. To the point. It wasn’t a lie, but it could be interpreted in a hundred different ways.
She took a sip of her beer before answering. “Good job then. This is probably the most far-flung place to get away to and still remain in the continental US.”
That was exactly why I’d picked this place. “Thanks.”
“I’m guessing you want to keep a low profile while you’re here?”
I nodded.
“I’ll keep my mouth shut,” she said. I actually believed her. Especially when she followed it up with, “I’d suggest getting comfortable being a hermit for the next few months. At least until the snow clears. If you plan to stay that long. We get a little gossip crazy up here in the winter. It wouldn’t even take anyone recognizing you to set off a firestorm. As soon as a local busybody got a look at your profile and put handsome-man and new-in-town together, you’d be inundated. I can run errands for you if need be. Or interference.”
“Thank you for the offer,” I said. “I get most everything I need delivered, and so far, I’ve lucked out with not having to sign for anything I wasn’t already prepared to.” Oh, the horrible disguises I’d donned. “But I’ll let you know if I get stuck.”
“Is your address listed under a different name?” she asked.
“It is.”
“That’s smart.”
She opened her mouth to continue, but fell silent at the sound of Jack’s voice, drawing closer. He said goodbye to the person on the other end of the line when he reached the kitchen and set the phone down on the island before rejoining us.
“You two getting to know each other?” he asked, carefully retaking his seat around the prone form of Sam. The dog didn’t so much as stir.
“Yup,” Ella said. “We were just about to start braiding each other’s hair before you interrupted us.”
Jack nodded. “Good. You should go check out her cabin, Ben. Looks like something out of a magazine. She could have your whole house done up in your style within a week if you unleashed her on it.”
