“What about Atticus?” I asked, pushing buttons I knewwould continue to throw him off. Or at least I hoped they would. “What’s he upto?”
Gus and Sayer shared a look. I knew they hadn’t meantto give themselves away and were counting on the darkness to disguise it, butthey didn’t quite manage. Before I could say anything the lock clicked openbehind me and my hand slipped on the handle, thrusting it open before I wasready.
I laughed openly. I still had it! Bonus, when the dooropened, the lights came back on. I wasn’t prepared to see every stolen thingsurrounding me again, but it was so much easier to keep an eye on Robin Hoodand his merry band of one when I could see them.
Jesse stared at me. “How’d you do that?”
“I just pulled on it. The door wasn’t locked.”
“Yes, it was,” Gus insisted. “It’s been locking me inhere all week.”
“Well, this time it wasn’t,” I argued. “As soon as Iput pressure on it, the thing opened right up. Crazy, right?” I slipped mybobby pins into my purse and hoped nobody noticed my hair was a little looserthan before.
Gus stood up, pretending to be super surprised. “Itried it. It was locked. Seriously, Caro, how did you do it?”
Were they trying to catch me in a lie in front ofJesse? Silly boys. Tricks were for kids. I had moved onto something called illusion.And I was so much better at it than these two circus clowns.
“You must not have tried hard enough.” I gave him mybest sympathetic smile. “Good thing I was here to save the day.”
He stared at me. “Good thing.”
“Well, we need to get going,” I told Sayer and Gus,mustering up enough courage to look them both in the eyes. “I have,er, Jesse and I have other plans to get to. It was nutsrunning into you though. Here. In Frisco.”
Sayer’s glare was all over Jesse, and I wasn’tconvinced we were going to make it out of here alive after all. “You guys haveother plans?”
His words had a hard edge to them, the double blade ofa knife. He sounded jealous, but I knew that was wrong. Sayer didn’t reveal hisemotions or let them slip out accidentally. If he wanted me to hear jealousy, thenhe had done it for a purpose. He was setting a trap, laying the foundation,engaging the mark.Making me questionevery decision I’d made in the last five years and doubt myself.
No, Sayer wasn’t jealous. He was playing his game.
I grabbed Jesse’s hand and tugged him toward thestaircase. “Bye, guys,” I called after them. “Thanks for the tour.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jesse called back as I all butdragged him up the stairs.
We made it to the sidewalk outside before I found thecourage to speak. “That was weird, wasn’t it? Was it just me or did you think thatwas super weird?”
Jesse looked down at me, coming to a stop on thepassenger side of his truck. His lips twitched before letting go of a charmingsmile. “That was really weird,” he agreed. “I think those guys are on drugs,Caroline.”
Laughing at his assumption, I shook my head. “Drugs?Really?”
“Well, you explain it. Then getting locked in thatbasement office? I thought one of them was going to pull out an ax and startchopping us into pieces.”
I had expected a version of that scenario too, to behonest. But Jesse didn’t need to know that. So instead, I laughed at his jokeand told another lie. And another lie. And I continued building the stack ofcards that had always been my life. “Don’t worry. You’re safe. Sayer and Gusare mostly harmless. I think bumping into me surprised them.” Taking asteadying breath, I said the one truth I knew would make sense to Jesse. “Sayerused to have a thing for me, you know, back when we were kids.”
“Ah,” Jesse nodded. “That makes sense.” He leanedforward, forcing me to look up at him. Our bodies were perfectly aligned eventhough we weren’t touching. I could feel his body heat, see a million starsoverhead framing his handsome face. I could smell a wood burning stove andcrushed autumn leaves and fresh mountain air. And this moment was perfect. Thiswould have been the moment that had pushed me firmly into head-over-heelsterritory with Jesse.
Only Sayer was back. And here. And in my town and verysuddenly my life. And… the moment fell flat.
I didn’t know if Jesse sensed me pulling away or if henever intended to kiss me anyway, but he pushed through the moment by reachingaround me and opening the door. “I don’t think your friend’s thing for you isin the past. He seemed pretty into you still.”
It wasn’t possible to take those words seriously. Forso many reasons. Anger bubbled inside me, like lava trickling down the side ofan active volcano. Slow, constant and destructive. Like all of my feelings forthe past five years.
But I couldn’t share any of that with Jesse. Instead,I shook my head and waited for Jesse to move around the front of the truck andclimb in. “Thanks for being a good sport tonight. Sorry, our plans were kind ofderailed.”
He turned to me, leaning back against the door. “Doyou still want to grab a bite to eat?”
I let my gaze float over Jesse, appreciating him andhis friendship and the Colorado cowboy he was. He was all solid muscle andtall, unrelenting frame. I pictured him on one of his horses, cowboy hat on hishead, looking like he belonged on the cover of a grocery store romance novel. Ishould want to go to dinner with him. I should want to finish this date.
But after crashing into my past like it was a brickwall and I’d been driving a hundred miles an hour, all I really wanted to dowas go to bed.
