She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Then, instead, she nodded, like words were too hard.
Kayden frowned. “I wouldn’t have let him hurt you.”
“I know.”
Then what had her so rattled? Was this about Harry? Or was it about the voice message? “Everything okay with the private number?”
The change in her was instant. Fear flashed back into her eyes, and something else. Uncertainty?
Itwasthe message… Who’d left it and what had they said?
“It’s fine,” she whispered.
Did she realize that her body gave her lie away? In the way she barely met his gaze and the tensing of her muscles. “If it wasn’t fine, you can tell me. You can trust me to help you.”
Her frown deepened and she opened her mouth. For a second, he thought she might tell him something important. Let him in on whatever had her so scared.
But maybe that was just a wild hope inside him, because then she blinked, her gaze turning down, and she shook her head. “I don’t need help. But thank you for tonight.”
Slowly, she reached up to her toes, slipped her hand into his hair, and tugged his head down before lightly kissing his cheek. Then she whispered, “Really, thank you, Kayden. For saving me yet again.”
He wanted to take her lips. Kiss her until she opened up to him. Until he had every one of her secrets. But instead, he let her slip away from him, and he watched with a new tightness in his chest as she drove away.
CHAPTER 14
Her father had called her last night. Her father hadfreaking called her. After five long years and just when she’d returned to Misty Peak, he’d made contact.
Why? What on earth could he want after all this time?
She pulled up in front of the visitors center, her heart beating too fast in her chest. Her pulse had been far too fast since she’d heard his voice at the restaurant. It taunted her. Replaying in her mind over and over again.
Matilda, baby, it’s Dad.
She turned off the engine and closed her eyes.
Baby…it’s what he’d always called her. That and Matilda. And wasn’t that why she hated people using her full first name, because every time they did, it reminded her of him? Of his betrayal? The way he’d hurt her and her mom and about a million other people, then run?
It was her mother who’d called her Tilly.
When Kayden had looked at her last night and asked her to trust him with her secrets, she’d wanted to. God, she’d wanted to, so badly. But he wasn’t her boyfriend. He wasn’t even really her friend. She didn’t knowwhathe was. And he’d alreadyadmitted to having trust issues. Would he trust that last night had been her father’s first contact with her? That she wanted nothing to do with him? Or would he revert back to the old Kayden? The one who’d looked at her with hatred and distrust in his eyes?
No. She’d tell him, but not right now. She couldn’t lose one of the few people she had in this town, and certainly not Kayden, when their relationship was so fragile. Maybe if they grew to the point she felt like she could confide in him, then she would.
The person she had told was Eastern. That’s why she was running late to work this morning, because she’d stopped at the sheriff’s office to make a report. She’d had to. Her father was a wanted man…felony grand larceny. He’d stolen a lot of money. So not notifying authorities was like aiding and abetting a criminal, right?
She’d asked Eastern not to tell anyone, and technically Eastern was bound by law not to tell Kayden, so that made her feel safe in what she’d done.
With a sharp inhale, she climbed out of the car and moved toward the visitors center. They’d received confirmation from Eastern that they could reopen in a week, and a few of the SAR guys had said they’d be here today, so she’d come to get some work done. Work was also resuming on the skywalk, which was a relief because it meant they might not fall too far behind from their opening date.
She was about to step inside the building when her phone vibrated with a message. Her body locked, and she was slow to look at the screen because a part of her was scared it would be her father again.
His words repeated in her head…
Next time I call, please answer.
That was worse than if he’d left a contact number, because now all she could do was wait, knowing he’d call again. Eastern had asked her to let him know the second her father called.
She tugged her phone from her pocket and sighed when she saw it wasn’t him.
