“Well, maybe he got lost.”
“Maybe.”KC thought he saw a flash of relief in her expression, and it bothered him.He propped his hands on his hips.“What did you want?”
“Huh?”
“When you came out, you started to ask me a question.”
She gave him a small wave of her hand.“Oh ...um ...yeah.I just wanted to know how you take your coffee.Cream or sugar?”
“Black is fine.”
Maura hesitated a moment, still staring at him standing next to the corner of the house before she pivoted and walked back through the door without another word.
“What the fuck was that all about?”KC muttered to himself.He bent down, inspecting the pile of wood and the surrounding area, but nothing looked amiss.Maybe she had seen a snake earlier—while it was rare, it wasn’t exactly unheard of.But then he thought back to the filed-off serial number on the gun she had, and a myriad of thoughts went through his brain.None of them good.
Shit.What the hell has Uncle Dan gotten me involved in?
By the time Maura came back outside with two large mugs of coffee, she no longer appeared to be troubled, and KC had a brilliant fire roaring in the round pit.He added another log and then took a seat on one of three small curved couches surrounding the blaze.She handed him one of the mugs, then sat down on the couch to his left, curling her legs and feet up underneath her body.The evening air had cooled dramatically once the sun had set, but the flames from the fireplace were warm, casting a soft, cozy glow over the patio.The sky was filled with countless glimmering stars, and a slender crescent moon sat high on its throne in the east.Thundering waves pounded the shoreline, their roar muffled by the sand dunes, which separated the beach from the cottage.The only other noises were the crackling of the fire and the occasional cry of a seagull.KC knew it didn’t get much more relaxing than this.
He took a sip of his coffee.“So, we’ve talked about me, let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?”Maura asked, her expression wary.
“I don’t know.Tell me what you did before you ended up in North Carolina.”
She shrugged and then gazed at the stars above her.At first, he didn’t think she was going to answer him, but after a few moments, she sighed.“I had a part-time job at a local pharmacy.It wasn’t much, but it was all I could do while going to school to get my teaching degree.I’m one semester shy of finishing, but now ...it’s sort of been put on hold.Maybe someday I’ll be able to finish it.”
“What do you want to teach?”
Maura smiled, however, he noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.“I adore children, especially the younger, more impressionable ones.I would love to teach third or fourth grade.At that level, they’re really excited about learning new things.Their brains are like sponges.They absorb everything and haven’t really started to notice the opposite sex yet.”
KC laughed.“What difference does that make?”
She blushed and lowered her gaze to the fire.“Well, it’s one less thing on their minds, and they can still concentrate on school.Tell me ...did you care much about school after you started noticing girls?”
Grinning, he toasted her with his mug of coffee, his eyes dancing in amusement.“Good point.”He took another sip of the dark brew.“It sounds as if you are very passionate about teaching.You should return to school if you’re so close to finishing your degree.There are a few local colleges within driving distance from here.Just have your transcripts transferred to one of them.”
“Maybe.”
KC thought she wasn’t too enthused about the idea and wondered why.He decided not to press the issue for now.“How about your family?Parents?Siblings?”
His gut clenched when sadness fell over her face.
Moriah knew she was wading into dangerous territory with all his questions and should head back to her room, but for some reason, she couldn’t force herself to stand.Even worse, she found herself answering him.“I never really knew my dad.He was in and out of our lives a lot until he finally left for good when I was fourteen.As for my mom, sister, and nephew, they died in an accident a few months ago.”
If you called being murdered an accident.She shook the morbid thought from her mind.
“I’m sorry, Maura.That must have been awful for you.”
The sympathy in his voice ripped through her, and she fought the tears she felt welling up in her eyes.“If you don’t mind, I'd rather not talk about it.”
“I understand.”He waited a few moments before continuing.“Both my folks were killed in a plane crash when I was seventeen.They were taking a vacation, without us kids, for their twentieth wedding anniversary.A hundred and forty-two others were on board.There were no survivors.”
Horrified, Moriah gasped and brought her hand to her lips.“Oh, how awful.I’m so sorry.”
KC took another sip of coffee and stared at the fire.“Thanks.Anyway, I know how it feels to lose people close to you.Uncle Dan took legal custody of my brothers and me until we finished high school.Sean was the youngest, at fourteen, and Brian was sixteen.After graduating high school, we each enlisted into different branches of the military, Sean to the Army and Brian to the Air Force.
“Thank God for my uncle.It took a lot of courage for a bachelor to take in three recently orphaned teenagers.Dan is my father’s brother, and at the time, he was the best thing that could happen to us.He became our rock at the worst time of our lives and made sure we lived up to our parent’s expectations.We rarely gave him any trouble, but when we did, he straightened us out really quick.
