The guys noticed.
Respect—that quiet click of it—settled into the room.
After a few minutes, she checked her watch. “Okay. I have three-year-olds about to descend on my puppet collection. If I’m late, they mutiny.”
Saint winced. “Scariest age on the planet.”
“True,” she said. “Good luck with the tavern. And… welcome to Eagle River. Officially, I mean.”
“Thanks,” I said. My voice came out rougher than I meant.
She hesitated near the door. “And, Wolf?”
The way she said my call sign made something coil tighter inside me.
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to stand in the window to check I got across the street safely,” she said quietly. “Main Street isn’t exactly a war zone.”
I froze.
Trigger’s broom squeaked against the floor.
Saint went very still.
Nora’s mouth curved, just a little. “But… thank you.”
She stepped outside into the sunlight, the bell over the door jingling softly as it shut behind her.
Trigger whistled low. “She’s got your number, man.”
Saint clapped me on the shoulder. “At least she didn’t say it was creepy.”
Havoc grunted. “He’s been worse.”
I exhaled slowly, pressure easing from my chest.
“I wasn’t—” I started, then stopped. There was no point denying it. “Just get back to work.”
Trigger hummed under his breath. “Oh, Wolf’s in trouble. Wolf’s in trouble…”
But when I went back upstairs and picked up the pry baragain, the cracked walls and dusty floor didn’t look quite so hopeless.
Because across the street, in a quiet brick building with a wooden sign and a thousand stories, Nora Bennett knew my name… and wasn’t running.
Not anymore.
4
Nora
The Magnolia Ladies were waiting for me.
Not in the bakery.
Not even on the sidewalk.
No — they ambushed meinsidethe library.
