“I don’t think we’re in danger.The man I’m worried about was angry about my friend Mary Mae falling in love with Liam.He thought she should fall in love with him instead.He was scary about it.It didn’t have anything to do with me, but I don’t want to see him again, and I don’t want him near either you or Ella Mae.”
Charlie nodded.“I’m glad it wasn’t him, and I’m glad we’re leaving New York.You’ll be safe in Vermont.Dad will make sure of it.”
Love swelled in her heart and she reached out for Nash.“I know.Thank you.”
Nash leaned over and kissed her softly.“Let’s put some miles between us and New York.”
“Good idea.”
A few hours later, when they were close to the state line, Nash glanced over at her.“Can you look up the nearest DMV where I can change out my license plates?Seems like a good time to put Vermont plates on the truck, and Phail isn’t large enough to have an office.”
Which meant he was giving her an extra layer of protection.While the man hadn’t been Adam, the fear had returned and she’d been berating herself for putting Ella at risk with her publicity trip.
If by some ridiculous chance Adam had seen her in this truck, changing the plates would make it harder to find them.“Good idea.”
Charlie piped up.“Will that stop the man from finding the truck?Or figuring out where you live?”
Guilt pricked her again.A ten-year-old shouldn’t be worrying about things like this.“I think it will.”
Charlie frowned.“Can he look you up online and find out that you live on the apple farm?”
Nash glanced in the rear-view mirror to smile at his son.“Smart thinking, kiddo.No, he won’t be able to find us that way.The farm belongs to the Malssums.Neither Olivia nor I have our names on paperwork connecting us to the farm.We chip in with the mortgage payments, but the farm belongs to the Malssums.”
That was one of the reasons Olivia had been so quick to move to the farm.
Charlie grinned.“So, even if he did see you, he’d think we were tourists from Florida because of the license plates.”
“You’ve got it.”Except she’d just done interviews that could expose her.She’d been careful about what she’d said, but reporters were notorious for digging out information.Would one of them find her birth name?Or connect Livie Sanchez to Olivia Gonzalez?
It wasn’t like she was famous with paparazzi following her.No one would bother digging.
If Adam had hacking skills, could he find out more about them that way?If she wrote detective stories, she might have researched that, but her dragons didn’t need to know anything about computer hacking.
Hoping to divert them all from the depressing thoughts, Olivia smiled.“Rika wants me to write at least a couple more books featuring the dragons and brucans.I’d like to expand the world to include more species eventually.I think I’d like to have one storyline that brings some of the characters away from the mountains and to the shores of a wide sea.”
Charlie’s face lit up and Nash nodded as he drove.He would have figured out she was distracting his son.Ella was asleep beside Charlie, and he had nothing to do but think.
They talked about avian and aquatic species in the real world and batted around ideas to use those as a basis for a few new species.They also talked about story lines that would introduce them naturally.
Charlie grinned at her.“This is fun.Is this how you came up with the brucans?”
Olivia nodded.“I did a lot of the brainstorming myself, but Mary Mae helped some as well.”
Charlie nodded.“Sometimes it’s easier to come up with ideas when you’re talking with someone else.Maribel and I used to make up stories, too.”
She smiled.“Tell me more about Maribel.You said she moved away?”
He nodded.“Her mom got a job in Spain, so they had to move.We still talk online and do video chats, but it’s hard when the time zones are so different.”
“I bet you’re glad you have the internet and phones, though.”
He nodded.“I can’t imagine not having those things.”
And that topic distracted them again.By the time they’d talked about a bunch of different historical eras and how they were different and the same, Nash was pulling into the DMV in Dummerston, just over the border into Vermont.
They all went inside, none of them wanting to be separated after what had happened in New York.Charlie made up stories with Ella while Nash dealt with the logistics.
He changed the plates right in the lot and they all grinned when that was done.
