Rowdy glanced at me again through the mirror, and there was some sympathy in his look this time. “There are a lot of people out there living their lives who should have gone to jail when Tatum was rounded up. I think he kept quiet when he was initially arrested because he was hoping to roll out in a year or two and pick up where he left off.”
Drew grunted. “But he couldn’t stop himself from hurting people in prison. He went from min to medium to max, and then they dropped him back to medium security because they had nowhere to put the fucker. He had too many goons in prison. We have a secure housing unit at TFC, where a lot of lower security places don’t.” Drew leaned his head back and huffed. “So, what’s the plan?”
Rowdy shrugged. “I take you to your house, help you stock up on everything you’ll need for a week or two, and then I have to go. You’ll have to figure out how to get into New Gothenburg without me. We might see each other tomorrow, but I got the idea they’re going to take me into the backwoods, out by the lake first.”
“What about the fire department?” Drew asked.
Rowdy shrugged and his shoulders lowered a bit. “I talked to my captain and let him know I’d need to take time. He’s not happy, but it’s out of my hands now. I’m not sure if I’ll come back to a job or not, but if they cut me…. Well, I won’t worry about it now.”
The conversation had my head spinning at the thought of everything that could go wrong. “No one offered me immunity,” I croaked, feeling stupid.
“You never hurt anyone, did you?” Drew rubbed my shoulder.
Shrugging, I sat back. “Wish I’d thought this through better, is all.”
My good mood dipped but couldn’t be destroyed, not with Drew warm against my side. We spent the evening going around picking up meds for Drew, groceries, and a few clothes and other things I’d need at Drew’s house. Neither of us mentioned the fact that I was more or less moving in with him and we hadn’t even seen each other naked yet.
I’d like to say I wasn’t worried that he’d take one look at me naked and run, but with my scars…. Yeah, I was concerned.
Every time he glanced at me and smiled, it hit me how much I cared for him already, and as fast as things were happening, it didn’t feel rushed in a way that made me nervous about the happiness he stirred up in me. If anything, a low-grade excitement had seized me and wouldn’t let go, especially when I followed Drew down an aisle at Walmart and he snagged lube from a wall of choices. My face heated. He picked up a pack of condoms and raised his eyebrows—a question.
“Up to you,” I murmured. “I trust you to keep me safe.”
He pecked a kiss onto my cheek—“Same.”—and put them back. The lube we kept. We walked on as if we didn’t just have a semimonumental discussion about what we were planning to do at some point. I took his hand as we continued to the end of the aisle and squeezed. By the time we left, we had quite a lot of things piled into our cart, and my disability money hadn’t restarted yet, so I only had about forty bucks.
Drew paid without asking how we wanted to split things up, and I felt ashamed and embarrassed… and grateful. I stared at him as he talked with the girl ringing up our purchases, being sweet and friendly, and grinned when he caught my eye.
The trip to his home was scenic, through forests and along the lakefront—and had my heart growing lighter with every mile that stretched between us and New Gothenburg. The winding narrow road eventually became more of a dirt track, and then we were in an area with a lot of similar-looking houses.
I sighed happily when Drew pointed. “Home, sweet home.” The house wasn’t large at all, but it fit him, with simple wooden siding, big windows bracketed by bright green shutters, and a reddish roof. There was a deck with furniture he likely used. In the distance the lake glittered peacefully. I tried not to tear up, and he only squeezed my hand and smiled at me.
It seemed like no time at all went by, and we’d sat at the round white metal table on the deck and eaten something other than prison food—chicken Drew had grilled, along with pasta salad and a vanilla cake I suspected he’d made specifically because I was getting out today. The bottom of the sun touched the horizon far away across the water from us. Then Rowdy was waving goodbye and stomping his way off the deck around Drew’s clean little house to the front, where he’d parked his truck.
Drew sat beside me on the deck in the cool air and picked his chair up to scoot it closer to mine so we could watch the sunset over the lake. He put his arm around me, and we stared out over the water together, the colors flying across the sky in brilliant golds and peaches and purples. It had been so long since I’d seen anything like this, and I couldn’t blame that on prison. I’d spent a lot of years trapped in my head, reliving the past instead of making new memories. The waves lapped at the sandy shore, and he shivered.
“What?” I asked.
He laughed. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”
“Tell me?”
Drew whipped his head toward me to stare, and then his mouth softened and his eyes grew warmer. My body began to tingle, starting in my stomach. “I’ll tell you a secret. I’m afraid of the water.”
Glancing around, I frowned. “Then why do you live here?”
He huffed out a laugh and hung his head. “It’s beautiful. The property value grows each year.”
“To challenge yourself? Maybe a punishment?” I murmured.
In spite of my blunt, blundering words, his smile warmed further. “Yeah. I don’t know why Rowdy doesn’t get it. It’s… adrenaline and fear and… the water is so calm. And terrible. I don’t know.”
Nodding, I watched with him. It didn’t scare me at all. I took his hand between both of mine. “I can’t swim very well anymore, but I’ll fish you out if it gets you.”
“What if it sweeps away the whole house?” He bit at the corner of his mouth, and the question wasn’t one of those throwaway things that didn’t require an answer.
“Then you’ll have something to float on.” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, and he blinked, the same as a baby deer—innocent and slow.
“You’re right.” He grinned, and I felt ridiculous but smiled along with him. “I’m going to clear the dishes. Put the food away.” He brushed a breeze of a kiss to my cheek and stood, already reaching for the plates. I got to my feet and leaned heavily on my cane. My back ached, but it was nothing that would stop me from trying to give him anything he wanted tonight.
