Page 17 of North

THREE

How she’d gotten roped into babysitting, Selah didn’t know.

Okay, maybe she could figure it out. Sarah simply hadn’t had anyone else to watch the kids when the chopper from Seattle arrived to airlift Grant to the hospital, extra room for only one.

Selah’s mouth had opened without her brain clicking in to stop her. “I’ll watch them until their grandparents get here.”

Except the grandparents were trapped at their farm northeast of Leavenworth, the train still blocking the road to through traffic, at least according to the short call Sarah had with them before boarding the chopper.

With her cell phone out of commission, Selah had relied on the front-desk phone at the Cashmere Motor Inn. She’d used it to call her parents and let them know she was safe—and would they please call Chloe too?

And now, as night sank around them, they were safe, albeit still traumatized. Tommy wore a cast, thanks to an orthopedic doctor who worked in Leavenworth but just happened to live outside Cashmere. The clinic had a small X-ray machine, and the doctor had set the wrist and put a cast on it, with a follow-up scheduled.

Selah stood at the open door to her motel room, James leaning against the second-story railing that overlooked the courtyard. Overhead, stars were flung across a semicloudy sky, the mountains rising around them to close them in, the smells of pine and fir mixing with the aroma of the pizza that lay on a small round table.

Tommy and Amy sat in one of the double beds, bundled up under the comforter, watching an episode of Happy Days, the most G-rated show Selah could find in the cable lineup.

The Fonz was saying something about everything being all right.

Tell that to Amy, who was externally mostly unhurt but clearly needing the teddy bear that James had purchased for her from some local pharmacy. Cute little girl clung to the bear as she curled up on the big bed, her blonde hair in snarls and tufts.

“Tomorrow, I’ll find us a couple cell phones,” James said. “Hopefully you stored your contacts in the cloud. And if you put your SIM card into the new phone, it should store your number. People can get ahold of you.”

He had bought her an oversized blue sweatshirt that had a logo of the Cascade Mountains on the front. And, he’d grabbed a shower and changed out of his bloody clothes into a black pullover with a similar logo on the breast.

She desperately needed a shower too.

“Thank you, James.” She drew in a breath. “If it hadn’t been for you, I’d still be back at the train. Maybe trapped in the dining-car hallway. Or…” She swallowed, the explosion still vivid in her memory.

“We’re fine. And tomorrow we’ll get those kids to their grandparents and you to your camp and…” He gave her a tight smile. “And me back to work.”

Right. Mergers and acquisitions. Which might be boring but was definitely safe and normal and didn’t include tactical gear and guns.

There she went, thinking of North again.

“I need to get a shower and some shut-eye,” she said. “You going to be okay?”

He nodded, cocked his head. “Turns out that sitting down at your table might have been the best thing I did all day.”

Oh. Um…Was he flirting with her? “Me…me too.”

He smiled warmly and made no other moves toward flirting as he bid her good night. “I’ll be right next door if you need me.”

Again, he exuded the confidence of someone who knew how to handle himself.

Someone like North.

Who wasn’t coming after her.

Oy vey. Perhaps Washington wasn’t far enough away to forget him.

“Thanks.” She headed inside the room, locked the door, and picked up her pack. Probably would have been smart to search for her duffel bag, but her pack contained emergency toiletries and underclothes—the practice born of missing flights or spending too many layovers in airports.

She turned to the kids. “Stay here. Please don’t go anywhere.”

Tommy put an arm around his sister. Nodded.

Good kid. Still scared but trying to brave it out. Weren’t they all?