“You’ve been standing out here in the cold for quite some time.” His gaze moved from her face to the carpetbag clutched against her chest. “Are you waiting for someone?”
Panic fluttered in her throat. How long had he been watching her? “Oh no, I was just—” She forced herself to take a breath, to steady the tremor in her voice. “I was just going to take a meal at the cafe.”
She motioned to the building down the street, the one with the sign marking it as a boarding house and cafe. The same place she was supposed to meet James all those weeks ago, when she’d first arrived in Walnut Springs as a stranger seeking employment.
Before she’d known he was the one who posted the advertisement. His family was who she’d be working for.
The man’s expression brightened with relief. “Ah, good. Mrs. Patterson serves a fine stew. You’ll warm right up.”
He didn’t move. Just stood there watching her with that same concerned expression, waiting.
Her stomach clenched. He wasn’t going to leave until she started walking. Until he’d seen her safely inside, like some misguided gentleman who’d decided she needed protecting.
She couldn’t afford this attention. Couldn’t risk him remembering her later, couldn’t let him wonder why she’d been lurking in the shadows instead of going straight to the cafe if that had been her intention all along.
But what choice did she have?
“Thank you for your concern.” The words scraped past the tightness in her throat as she forced her frozen legs to move.
Each step toward the boarding house felt like walking to her own execution. Her boots crunched through the packed snow. Her carpetbag swung against her hip with a weight that increased with every stride.
The man remained where he was, watching. His gaze seared into her back, even after she slipped through the door of the boarding house and closed it behind her.
The warmth hit her face first, stinging her frozen cheeks until her eyes watered. She blinked against the pain and the sudden brightness, her vision adjusting to reveal a small desk tucked against the wall and a staircase directly ahead. Voices drifted from a doorway to her left—the dining room, most likely—accompanied by the clink of silverware on plates.
Her stomach twisted with the hunger she’d been ignoring for hours, but she pressed herself against the wall opposite the dining room entrance, out of sight from anyone sitting within.
That room. She would have met James there to discuss her new position, had he not come to Butte instead.
The tears surged without warning, burning hot trails down her frozen cheeks. She pressed her gloved hand to her mouth, fighting to keep the sob locked in her chest.
Leaving James had been the right thing to do. The only thing.
But she’d ripped herself in half, leaving the best part of her bleeding in that barn while the rest of her fled like the coward she’d always been.
Yet if she’d stayed… Every time he looked at her, would he remember his mother and how much he missed her? How hard it had been to grow up without her, practically an orphan, since his father lived so far away?
She couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t bear being the source of his pain, the constant reminder of everything he’d lost.
The voices in the dining room grew louder, footsteps approaching.
She straightened, panic jolting through her frozen limbs. She had to hide until they passed.
The staircase loomed ahead. She grabbed her carpetbag tighter and started up, her boots making soft thuds against the wooden steps. Each one felt too loud in the quiet foyer, announcing her presence to anyone around.
At the top, a narrow hallway stretched in both directions. Doors lined the walls—guest rooms, most likely. She pressed herself against the wall, straining to hear if the footsteps below had followed.
Nothing. Just the continued murmur of conversation from the dining room.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. She’d hide here until the men left the dining room, then slip back down and head straight to the livery. Buy a horse. Get out of town before anyone else tried to be helpful or asked too many questions.
Before Thomas found her.
A door opened to her right, and she glanced over.
The sight there stopped her cold, every muscle locking as panic surged once more.
The man who stepped into the hallway stopped just as suddenly, his hand still on the doorknob. His eyes widened as they locked onto hers.
