Luke opened it and Tessa jumped back, relaxing when she made eye contact with Luke. “I left my charger in your room.”
Luke stepped back and she came through. “Tessa?”
“Hmm?” As if she didn’t know what he wanted to know.
“Tessa.” This time her name wasn’t so much a question as a demand for information.
“Not case related. Nothing to worry about.”
How little she knew about him. “I worry about my friends, and Zane is a friend. So are you. It may not be case related, but I don’t believe there’s nothing to worry about.”
She unplugged the charger from the wall, turned, and walked back into her room as if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “Good night.” The door closed.
He stared at it in surprise. How could she? But before he could bang on the door and tell her off, the phone rang. He didn’t bother with hello. “Faith.”
“You know, if you keep saying my name like that . . .” Faith laughed in a low, throaty way that left Luke unprepared for what came next. “I might decide I like it.”
And that left him without the ability to form coherent words.
“You still there?”
“Trying to breathe. You?”
She laughed again. If Luke didn’t know better, he’d wonder if she’d been drinking. “I’m so tired, Luke. And I’m scared. I’m scared you’re going to get killed, and I can’t stay mad at you—and that scares me too.”
“I’m scared too.” And he was. Although there wasn’t another soul in the universe he would admit it to. “I have a lot to live for, and I’d like to find out what that looks like.”
Silence. Too much too soon? It had hardly been an ardent expression of love and devotion. But he did mean it.
“I don’t know what that looks like either,” Faith said.
“We’ll figure it out as we go.”
“But I like plans.” Faith yawned as she spoke, but Luke thought he heard an undercurrent of teasing in her words.
“You could plan to see where it goes. Right?”Please say right.
“Yeah. I could plan to do that.” There was a softness in the admission. A sweetness he doubted many people knew she was capable of.
“Are you at home?”
“I am.” Another yawn.
“Did you clear your house?”
“Yes.”
“Anything seem weird?”
“No.”
Luke doubted she would have noticed if it was. She was about to fall asleep on the phone. “I’ll call you in the morning and we’ll...” He had no idea what they would do. But they would figure it out.
“Yeah.” She got it. “Good night.”
“’Night.”
32
