“I think he’s capable of it. He’s a Marine. He’s physically powerful. He’s in Raleigh when he’s normally in Georgia. He—”
“He loves me.”
That shut him up. But not for long. “I know. It’s obvious.”
“I don’t love him.”
“I believe you, but I’m not sure you’ve convinced him.” He studied their hands for a beat. “Does he know your alarm code?”
How could she explain this? “He might.”
Gil’s response was a quirked eyebrow, and she had a strong urge to trace it with her finger.Focus, Ivy. Focus.
“I’m not naive. I don’t use my birthdate or anything. The numbers appear to be random.”
“But they aren’t?”
“No.” She tried to pull her hand from his, but he held on. “It’s the date of my dad’s accident.” She couldn’t look at him. “Does that make me morbid? Maybe it does. But it’s a significant date for me. I don’t know that I would have become what I am today if I hadn’t watched him learn how to do life without his arm. I might have been some type of engineer or entrepreneur, but I don’t think I would have been so driven to succeed, and I’m not sure this field would have been on my radar. For me, that was a pivotal day. It’s the day everything changed.”
“That makes complete sense.”
She couldn’t look at him. He said it made sense, but that didn’t mean he didn’t think she was bonkers.
Gil released her hands and tipped her chin up. “Hey.” He didn’t continue until she lifted her eyes and met his gaze. “It makes sense.” He emphasized each word. “It is not weird.” He didn’t let go of her chin until she nodded.
She studied the counter. “I’ve used some variation of that date for years. My garage, my ATM pin. Anytime I have to provide a four-digit code, I use it. Sometimes in the American order, sometimes in the European. But it’s the same few numbers. If you already know I do that, it wouldn’t be hard to guess the code.”
“I’m assuming Ab knew your code from when you dated. And he knew the significance of the numbers and might consider the possibility that you would use the same numbers in a different order. Is that accurate?”
“Yes.”
“Who else would know?”
“It’s unlikely, but Mom might.”
“I thought you didn’t talk to your mom anymore?”
“I don’t. After I went to college and she went to jail, I only went home to see Dad.”
“So what makes you think she might know?”
She traced the patterns in the grain of the countertop. “That summer, after we got home but before I left for college, she took a thousand dollars from my checking account.”
“Your mom stole from you.”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know it was her at the time. Three separate withdrawals were made over the space of a week at three different ATMs. All three happened while I was working in Dad’s shop on my prototype. I didn’t know the money was missing until my bank statement came the first week of classes. I knew I hadn’t withdrawn the money.”
Ivy fought the urge to hide her face in her hands. “There’s never been any doubt in my mind that Mom took my ATM card and stole that money. She knew my PIN because we’d talked about it when I set up the account. At the time I never considered that she would steal from her own daughter.”
The familiar stab of grief pierced her chest. “By the time I realized what she’d done, my world had already imploded. Mom was in jail. She had hurt so many people.Ihad hurt so many people. I couldn’t deal with it. So I never mentioned it to Dad or anyone else.”
“I wish you could have told me.”
Gil said it with no rancor. There was nothing but sympathy in his expression, and it soothed a place that had burned with shame every time she’d thought of it.
“Me too. I was so stupid.”
