“I’m not taking either of you seriously until you get sleep.” Cal caught Bronwyn’s eye in the rearview mirror and winked. “We’ll discuss your behavior tonight. Eliza was too worried about both of you to be upset about missing the firepit, but Landry promised her we’d do it tonight to make up for it.”
“What does Eliza know?” Mo asked, his voice a low hum.
“Not that you were shot. We told her that there was a situation at the grocery store, that you were hurt, and that we had to go to the hospital with you. But she knows you’re fine now.”
“Do you think she believed that?” Bronwyn didn’t know how much Eliza remembered about her life before Gossamer Falls, but her memories of her more recent abduction were fresh. She was doing well, but everyone knew that traumatic experiences could hit her extra hard.
“She believed me when I told her you were fine, but she doesn’t believe that she’s been told the whole story.”
“You need to tell her.” Mo’s voice was hard. Not without compassion, but firm. “I bet it’s all over town by now. If you don’t tell her, someone else will, and then you’ll be the bad guy for not being honest with her.”
Cal sighed. “I know. But I didn’t want Landry to deal with it alone. I’ll talk to her before I leave for work.”
Meredith leaned her head against the glass and blew out a huge sigh. “I want our town to be back to normal. Where no one gets shot at in the grocery store parking lot or snatched by stalkers or chased down by drug dealers.”
Bronwyn didn’t respond, but all she could think was,Same, girl. Same.
Twenty-Seven
Mo had to turn Bronwyn loose when Cal parked in his driveway. He hated to let her go, but really, he had no right to keep hanging on to her.
They had been friends.
More than friends.
Then enemies.
Then nothing.
Then something weird that no one could figure out.
And now they were ... something different. Friends? Maybe. People who’d been through a traumatic experience and who were experiencing heightened emotions? Definitely.
Was this one of those times when eight hours of sleep would return them to the status quo?
He hoped not.
But what would their new normal be?
Not that they’d ever been normal.
He stumbled into his house to brush his teeth and change into pajamas. Thanks to Aunt Carol, he’d had to leave the hospital in borrowed scrubs. He took the time to clean as much of his skinas he could with a washcloth. He didn’t want to get any blood in Meredith’s guest bed. But mostly he didn’t want Bronwyn to see it. She got a funny look on her face when she focused on his injured arm, and he didn’t want her dwelling on the thoughts behind that look.
By the time he made it the thirty feet from his tiny house to Meredith’s, Bronwyn was upstairs and in Meredith’s bed.
Meredith waited for him in the kitchen. She had her work clothes draped over the sofa. “I promise to be quiet when I get ready. I’ll drink coffee when I get to work.”
He grinned at her. “I was messing with you.”
She tried to smile, but her face went through some bizarre contortions before tears filled her eyes and she threw herself into his arms.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay. I’m okay.” He muttered the words over and over until her quiet sobs eased and she relaxed in his arms.
“You ... almost—”
“I’m okay.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “And if Bronwyn keeps talking to me, it was worth it.”
She pulled back a little. “Look at you, finding the silver lining. Bronwyn’s already been good for you and it’s only been a few hours.”
