And we will,tomorrow, when we have forty-eight hours off.
I’m just not sure it’ll be enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
REED
Seven-day extension.
Three of the worst words to wake to after spending twenty of the shortest, most earth-shattering minutes of your life alone in a barn with the girl you’re falling for.
I didn’t even have time to kiss her good morning. The first stop on the get-McCafferty-to-forgive-us tour involved getting up before everyone except Jack. Which wouldn’t be a problem if my body didn’t feel like it had taken on The Rock in a back alley.
Slamming a double-edged ax into tree stumps ought to be interesting today. But what’s another hundred and sixty-eight hours of this place? Piece of cake.
My limbs drag through the tent opening.
“Regretting begging to come back here after that dispatch call the two of you missed?”
I still haven’t apologized on my and Hailey’s behalf for that. Not officially. But I’m about to when I catch the fade of Jack’s smirk.
Oh. He’s joking.
“Add twenty-seven years of this job and you’ve got my physical condition,” he says.
The groan that accompanied my exit must have been audible.
“Just the guy I was hoping to talk to.”
“If you came to talk about my daughter?—”
“I’d like to work on McCafferty’s team today,” I interrupt him. “I don’t think he’ll assign me himself, so I need you to do it.”
His head tilts.
“I… can do that.”
“Great! Than?—”
He stops me with a hand to the chest. “If you do something for me in return.”
Here we go.
I pull back, giving him space. He takes up a lot more of it when he’s trying to act authoritarian.
I haven’t forgotten that he’s told me to stay away from his daughter. Not only have I actively disobeyed that request multiple times, but I’ve now—as he would see it—defiled her in a barn too. What if he knows about that? It’s baffling he hasn’t kicked me off this crew yet. It must have been one hell of a favor he owed my father.
“That camping trip,” Jack starts, “think it can stay between us?”
My eyebrows pinch.Meaning… Then they rise high enough to meet my hairline.This has nothing to do with my father.
“You want me to keep it fromHailey?”
I should be elated by his request. At this point, I’ve waited too long to tell her I’ve met her dad before. But why does he care so much?
“No. I want you to pretend itdidn’t happen,” he clarifies. “I just got my daughter back, and I can’t ruin that by making her believe I didn’twanther around.”
But he didn’t invite her on his weekend off. I’m no psychologist, but isn’t that the definition of not wanting someone around?
