It bothered her.
“That’s true,” he said. “Sometimes I forget that there are people who just stay forever in small places like Seven Roads. Just because I can’t imagine wanting to, doesn’t mean it isn’t the plan others follow.”
He was smiling. With or without his name, she found that she still wasn’t a fan.
“And yet I’ve run into you twice in McCoy County in as many days,” she pointed out. “If you’re not a local then there must be something good that keeps bringing you back.”
The man laughed again and Rose regretted not eating her last hospital snack in her room. At least she had already ditched her hospital gown. Thanks to Deputy Collins’s wife, she was wearing an old high school T-shirtand a pair of dark sweats. It wasn’t exactly her uniform, but it made her feel a lot more secure than the gown had.
Though that sense of security didn’t do much as he turned to face her directly.
“And what if I said you were that good thing I’m sticking around for?” he asked.
Just as she wished she had on more professional clothes, Rose was internally berating herself for leaving her new phone back in her hospital bed. She didn’t know where her conversation was about to go but she felt deeply that avoiding it would be her best play. Now she didn’t have her phone to use to help her excuse herself.
So she reverted to the only other tool all Southerners wielded in the face of strangers.
Rose decided to be polite. She smiled. Before she could reply, though, he swooped back in.
“I was in an accident when I was leaving town,” he explained. “I came back today to give thanks to the staff here and then saw you sitting here alone. I may not be here for you, but I can’t just ignoretheRose Little either.”
Rose was surprised at the sudden and aggressive urge to wish this manwouldignore her. She didn’t dislike reporters in general, but since her rescue at the research annex, she had become wary of them. And that had been before her adventure with the car bomb.
Rose glanced down at his hands to see they were empty. If he was wanting to record her—or already trying—whatever he was using wasn’t out in the open.
“I’m not that interesting,” she said, meeting his eyeagain. “If you’re looking for a good story, I promise it’s not going to be with me.”
“Says the deputy who’s become quite popular lately for always acting like an action hero.” His smile managed to stretch even more. At this rate it would fall off his face. She was losing the polite battle.
So Rose took a breath and decided to be blunt.
“Listen, I’m sorry you were in an accident too, but if you’re chatting with me now hoping for an exclusive or something you can post about what happened a few months ago or a few days ago, you’re going to be disappointed. Everything I’ve said before, right now, or in the future is off the record. And honestly, I’m not going to say anything remotely interesting enough for any record to begin with. What happened, happened.”
She balled up her candy wrapper and stood with as much authority as she could muster while looking nowhere near professional.
“Now, I have things to do, so I’ll be leaving,” she continued. “I hope your recovery goes smoothly and you make it back home without any problems this time.”
Since there was nothing more to say Rose assumed the conversation was over. She started to turn away, relieved that her hospital room was empty at the moment.
However, the man clearly wasn’t done.
He stood to his full height, a great skyscraper to her ground-level height. Then he balled his hand at his side into a fist.
Rose went on high alert.
“You know, just because you act the hero doesn’t mean everyone is ready to bow at your feet and treat you like one. I was just trying for conversation, I don’tneed to know who you ticked off to suddenly have them going to such extremes to teach you a lesson.” His smile stayed and his fist relaxed into a hand against his thigh as he spoke. However, his words had lost their shine. “You’ve given yourself too much credit, Deputy Little. I don’t actually care about you at all.”
Rose’s high alert has switched to an overwhelming need to defend herself. She didn’t think shewasthat interesting. She wasn’t trying to give herself any kind of credit either. Hadn’t he been the one who had followed her less than a week ago, praising her? Asking for her story? Had she really misunderstood his intentions?
She didn’t find an answer before the man’s gaze went up above and over her shoulder in a quick flit.
That smile kept. His words were absolutely sharp.
“And on that note, I think it’s time to go,” he said. “I have my own schedule to keep.”
He was quick to leave the hallway—Rose was slow to realize what had grabbed his attention before he left so abruptly.
She turned around, looking for whatever the man had seen.
