When he rejoined Mary in the kitchen, she was washing the breakfast dishes.He made a note to do it himself next time, before she could beat him to the punch.His phone chimed with notifications of messages that hadn’t delivered overnight.One was from Natalie Luna, asking if he was okay.She must have heard about the tornado.He responded with a quick text.He hoped she wouldn’t follow up with a voice call.Between Mary and his mother, he’d had his fill of awkward conversations with females.
Mary finished the dishes and joined him outside.Her dogs were loose now, running in circles around him.Chico yapped at his heels as he walked toward his truck.
“You’re going to leave them out?”he asked.
“Yes.They won’t run away.”
Wade grunted in response.“Do they bite other people, or just me?”
“Just you.”
He glanced at the mark on his hand, which had scabbed over.“Is Mary Meadows your real name?”
She bristled.“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“It sounds like Suzy Sunshine.It sounds fake.”
A telltale flush rose to her cheeks.“It’s not.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“No.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-five.”
He scanned her face, skeptical.Without makeup, her skin was clear and unlined.She wasn’t a bright-eyed ingénue, but he didn’t think she was thirty-five.He doubted she was even thirty.Which begged the question.Why lie?For that matter, why lie andaddyears?In his experience, women over twenty-one didn’t do that.
It was also true that some women, like his mother, looked much younger than they were.Wade’s instincts told him that wasn’t the case with Mary.Even so, he decided not to press her for more information.He didn’t want to seem too interested.He was already watching her intently, hanging on her every word.
Against his better judgment, he liked her.Which was all the more reason to keep his distance.He had a new job and a sick mother to deal with.Mary Meadows raised a lot of red flags.She also raised something else, and he didn’t need the complication.
“You should give me your number,” he said.
Her brow furrowed.“Why?”
“I don’t want to search for you at the end of the day.”
“I don’t have a phone.”
“You don’t have a phone?How do you communicate with my mother?”
“We talk in person,” she said.“Face-to-face.”
“You have something against technology?”
She gave him a puzzled look.“No.I just don’t own a cell phone.”
While he pondered this anomaly, his own cell phone rang.It was Sheriff Nava, who updated him on the plan for the day.Before he knew it, they’d arrived at the Lost Lake Sheriff’s Department.Wade parked in front of the station and got out.A small group of Red Cross employees had gathered at the community center across the street.Wade found his notepad and scrawled his phone number on it.
“Here,” he said.
She tucked the paper into her front pocket and strode away.Wade watched her go, studying the way her body moved, and the fit of her worn denim jeans.
“Is that your girlfriend?”
Wade dragged his gaze from Mary.Sheriff Nava was standing outside the front door of the station with a square pink box.He was checking out Mary’s figure, just as Wade had been.Wade deliberately moved to block his view.
