Cal glanced at him now. “You’re assuming.”
“I’m connecting dots.”
“Based on?”
“Banner, CPSP, and her sister needing protection in Dallas.”
Cal leaned back in his seat. “Dallas is landlocked.”
Wyatt frowned. “And?”
“She studies hurricanes.”
The word hurricanes eased Wyatt’s mood.
“She can’t do coastal disaster research in North Texas.”
Wyatt didn’t answer as the pause continued. “She could pivot,” he said finally.
“She could.” Cal looked at him. “But would she?”
Wyatt watched Driscoll flick his cigarette into the dirt and check his phone.
“You ever think,” Cal continued evenly, “that maybe Dallas isn’t the obvious choice?”
Wyatt’s gaze didn’t leave the yard. “She fits here.”
Cal’s mouth twitched. “She does.”
Wyatt shifted in his seat as Cal clicked his tongue. “You didn’t go to Dallas.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Wyatt didn’t respond. “Banner and Maxim wanted CPSP to be the next chapter.” He breathed out, finally speaking. “Private contracts, corporate security, and Dallas is full of their families. They fit there.”
“And you didn’t.”
“I wanted different.” Wyatt looked at him now. “I didn’t want to follow the same path just because it was familiar.”
They watched the man look down at his phone and grimace, the expression flashing across his face before he tucked the device back into his pocket.
“Salt & Steel gives me ocean, community, something smaller. More hands-on.” He scanned around the fuel yard. “I didn’t want to be the same man in a different zip code.”
Cal studied him.
“You think she’d choose this?” Wyatt inquired.
“I think she’d choose what’s more like home.”
That resonated more than it should have, settling somewhere deep in Wyatt’s chest where logic usually kept emotions locked down.
Driscoll shifted position, pacing now.
Wyatt adjusted the binoculars.
Cal’s voice lowered. “You jealous of Will?”
