“I would have been fine, you know?” She breaks the quiet, surprising me with the thread of strength in her voice.
“Fine?” I glance at her. “At the bar, you mean?”
She nods, and I chuckle.
“I would have,” she says quickly. “I could have handled myself. I’m used to that kind of thing.”
I glance at her, just long enough to see the confident set of her jaw. It’s easy to see how stubborn and fiery she could be.
“There’s no way you’re used to that kind of thing, doll. There’s nothing quite like a groupof feral mountain men in the middle of nowhere with fresh meat.”
She frowns and opens her mouth to protest again, but I stop her.
“I have no doubt you can hold your own,” I say. “But those men aren’t to be trifled with.” I’m not lecturing. Just stating a fact.
She rolls her eyes, unwilling to concede.
Brat.
“I wasn’t scared.”
It’s a lie. Either that, or she’s too naive to see the difference. Either way, I let it go.
“Why are you here, Tessa?” I ask instead, giving in to my need to know. “Aren’t you in college?”
She hesitates, just a beat too long.
“Between semesters.”
“Between semesters,” I repeat. “You’re in what… your third year?”
“Fourth.” She shrugs. “Technically.”
“That makes you…twenty-four?”
“Twenty-six,” she corrects. “I took a few gap years to work first.”
Either way. Young.
And yet… not.
She’s an adult. I can see thatwith my own two eyes.
Still.
And there’s something about her answer that’s not sitting right with me. I don’t know much about college, but I do know that March isn’tbetweensemesters.
She’s leaving something out.
I don’t push. It’s not my place to pry.
“I just needed to see my dad,” she continues. “It’s been too long and… well, I think I just needed a little connection.”
Connection.
Something about the word hits oddly.
The storm worsens as we climb higher on the mountain. Spring storms in the mountains can be brutal, and it looks as if this one is no exception. I was right not to take Tessa up to Luke’s cabin. It’s even farther up, the road even rougher. We wouldn’t make it.
