Rowan stared at him. “What happened?”
“I need to go into town.” Wes grabbed his keys from the counter. “Someone got into my room at the B&B last night.”
Caleb stepped back through the doorway just then. “Somebodywhat?”
Wes headed toward the mudroom. “Someone broke into my room.”
Behind him, a chair scraped sharply across the floor. “I’m coming with you.”
He turned. Rowan stood near the table now, her expression set.
“No,” he told her.
A defiant look flashed in her gaze. “I’m not staying here while this keeps happening.”
“This isn’t about proving something.”
“No,” she shot back. “It’s about the fact that everybody around me keeps cleaning up disasters I helped create.”
Wes held Rowan’s gaze. A million arguments were on his lips, but he had a feeling none of them would work.
“You think me staying isolated in this house is helping anything?” she continued. “Because it’s not.”
His jaw set. “That doesn’t mean going into town is smart.”
“Neither is pretending this goes away if I hide long enough.”
Wes stared at her. Part of him still wanted to refuse outright. Another part knew she was already close to bolting emotionally—and maybe even physically. He could see it in the tension sitting beneath her composure.
Keeping her locked down at Refuge Cove all day would only make that worse.
Finally, he exhaled once. “Hat and sunglasses.”
Rowan blinked.
“We go together,” he said. “We stay together. And if anything feels wrong, we leave right away.”
Rowan spent the drive into town watching for reporters.
Every passing vehicle made her glance twice. Every person standing outside a storefront felt like someone who might recognize her if they looked long enough.
Wes drove her Tesla in steady silence, one hand resting loosely on the wheel.
The farther they got from Refuge Cove, the tighter something wound inside her chest.
The mountains around town usually made her feel hidden.
Today they felt suffocating.
“You okay?”
She realized Wes had glanced at her. “I’m fine.”
The answer came too quickly.
He didn’t call her on it, but she could tell he didn’t believe her either. She really wished people would stop asking her that. But she knew it was only out of concern.
They turned onto Main Street a few minutes later.
