"What you don't see can't hurt you?"
"Something like that."
"I haven't noticed any strangers around the building. Maybe they don't know where you live."
"It won't take too much longer for someone to figure it out."
"And if they do, then what?" she asked.
He met her gaze and shrugged. "I don't know. I probably should have left already."
"But you're tired of running."
"Tired of feeling like I need to," he said.
"That's what happened to me when I got to Ocean Shores. I had finally found a place that felt right, and I didn't want to have to go looking for another one. The thing is, Jax, everything blows over. Sometimes going into hiding only prolongs the story. It makes it more of a mystery."
"I'm sure you're right, but the couple of weeks after the news came out were exhausting. I couldn't breathe. I felt sick all the time. Getting away felt like the only way out."
"I understand. But you're breathing better now. You're making friends. You're joining activities. I think our community will continue to be good for you."
"They're going to find out who I am. And then they'll feel differently about me. It's only a matter of time."
"It's easier to judge someone you don't know. But people are more than one thing, and the better you know someone, the more apparent that is." Josie paused. "Kaia doesn't seem to be judging you, and she's one of the more critical ones in the group. For what it's worth, I hope you'll stay."
"It's a risk."
"Sometimes risk pays off. Lexie took one and look where she ended up."
He nodded, but he knew that risk didn't always pay off. Sometimes, it ended in disaster.
An hour later, they got back to Ocean Shores. "I really wish I could just hang out at the pool this afternoon, but duty calls," Kaia said as she parked the car.
"I hope it's an easy shift."
"Who knows? It's Saturday and almost the fourth of July, so I'm sure we'll start getting calls from idiots getting drunk and trying to set off fireworks that they don't know how to control."
"Do you get a lot of that?"
"Unfortunately, yes." She turned in her seat. "Thanks for coming with me to see Ella and also to the gallery."
"It was fun."
"I would like to hear Reina's record. But I don't get off until eleven tonight, so it will have to be tomorrow."
He wanted to tell her he'd wait up for her, but he knew a late-night visit with her would be playing with fire. "Tomorrow works," he said.
As they got out of the car, he heard voices in the parking lot, and his pulse jumped. But it was just Frank talking to Margaret.
Kaia followed his gaze and gave him a knowing smile. "No photographers."
"Not yet," he muttered. "We should get inside. You don't have much time before you have to leave for work."
As they entered the courtyard together, his pulse leaped once more at the sight of the tall, blond man wearing a white polo shirt and khaki pants. He stopped abruptly, swearing under his breath.
Kaia gave him a look of alarm. "Is that someone from the press?"
"No. He's not a photographer; he's even worse."
