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“Are you telling me that my feelings are one-sided?” I asked. “Because I don’t think they were.”

She looked everywhere but at me. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

When she sighed it sounded like it was wrenched from her very soul. “It wasn’t one-sided.”

“Then what’s the problem? We both have feelings for each other. We have fun spending time together. We get along well. Why can’t we date?”

“Because you’re ten years younger than me. Because you haven’t had other relationships. Because you have an obscene amount of money and I’m a normal blue collar girl who’s never going to fit in at the country club.”

I wasn’t sure which one of us she was trying to convince. Then she got to what I sensed was the real issue.

“Besides, I’ve been in too many relationships that ended up not going anywhere. When you and I break up, it’ll be too hard. The last few days have been hard enough. If we continue dating, it’ll kill me when you dump me.”

Her voice broke a little on the last two words. I got up and sat next to her on the couch, then placed my hand on her thigh.

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere,” I said softly. “I love you too much.”

We sat in silence for two full minutes before I spoke again. “Can I tell you what happened since we last saw each other?”

She shrugged like she didn’t care, but I could feel her attention sharpening. “Okay.”

“When they took you from the hotel I thought the cops were going to arrest me too.”

“Well you did give that cop a nice kick to the knee,” she said ruefully.

“Yeah, but then the FBI came and took over. They gave me an ultimatum: go back to Seattle with them or go to jail. Obviously I chose Seattle. Once I explained what happened and they realized there was no kidnapping, it became obvious that they were getting pressured from some powerful friends of my parents,” I explained.

“Did they tell you how they found us?” she asked.

I blew out a sigh. “It was all my fault. When I checked us into the hotel, I put the room under my name and gave them my passport when they asked for ID. They ran it through the system and it was flagged somewhere.”

I’d been trapped by my own naivety. It never occurred to me that anyone might be tracking me through the hotel’s computer system. But then again, my parents had convinced the feds that I was kidnapped.

I told Jenny about the agents taking me home, my suggesting that they punish my parents for a false report, and my mother’s dramatic collapse.

Jenny turned to look at me. “That must have freaked you out.”

I shrugged. “I had a suspicion that she was faking it, or maybe she really was having an anxiety attack, I don’t know. It all felt performative. The timing was too coincidental. But I stayed with my parents at the hospital to make sure she really was okay, and as soon as we got back I took off. I’ve been staying at Katy’s condo ever since. I haven’t heard from my parents or spoken to them since I left their house.”

“What about your security detail?”

“I made it very clear they were fired from my detail. If they’re following me still – and they might be – they’re being way more subtle about it,” I said.

“I’ve been busy. I moved my phone to my own account and separated anything else that was remotely connected to my parents, including moving my money to a new investment firm and changing banks.”

I was proud of myself. Katy had offered to help me figure things out but other than asking for recommendations for an investment firm, I’d handled all the changes myself. It all went pretty well, other than moving my phone to its own plan which had been more complicated than moving millions of dollars was.

“Wow, that’s a lot of big changes all at once.”

“I’m working on myself now. Yesterday I signed the papers to rent an apartment that I found all on my own. Katy and I are trying a new restaurant every week. I went to my first public yoga class – all alone. And I want to learn how to drive.”

Jenny gave me a considering look. “You’ll probably need a professional driver to teach you.”

I gave her a hopeful smile. “Do you know anyone like that?”

We were interrupted by a knock on the door.