Page 8

EIGHT

I ’m sorry I left without saying anything.

Bryce could’ve kissed her right there. Really kissed her. Too bad someone had just tried to kill them.

But Penny was alive. Having her back in his arms felt right. True. No one else fit there like she did.

But…she’d left once. And sure, he blew it off to anyone else, but the truth of what she’d taken when she’d left was very evident in this moment, now filling the hollow spaces her absence had created.

She had taken a good chunk of his heart. And it felt like it’d just started beating again. But for how long?

And here she was lying on the cold, hard sidewalk. He was probably crushing her.

He rolled off and gently helped her up. They dusted the dirt off themselves.

He wanted to brush off her words just as easily. Pretend he wasn’t lapping them up like a dog lost in a desert finding water.

“Sure you’re okay? I didn’t hurt you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I’m fine.” She offered a wobbly smile, a hint of vulnerability he had never witnessed in her before.

“Good.” He slowly nodded. “Good.”

He combed his fingers through his hair, tangling them up for a moment. He should say something. Acknowledge her admission. “And, uh…thanks. For the apology.”

“Yeah. Of course. It’s…long overdue.” She brushed more dirt off her sleeve.

“Then will you finally let me explain what?—”

She slashed the air with her hand. “There’s no need to hash out what happened back then. It’s been over a year. We’ve both moved on.”

He stepped closer to her. “Maybe so, but we never discussed what happened.”

“We were just involved in a drive-by shooting. I don’t know that this is the best time.”

“Okay, so maybe not right at this moment, but we should sit down and talk. Soon.”

“Fine.” She blew out a long breath and muttered, “My sister is going to kill me.”

“Why?”

“She thinks my job is too dangerous. How am I gonna tell her about this? And if I don’t tell her, she’ll find out some other way, and it will be even worse.”

“Sounds like she cares about you.”

“Maybe, but she’s gotten weird all of the sudden. She’s talking about God and praying and…hugging.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Penny shrugged and rolled her eyes. “I dunno. It’s weird.”

Great. What would she say if she knew about Bryce’s recent faith journey?

Before he could consider that, she faced him, hands on her hips. “So, any idea who just tried to mow us down with bullets?” Her chin tilted up like she was ready to face whoever it was and teach them a lesson. Maybe also wanting to move on from the awkwardness of the moment.

Right. The shooting. He’d follow her lead.

For now.

“I didn’t get anything off that Chevy Camaro’s license plate. You?”

“Not when someone knocked me to the ground.” She offered him a light smile. “Thank you for protecting me.”

Was it crazy that he loved being there to protect her? If he had his way, he would always be there to watch her back and keep her safe, but considering what she’d just said about her sister, he’d better keep that to himself and play this cool. “We couldn’t have them putting holes in that pretty head of yours.”

“Right.” She chuckled and pulled out her phone. “I better call this in.”

And now she was already on the phone with dispatch.

Within minutes, Olivia Tazwell pulled up in her squad car. “You two can’t stay out of trouble, huh?” She looked at the building behind them. “This is the burning building you barely escaped from?” Her jaw dropped as she stared at the mess behind them. “Penny, you must have nine lives.”

“I think she’s down to seven. Maybe six.” Bryce bent down and picked up one of the casings from the bullets.

“All right, so walk me through what happened.”

After they’d both given statements to Olivia, Bryce debated his next move. Should he leave? Part of him wanted more time with Penny. Maybe she’d elaborate on that apology from earlier. Because maybe if he figured out why she’d left, he could change that part of himself, figure out what it took to be this new creation he was supposed to be. Not that there was a future with Penny.

It would probably be wiser to let the tempting woman go her own way, but when had he ever been considered wise?

“Are you hungry?” he asked her after Olivia had left.

“I should probably go?—”

“Come on. We’re investigating together. Might as well take a lunch break and get back to it.”

She scrunched up her nose as she thought. “I suppose it would save us time to grab something together. As long as there’s an understanding that it’s a work thing, right?”

“Of course. A working lunch.” And if they happened to get into a more personal frame of mind, so be it. Because they still had a lot to sort out about their past.

They settled in a little café tucked in next to a bakery downtown. The collection of random cookie jars on shelves all over gave the place an eclectic, homey feel. The servers still wore uniforms with aprons, and the chalkboard with the day’s specials was hand-drawn. Bryce slid into one of the red vinyl booths across from Penny. The server brought menus and placed water glasses on the Formica tabletop.

Penny looked around. “I don’t remember this place.”

“Been here forever. My grandpa used to bring Logan, Andi, and me here for malts. They’re famous for them.”

“That sounds delicious. I think I know what I’m ordering.” She set the menu down.

As she did, Bryce looked up to see John McClelland, a retired plumber and one of the guys he’d met at a Bible study, walking toward them. He carried his tattered Bible and wore one of his many Christian T-shirts.

“Bryce! How’s it going?”

“Hey, John.”

“Who do you have here?” He smiled brightly down at Penny and held out his hand, which she graciously shook, although Bryce didn’t miss the hesitancy in her own smile.

“This is my…friend, Penny Mitchell,” Bryce said.

“Hi, Penny. I’m John. Nice to meet you. I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m on my way to the food shelf for my shift. Will we see you Thursday night, Bryce?”

“Uh, I think so. Unless I get called into work. We’ve been busy lately.”

“Right. Take care and I’ll see you when I see you.” He left with a wave, the little bell above the door jingling at his exit.

Penny stared at Bryce, one eyebrow quirked. “So…how do you know him?”

Her words about her sister earlier came back to him.

She’s gotten weird all of the sudden. She’s talking about God and praying and…hugging.

So maybe this wasn’t the best time to get into his own rather new relationship with God. “I met John at a function with my mom. There’s a group of guys that meets up weekly, and I bring my dad sometimes. John’s a nice guy.”

She seemed to accept his explanation. The waitress took their orders and left. They kept the conversation light while waiting for their food. It wasn’t long before the same waitress plopped a plate of thick, shiny french fries and a chocolate malt in front of Penny, and Bryce’s cheeseburger and onion rings in front of him.

Penny a took a sip from her glass. “Wow. I can see why they’re famous for their malts. This is amazing.”

Bryce grinned and took a big bite of his burger. Penny laughed and pointed at his face. “You’ve got ketchup on you.”

He swiped his napkin across his cheek. She laughed harder. “You just smeared it. Hand it over.” He passed his napkin over to her. She gently dabbed the corner of his mouth. “You always did wear your food.”

The whiff of her vanilla perfume swirled around him, evoking memory after memory.

So many good times they’d shared. And he hated that she thought the worst of him. That he’d pushed her away. So after swallowing his bite he blurted out, “I want you to know that I didn’t cheat on you.”

Penny’s hand immediately fell away. “What?”

“That night you left. I know what you saw, and it probably looked bad. Ashlee showed up at my door. Drunk. She came on to me, and I was trying to let her down. She kept tripping and falling?—”

“I get the picture.” She shoved a fry in her mouth.

“Do you? Because I swear, that’s all you saw when you showed up. I had Logan help me take her home. She got sick all over her living room, and we helped clean up the mess and made sure she was okay before we left. But nothing more happened. And as soon as I left, I went directly to your apartment. But you were already gone.”

“Oh.”

He waited for her to say more. Ask questions. Demand answers of her own. But she stayed silent.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“Look, Bryce, I’m…glad you weren’t cheating?—”

“So you believe me?”

With her arms wrapped around herself, she shrugged and looked up at him through her lashes. “Yeah, I do.”

Okay then. That was all he wanted. Right? For her to know he hadn’t cheated on her.

But it felt unfinished still.

“You don’t have any questions for me?”

“Not really.” She dragged another one of her fries through a pile of ketchup and took a bite.

Huh. Well, that’d been a heck of a lot easier than he’d expected. But why didn’t that seem to fix the gulf between them?

Why had she left?

“I think I’m going to take the malt to go.” She stood and took her glass to the counter. Guess that was the end of that.

Her words from earlier echoed back.

I told you from the beginning I wasn’t looking for anything serious.

Of course. Because people didn’t take him seriously. Why would it be any different with her?

And why did it matter? He’d said his piece. And like she’d said, they’d moved on. If he was going to get serious about someone, she probably should be the kind of girl that didn’t balk at going to church or reading the Bible. Obviously, that wasn’t Penny.

But as he watched a little red-headed kid bump into her and caught her wince, that surge of protectiveness rose within him again. She’d been caught by thugs, trapped in a fire, knocked out by a bomb blast, and then shot at. All in less than twenty-four hours. The woman needed backup and a league of angels to surround her.

He was certainly no angel. And she most likely would leave as soon as this case wrapped up. But while they were doing this job, he would do everything in his power to protect her from getting hurt any more.

It was the least he could do.

When she came back, Penny’s phone rang.

“Mitchell here.” Her eyes widened. “Really? Yeah, give me that address.” She gestured for a pen. As soon as Bryce handed it to her, she scribbled on a napkin. “That’s great. Thanks!” She ended the call and looked at him. “We’ve got a lead. Tony ran down the license plate from the truck I saw last night parked near the warehouse. Gomez and Hernandez drove it. The name on the license came back. Doreen Van Kerk.”

“Who’s that?”

“A woman who died three years ago. She still has a house under her name though. Tony gave me the address. He and Olivia are already there.”

Since when did the guy go by Tony? “Then we should check that address out. Mind if I ride with you?” She always did like being in the driver’s seat, and there was no better way to keep her safe than by sticking close.

And hopefully she’d forget all about Tony .