Jodi Thomas - Sunrise Crossing

“I’m starving. I might go if we both understand it’s only a thank-you lunch.” She pointed to where the sheriff’s cruiser had been parked. It was missing, along with Staten’s huge black Dodge. “Looks like everyone left us.”

“There is a big meeting in town. Didn’t they tell you? We may have wind turbines coming in across this part of Texas. Some say it’ll double the size of the town. If I know the people of Crossroads, they’ll talk it to death before deciding.”

She nodded. “Quinn mentioned it. I’m staying over for a few days, so she said we’ll have lots of time to catch up. I grew up around here, but my parents moved to Granbury when I started college.”

Opening the car door, he added to the offer. “If you have lunch, I promise to bring you back to Kirkland’s place. I’m guessing you don’t have a car and you won’t want to wait in town for the meeting to end.”

Madison hesitated. “You’re right, but I don’t know about a lunch date. Small town. Crowd in town, half of which will know me. All probably know you. They’ll have us engaged before we order dessert.”

“Well, then, we might as well do it right here. How about in the back of my cruiser or on the grass? We could skip lunch or dating or marriage. Let’s just...”

“Stop it. I get the point.”

He laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re shy?”

“No, I just don’t like crowds.”

He understood. They would stick out by about a head. “I know just the place that will be perfect for lunch, or whatever you have in mind. Trust me.”

She looked like she was about to say “not a chance,” but instead she folded into his cruiser without a word.

He lifted a brow. That was easy.

The conversation was stilted all the way back to town. When he pulled through the Dairy Queen and ordered, she relaxed a little. Five minutes later, when he parked in the empty museum parking lot, she smiled.

“I remember this place. There’s a seating area overlooking the canyon.”

“Our table is waiting. No crowds. Only the wind and ants.”

She laughed as he handed her two root-beer floats while he got the burgers and they headed toward the picnic area.

Within a few minutes, they were talking like old friends. She told him stories of being in the air force after college, and he told her about wild car chases and arrests that he’d only heard about.

They figured out that they graduated from high school the same year, but she seemed to have had hundreds more adventures than he had. She’d traveled the world and been in combat once when she’d flown a rescue mission. He’d traveled Texas and had pulled his service weapon once in two years.

Both shared stories of being the tallest in every class picture and the problems they both had dating.

In the end, when he drove her back to the Kirkland Ranch, Fifth felt like he’d made a friend.

Maybe they’d work together again sometime. Maybe she’d call him the next time she visited her relatives, but he saw no sparks between them when she said goodbye.

As always, he was in the friend category.

The only problem was, this time he wasn’t sure he wanted to be.

CHAPTER NINE

Crossroads

RABBIT DIDN’T COME back for two nights, but Yancy went to his barn and worked late. He’d planned the stairs to be his next project, but found himself looking for excuses not to work on it. Finally, on the third night, as he cut the wood for the rails for the staircase, his mind drifted repeatedly to how she’d felt in his arms.

She was small, but after holding her, he had no doubt that she was a woman fully developed. He liked the way she felt and the way she smelled, but most of all, he liked the way she wasn’t afraid of him. She trusted him. Maybe not totally, but enough to build hope on.

He worked. He’d wait.

When he heard the creak of the door, he dropped his tools and turned toward the sound. She blew in with the first raindrops from a midnight storm.

She met his eyes briefly, and then she was running toward him as if she had missed him as dearly as he’d missed her.

He opened his arms and caught her as she jumped. For a while he just held her, feeling her body shake slightly. At first he thought it might be from the cold, but then he realized she was crying.

Backing up a few feet, Yancy leaned against a sawhorse so he wouldn’t seem so tall. Her face moved between his throat and shoulder and he felt her tears as they soaked through his shirt.

His shy little rabbit was hurting. He patted her back lightly, wishing he could take her sadness away.

A hundred questions came to mind, but he remembered their one rule. He’d have to wait for answers. All that mattered now was that she was safe here in his arms.

He kissed the top of her head and moved his hands comfortingly across her back.

She snuggled against him and cried softly as though her gentle heart was breaking.

“Are you hurt?” he finally whispered.

Shaking her head, she pulled away enough to look at him. “Promise me you’ll never tell anyone about me. No matter what happens, no one must ever know I’m here. I’ve vanished, you see, and I’m not ready to go back. For the first time ever, I’m living my own life. If this time ended, I’m not sure I could bear it.”

“I promise.” Whom would he tell? Yancy thought. No one would even know to ask. Besides, he’d sound nuts telling anyone he’d spent all these nights woodworking with a woman he called Rabbit but hadn’t asked who she was or where she came from. “I’ll keep your secret, if it will keep you safe.” He pushed a tear off her cheek. “I’d do anything to help you.”

She leaned against him and finally stopped crying. “Thanks,” she whispered as she kissed his lips feather light.

He returned the kiss. Just a touch, not an advance. Her lip trembled slightly, but she didn’t move away.

He held her, loving the nearness of her, wanting to help, needing to know what was wrong, but afraid to ask more. For now, it was enough that she was safe and unhurt. It didn’t matter what she was running from—only that she was running to him.

He brushed what felt like dried paint from her temple. “You been working in someone else’s workshop, Rabbit?”

“No. I was just playing around with oils today. I tried to mix the colors to match the sky at dawn, but I couldn’t get it right.”

“So, you paint.” He held his breath, fearing she’d think his statement was a question.

“Not much,” she answered. “Not lately.”

“Maybe I’ll give you a chance to do it again.” He smiled at her. “I found an old rocking chair at a yard sale. It needs work, but I could repair the broken pieces of wood and you could paint it red.”

She nodded. “I’d like that. I’ve always wanted to paint a rocker.” She fought down a giggle but he saw her smile.

The sound of a car passing on the road fifty yards away made her jump, but she didn’t leave his arms. When they heard the car pull off the road and head toward them, Yancy held her tighter. He could hear rocks crunching and winter-dead weeds snapping as the tires moved down the rut of a path to the house that no one ever used.

A beam of light flashed through a crack in the door.

They were about to have a visitor and there was no way out except through the barn doors. Yancy felt her panic as he moved his hand across her back trying to comfort her.

He knew she wanted to run, but from the sounds outside, the car couldn’t be more than five feet from the barn door.

Without hesitation, Yancy picked her up. With one step onto his toolbox and another on the table, he was high enough to lift her into the loft. “Get back behind the boards and don’t move.”