Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Are you from Ohio?”
“Yup, born and raised in Cincinnati.”
“And your family? They still live in Cincinnati too?”
“Yup.”
“Sisters? Brothers?”
She had turned toward him with interest as he answered her questions. He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, though there was something slightly sad in it. “One sister. I had a younger brother, but Aaron passed away when I was eight. Cancer.”
Aaron. She tilted her head, seeing this man differently, realizing that she’d viewed him as a sort of superman, a heroic protector. And he was. But he was also just a man. A human being who had his own hurts. His own story, as everyone did. A person who had suffered loss as well and obviously still carried traces of it inside his secret self. Her heart reached out to him. And she was glad not to be the focus of their conversation for the very first time. “I’m sorry. That must have been very hard for your family.”
“Thank you. It was. Sometimes it still is—there are moments.”
She understood that perfectly. She was well and painfully acquainted with those “moments.” She glanced out to the horizon where the bare slip of a translucent moon wavered in the cobalt sky. Daylight dwindled, the sun quickly lowering, and for a few moments, night and day existed all at once. “And beyond your family, do you…have someone special in your life?”
She felt his gaze on her and met his eyes, wishing suddenly she could withdraw the question. She didn’t necessarily want to know. And more so, knew that in asking she’d revealed to him that she cared about his answer. His eyes did a quick sweep of her face, and she felt his focus on her sharpen. It made her stomach jump.
“No, I don’t have anyone special in my life.”
“Why not?” Why would a man like Zach Copeland be single?
His lip quirked, and he squinted off into the distance. “Married to my work, maybe? Is that a cliché?”
“Not if it’s true, I guess.” So that was her role right now. Perhaps he was interested in her as a woman. Because she was the focus of his work. But that wouldn’t always be the case. She didn’t know if the knowledge that his interest in her would inevitably be temporary made her feel more or less vulnerable.
Maybe it didn’t matter either way. Her life was a complicated mess. And Zach Copeland was married to his job. Maybe under different circumstances… But it was what it was.
“What about you, Josie? Tell me about yourself.”
She gave him a confused laugh. “What else is there to tell? You know everything about me.”
He studied her for a moment. “I know everything about the crime that was committed against you. That’s not all there is to you.”
Wasn’t it? She picked at a piece of chipped wood on the railing. She wasn’t sure what to say. She had defined herself by the year she’d spent chained up and alone for so long now. And maybe she shouldn’t… Maybe there was more to her than just that one traumatic event. The thought made her feel slightly hopeful and vaguely afraid—adrift somehow. What did she cling to if not that? “What do you want to know?” she asked somewhat warily.
He closed one eye as if considering deeply, and she couldn’t help the smile that tipped her lips. “What’s your favorite food?”
“Dessert. Anything sweet.”
“Favorite movie.”
“Rear Window.”
He looked surprised at that. “A Hitchcock fan? Me too. Favorite season.”
“Summer.”
“Summer’s good.”
She laughed. “Yes, summer is good.”
They stood there grinning at each other for several beats, the air growing thick with simmering tension. It made Josie want to step toward him. It made her want to run away. Her hand fluttered to her neck where she could feel her skin warming. And it was suddenly all so much. The call she’d gotten earlier from the man who’d broken into her house and killed her mother. The questions swirling in her mind that Jimmy had brought up that afternoon. This, whatever it was between her and Zach. Their expressions sobered. He felt it too; she could tell.
She pushed off the railing and stepped away from him. “Mind if I take a shower and turn in? I know it’s early, but it’s been a long, exhausting day, and I didn’t sleep great last night.”
He turned. Was that disappointment in his gaze, or was she imagining it? “No dinner? There’s supposed to be food in the kitchen. Someone stocked it before we got here.”
Josie yawned. “No. I think I’ll just turn in. Thank you, Zach. For…everything.” She retreated inside to the safety of the small room where Zach had already deposited her bag. But she couldn’t flee the well of feelings he’d opened inside of her, nor the visions of those midnight eyes that followed her into her dreams.