Page 31 of Wanted

“Can I speak to you outside, Frankie?”

Without meeting Jude’s eyes, I precede him outside. I walk a few paces away to clear the entrance before I stop.

“I’m sorry, okay? I can explain.”

A shadow eclipses me as Jude keeps on his way down the sidewalk. His large strides swallow the delineated squares as I jog to catch up. My arm throbs with the movement. The bright sun overhead reignites a dormant headache. A painful reminder to slow down.

“I thought you wanted to talk!”

Jude settles in a sprawling seat on a bench, knees bent and elbows pressed against them. The silver watch gleams where he clasps it in his large hand. His thumb strokes over the face almost with an absent reverence, feeling the surface without smudging the glass.

“My dad gave this to me. It was actually the last thing he gave me before he died.”

“Jude, I didn’t mean—”

“Just tell me why you took it,” he says softly. “So I can understand.”

I swallow hard against the gritty feeling in my throat. “I needed some cash for a bus ticket.”

“You’re supposed to be resting for two days.”

I sit next to him on the wooden bench. He keeps his gaze firmly averted, so I study his masculine profile. The scar beneath his eye is extra pale in the sunlight. I wish he would just look at me. Maybe then he could read the sincerity in my admission.

“Look. I only meant to pawn it for collateral. The guy said I’d have thirty days to pay back the loan. I was going to take a bus home and mail you a check so you could go pick it up. I was just borrowing it.”

“Like you borrowed my van?”

He looks at me then, a brow tilted over his gray eyes in challenge of my disastrous plan. I can’t help but notice the slight twist to his full lips.

“I’m assuming you found it?”

He ignores my question for one of his own. “What’s your plan now?”

I huff humorlessly. A pale breath floats above us in the cool air. I’m jealous of the vapor. Of the way it swims and disappears as if it were never here. “I don’t have one.”

“What would you like to do? If you could pick anything.”

“I’d like to start over,” I blurt without thinking.

Jude is silent for so long that I can hear a conversation between two chipper birds. Their back-and-forth song serenades us in the silence. I find my attention drifting across the quiet street. The strip of buildings contains a flower shop, a café, and a post office. The simple main street reminds me of my hometown. For some reason, I don’t find the place connected to home comforting as I do here.

“How about this? You stay and come work for me. I can’t pay you a full salary, but I can provide a room and meals with part-time pay for as long or as little as you need.”

“That seems too generous and hardly fair.”

Jude releases a short laugh. Abrupt, as if he cut himself off when he realized what he was doing. The brief sound leaves me unsatisfied and wanting more. “You haven’t ever worked around fifteen dogs. The mess they make can be shocking.”

My heart stutters in my chest before doubling its pace. The offer teases me of the new beginning I crave. A no-strings opportunity in a comforting small town, and I can’t forget about all the dogs.

Not to mention, the gift of time. Time to figure out my next move and time for my memory to return in case I have to face Dillon again.

“Are you sure? We haven’t exactly gotten along.”

“The dogs will love you.”

I cross my arms. “I meant you and I.”

Jude teases his bottom lip as he pauses. “I think you and I will get along just fine.”

---