Page 67 of Embattled Ever After

She felt her mouth fall open. “What?”

“Let’s go look around. We’ll see what we can see.”

Without a word, Alex turned and pushed the button for the elevator. It hadn’t gone anywhere, so the doors opened immediately. “You don’t have to go with me,” she protested.

Duncan followed her in and pressed the first floor button. “I can be your guide.”

She didn’t say anything as the elevator settled onto the lobby floor and the doors slid open. This wasn’t what she had expected to happen, by any stretch of the imagination. On the one hand she was excited to see him, but it was also heartbreaking that she could be so close yet still have this distance between them. In spite of everything that had happened between them she wanted to reach out and hold his free hand. She wanted to tell him about the baby she—they—had lost.

But she held her tongue as she led him to her rental car.

***

Duncan didn’t knowwhy Alex was here, but he wasn’t going to miss the chance to be with her. Standing in the hallway, he could tell by her body language that she had wanted to get away from him, but he was sure it was because of the situation. Things were tense, he couldn’t deny.

It was so damn nice to see her again. It hadn’t even been a month and a half, but it felt like a lifetime. Even though she looked tired, and a little bruised under her pale skin, she still left him breathless. He cleared his throat. “How long are you staying?”

Her gaze stayed straight ahead. “Not sure. Depends upon… things.”

“What things?”

Was he one of those items?

“Well, whether or not I find Aiden. How Shannon does.”

She left off there, and he winced. Best way to take a guy down—leave him off your to-do list.

At a red light, Alex typed an address into the GPS, then turned when the directions started flowing. Duncan didn’t say anything, just looked out the window at the passing scenery. He doubted Aiden had been spotted, but it was a possibility he supposed. The man had been six hundred miles away last time he’d seen him though. On a good day, Kansas City was an eleven hour drive from here.

They turned onto the street that led to Harmony House, several blocks down. The streets were mostly deserted. It was almost ten o’clock, and colder than a witch’s tit, so a smart person would have planned to stay in. The homeless who planned to sleep outside tonight would be bedded down already, bundled tight against the inescapable cold.

Alex drove past the shelter, then started weaving in and out of the alleys and streets. When she spotted a form lying against a wall or in a depression, she would slow down. Duncan searched faces and recognized a few that he knew, but not Chuck, and definitely not Aiden. They went past the designated area where he’d been spotted a couple of times, but they didn’t see anyone there now.

“I don’t know why I thought he would still be there,” she sighed. “That was stupid.”

“Not stupid,” he assured her. “Just hopeful.”

“I’ll take you back to your car. I’m sorry I wasted your time, Duncan.”

He looked at her in the dim light of the car. “It definitely wasn’t wasted time, Alex. I enjoy every moment of being with you.”

She glanced at him sharply as she stopped for a red light. “Yeah, okay.”

He looked at her, hearing the skepticism. “It’s true. I love spending time with you, and I miss it a lot. I miss you so much that I ache to hold you.”

A horn blared behind them and she pulled away from the light, accelerating toward the hospital. “I’ve, uh, I’ve missed you too,” she admitted softly. “We weren’t together very long but I felt like we really clicked.”

Reluctantly, Duncan pointed her toward his truck, parked a few rows away in the middle of the lot. The handicapped spaces had been full. “Just because we didn’t see him tonight it doesn’t mean he’s not out there. If he is, we’ll find him. How long are you staying?”

She shrugged, looking out over the lot. “Not sure. I’m taking a break from my job for a while.”

“What? Why?”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I thought we broke up?”

He sighed, resting his arm on the door. “We did, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you any more, Alex. If anything, I admire you for standing up for yourself and not settling. I wouldn’t be an easy guy to have a long-term relationship with.”

She snorted. “You never know. I thought we fit well.”

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