Page 51 of High Intensity

Heck, Emo may be trained as a cadaver dog, but she is a Malinois, a breed also known for their protective nature, which is why they are frequently used as law enforcement canines. They can be fierce.

Aside from that, I have a decent alarm system, I have neighbors, and now that I’ve been removed from Hayley’s approved visitor’s list, I doubt they’d even be interested in me. But none of it swayed Sheriff Ewing.

He showed up at the hospital with two FBI agents in tow about an hour ago. After he introduced the two agents, who were on Hayley’s guard duty, he informed me for the girl’s safetyand my own, I no longer would be allowed to see her. Then he mentioned Sloane would follow me home and I’d have a guard assigned to me twenty-four seven, until there was no longer a threat. Since I was doubtful of any threat to me in the first place, I did not take kindly to the invasion of my privacy.

Obviously, it did not stop Sloane from following me home and into my house.

Hayley had woken up shortly before the FBI contingent showed up, so I’d had a chance to prepare her for their arrival. Of course, at the time neither of us had realized I wouldn’t be there beyond the FBI’s involvement either. I could read the shock on her face when Ewing was asked to escort me out of the room, and part of me wanted to scoop her up in my arms and refuse to leave her side.

Except, I won’t take the risk my presence might pose to her, as they apparently think it might.

“Be grateful the feds are letting us take responsibility for your safety,” Sloane shares from her perch on my couch. “You might not have been given the option of staying home with your dogs if your safety had been up to them.”

“I still don’t see how I could be of any interest to them. It’s not like I had any information of value to start with, and now I’m no longer allowed to see Hayley, any kind of leverage I might’ve provided is gone.”

“Look,” Sloane bites sharply, a serious expression on her face. “I understand it’s an inconvenience, but you’re just going to have to suck it up for the greater good.”

I snap my mouth shut on the knee-jerk objection that wants to escape.

Because she’s right; this is a minor inconvenience for me and the last thing I want is to distract law enforcement from doing what they feel they need to make sure Hayley stays safe. Ultimately, that girl’s safety is paramount to me as well.

“Point taken,” I concede.

Suddenly overwhelmed with sadness I might not see Hayley again, I walk into my kitchen and put on the kettle for a cup of tea. I could use one, and this gives me a moment to get myself under control.

A few seconds later, I can’t stop myself from asking, “Will you be able to find out how she’s doing?”

“Hayley?” Her expression softens at my nod. “If I can’t, my boss can. Or otherwise, we ask your boyfriend to work his old Bureau connections, I’m sure he could still pull some strings.”

I roll my eyes at her reference to Wolff as my boyfriend. I have a feeling it won’t take her long to get back to the subject of what happened between him and me.

“Speaking about your boyfriend…”

See?

I end up confirming we slept together but that’s as much information as I’m willing to share. It doesn’t matter to Sloane; she runs with it either way. She gets busy plotting out our future, making suggestions as to where we should live, but when she starts talking about children, I cut her off.

“I’m staring forty in the face; I’m not sure children are on the menu.”

“Plenty of women have families a little later in life these days,” she argues.

“I’m aware, I just don’t think I could go there. Again,” I add as an afterthought.

I watch first confusion, then realization, and finally sadness wash over her face.

“The person you lost…” She refers to our earlier conversation when Aspen was in the hospital last week. “A child?”

I pour us both a cup of tea and sink down on the couch beside her before confirming.

“My five-year-old daughter, Macy, was killed in an accident eight years ago.”

For some reason it’s a little less difficult mentioning her name this time. I’m so grateful when Sloane asks pointed questions about what my daughter was like, and not about what happened to her. I’m able to answer without breaking down. Perhaps the trick was always to focus on who she was and not the tragedy that took her from me.

We talk about Macy and Aspen and Sloane’s pregnancy. We share our experiences parenting, and the conversation changes something in our friendship. Deepening it by our discovery of another layer of compatibility.

It’s almost five when a knock has Sloane jump up and head for the door. I’m surprised when Wolff stalks in. I thought he’d still be in Kalispell.

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out a bit ungraciously, so I quickly follow it up with, “I thought you’d still be with your mom.”

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