Page 43 of Point of Contact

It was what she wanted. Technically.

Her whole plan had been to convince Reed to take her to Alaska so she could build a new life. Start over where nobody wanted to use her and she might actually find people who genuinely gave a shit that she existed.

But the process of getting there was turning out to be a little more enjoyable than she expected.

"Hopefullywe drive to Kentucky." Reed looked over the gauges on the dashboard. "I'm not convinced Bernadette here is going to make it."

Courtney choked a little on her Slim Jim, making a horrifying snorting and slightly gagish sound as a shocked bark of laughter tried to break loose. But instead of coming out, it sent her straight into a coughing fit as she tried to clear her airway of the heavily preserved snack. She managed to get enough loose to talk and wiped the tears from her eyes as she squinted Reed’s way. "Did you name the camper?"

He didn't look at her. "It didn't seem likeyouwere going to name her."

Why did it seem weird that he named the camper? Maybe because Reed was always so uptight and by the book she almost assumed he had no feelings and no personality.

But that was clearly not true. It took a hell of a lot of personality to name a camper Bernadette.

"So are you going to call her Bernie for short?" Courtney turned to peer back through the dated furnishings. "Because I think Bernie might be a little more fitting."

"Don't give her a hard time. She can't help the way she looks." Reed continued talking about the RV like it was a whole-ass person. "She just needs a little bit of a facelift."

He almost sounded like—

"Are you planning to keep this thing?" She wasn't as surprised by the possibility as she would have been two minutes ago when she didn't know Reed had already named their primary mode of transportation and temporary home.

He lifted one shoulder and let it drop in a shrug. "Might as well. I bought her."

Courtney pursed her lips, sifting through the words he just said. A few in particular. "I thought you said Alaskan Security bought the camper."

He just shrugged again.

Courtney opened her mouth to say something snarky, but clamped her lips back together. There was something about the set of Reed’s jaw and the way he was pretending to be so casual that made her think his decision to buy Bernadette was anything but. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why? I had to buy her because you’ve got sticky fingers and I didn't want the police to come after us."

She continued watching him, unconvinced by his explanation. "Seriously. Why did youreallybuy her?"

There was more to the story. Something that sat right on a nerve and she wanted to know what it was. Not because she wanted to use it against him like she would have before, but because Reed’s reaction to the conversation was so different. Almost like he wanted to lie, but couldn’t make himself do it.

"I just told you why I did it." Reed glanced her way, his eyes lingering long enough to give a little more away. There was an amount of emotion there. Closely guarded, but there nonetheless.

She chewed her lower lip, trying to come up with a reason Reed might be behaving that way. But it wasn't easy to pick apart another person, especially one like him.

Her own reasons and motivations were not normal, she knew that. Her life hadn't offered the kind of connections and experiences most people had. People like Reed. People with parents who loved them.

"Did your parents have an RV like this?" It was an obvious leap, which was probably the only reason it came to her. Anything more specific would be far outside of her scope of understanding.

Reed was quiet for a minute, the muscle in his jaw ticking in a way that made her think she might actually be close. Finally he let out a breath, the tightness of his shoulders dropping the tiniest bit. "No."

Well, shit. She really thought she was onto something there for a minute. That Reed finally might open up to her the way she'd opened up to him the night before. But apparently—

"But they always talked about it. Had all these plans for what they would do when my dad retired. All the places they would go visit." Reed paused, his hand gripping the wheel a little tighter before relaxing. "They even looked at RVs at one point. Had the model they wanted all picked out and everything."

Courtney turned in her seat again, looking over the worn paneling and threadbare upholstery. "And they picked this one?"

Read chuckled. "No. I think this is the only RV of its kind in existence."

Courtney stayed sideways in her seat, letting her temple rest against the back as she faced him. "That's because Bernadette’s special."

Reed stayed quiet, but he was still clearly holding onto more. It seemed like maybe he'd been holding onto it for a long time. The same way she had.

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