Page 275 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Don’t sweat it.”

“Shall we get started?” Gavin set a blank sheet of paper on Emily’s kitchen counter and started sketching her space. When he finished there, he wandered from room to room doing the same. Once he’d drawn up the layout, he showed her where he planned to put sensors, then explained how she could avoid accidentally setting them off.

“If the sensors go off, who will be notified?”

“I’m going to have the system notify me personally, but it will also notify the local police, and if you’d like, I can have it notify Wade directly.”

“Why would I want it to do that?”

Wade stood. “Make sure it does. I want to know instantly if she’s in danger.”

“Understood.” He made some notes, and Emily chewed on her bottom lip. “Is that all right with you, Emily?” Gavin asked.

She looked up at Wade, and he noticed the sheen in her eyes. “I suppose.”

“I’m going to have two of our best men get your system set up. They should be here within the hour, and they’ll be gone by four o’clock. Will that work?”

“Sure.” She gave him a tentative smile. “What will I owe you?”

“It’s on the house.”

“I can’t let?—”

“Stop.” Gavin patted Wade on the back. “My buddy here can explain how much I owe him. I’ll see you around, Emily.”

After his friend left, Wade felt Emily’s eyes boring a hole in his back, so he turned around to face her.

“Care to explain what that was all about? Your security guy was flirting with me and having fun until you mentioned high school.”

“He was my battle buddy. We went to basic together, and then we were stationed at the same base. Even did our patrols jointly in Afghanistan.”

“And the two of you talked about me.”

“We did.”

“More than once for him to remember who I am all these years later.”

“Frequently, yes.”

“That’s surprising,” she said.

“Why would you say that?”

“I figured you never looked back after you enlisted.”

“How could you possibly believe that?” he asked.

“I never heard from you again.”

“Your exact words to me were ‘If you leave, don’t bother coming back. I never want to hear from you again.’ I respected your choice.”

“Why? You knew how hurt I was and what I was going through. Why on earth would you have taken anything I said to heart?”

“I figured if you wanted anything to do with me, you would write, but you never did.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks, and he drew her into his arms. “I’m sorry, Em.” He whispered the words into her hair. “I was too young and stupid to realize you hadn’t meant what you said. By the time I recognized the truth, it was far too late to call. You wouldn’t have accepted me back.”

She pushed away from him and paced the length of the living room. “We’ll never know if I would’ve or wouldn’t have, but I loved you with all my heart. You were my whole world.”

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