Page 39 of Nora
Judging by the way her shoulders relaxed, she was glad for the abrupt shift. “A medal,” she answered. “A saint medal, actually. The kind that would go on a necklace or maybe a bracelet.”
“Do you know which one?”
“Saint Adrian, I believe. I didn’t get a good look before Ben handed it off to his deputy, but that’s who I think it was.”
Lucian shifted in his seat and pulled his phone from his pocket. After unlocking it, he handed it to Nora. “I took some pictures. You should be able to enlarge them and see.”
Keeping her coffee in one hand, she reached for his phone with her other and opened the photos. Much as she’d done earlier, his mind went through all the photos on his camera app to recall if there were any he might not want her to see. Not that he had anything risqué. Most of his pictures were of his dogs. But there were a few he’d taken of various injuries his animals had suffered. Some were a bit gruesome, but probably nothing she hadn’t seen before.
“Definitely Saint Adrian,” she said, handing the phone back and picking her sandwich up. “He’s wearing armor.”
“Ah,” he said as she took a bite. “The patron saint of soldiers?”
She finished her bite, then smiled. “You grew up in one of the most Catholic countries in the world. It seems like that’s something you should know.”
He turned onto the grounds and slowed at the gate. Andrew wasn’t there, but another soldier was. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
She chuckled and leaned over as he rolled the window down. “Hey, Chris, how are you?” she called. The young man beamed.
“Hi, Doc, what are you doing out here?”
“Just went for another walk and got a little lost. Lucian came to pick me up.”
Chris gave her a funny look, but there was nothing on Nora’s face that raised any suspicion.
“You got lost on the grounds?” Chris asked.
She shook her head. “You know those few breaks in the fence we’ve been running by?” He nodded. “I wanted to check some of them out. I know there’s a state park that abuts the property, and I wanted to see if I popped through one of those holes if I could find it. I did. But got turned around.”
Chris was back to smiling. “It’s easy to do when you aren’t used to the woods. There’s a great park a few miles from here. If you want to go hiking over the weekend, let us know. We’d be happy to go with you. And Willa, too, if she’s interested.”
Lucian narrowed his eyes at the young man. To his surprise, the young man didn’t back down. Instead, he sent Lucian a look that could only be interpreted as a silent “bring it, old man.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. We have sessions all weekend, but think we have a day off next week,” Nora said.
“Great, you know where to find us. Have a good day,” he said, stepping away from the car and back into his booth.
“Another one of your running buddies?” he asked, rolling the window up and easing forward.
Nora nodded as she finished another bite. “His father is from Jordan. We’ve bonded.”
Lucian shot her a look to see if she was teasing him. Her gaze was focused out the window as she took the last bite of her sandwich. Apparently not.
“I’m not much of a breakfast sandwich person,” she said. “But Andrew was right, that was pretty good.”
He hadn’t even started his yet. He’d eat it on the way to the training grounds. “What is your usual breakfast?” he asked, not really sure why he’d asked. It wasn’t as though he was planning on making it for her.
She shrugged as they pulled into the lot. “Sometimes Six brings mecornettiand I’ll have that with my coffee. In the summer, fruit and yogurt. I’m not a big breakfast eater.” She paused, then looked down at his uneaten sandwich. “I hope you aren’t, either. The sandwich is more than I usually eat, but it isn’t big.”
“By American standards, it’s not. By Italian standards, it’s huge.”
She smiled at that, then opened her door and slid out. “I don’t have time for a shower, but I’m at least going to change. I’ll see you out on the grounds, and thanks for picking me up.”
“Nora!” he called, stopping her.
She turned and he jogged toward her. “You’re going to need these,” he said, handing over both her car key and her room key. “Unless you want me to walk you in?”
The smile that had been flirting with her lips at her forgetfulness faded. It was replaced with something altogether less cheery. Something a little sad.
