Page 44 of All Inn Thyme
I sink to the floor and shake my head.
“I’m sick of your shit, Brianna. Where’s my fucking dinner?” He kicked his boots off and left them in the middle of the floor, ignoring his son who cowered on the stairs, looking like he was afraid to move. I jumped as I heard him undo the Velcro on his tactical vest and the thunk of that falling to the floor as well.
We have a way out, was all I could focus on. We were going to get out. I had no idea how it was going to work, but we finally had a chance.
I let out a breath at the memory of that horrible day. Of those horrible times. Life is good now. It’s hard to breathe and remember that lifecanbe good, but we deserve to. We deserve these good things here in Freedom Valley.
I keep daydreaming about Ty as I work in the dirt. What would it be like to be with him? Be a family? Have dinners, hold hands, take trips together, ride his motorcycle with him, build a life together, kiss him anytime I wanted to… sleep with him in his bed. Have his baby. And never ever live in fear again. What would that be like? A dream, that’s for sure. I thought that life couldn’t get any better than this, but it somehow has.
“Momma, I’m hungry,” Kase interrupts my thoughts.
“Did you eat all of your snacks I packed?”
He nods. “When can we go home?”
“Let me finish up this row and we’ll pack up. Can you put your bike and toys away?”
He pushes his bike into the greenhouse as I wipe the dirt onto my jeans and tuck my gloves into the back pocket of my pants. I breathe in the lavender and thyme in the air.
“Let’s go home, buddy.” I tousle his hair as we walk to the bunkhouse.
Home.I like the sound of that.
14. ty
Waiting on you.
Shit.I’m in deep here. When she explained that her ex was a cop, I was careful with how I reacted, but it’s hard. I like her and her son, and for the first time since I’ve been on this assignment, I don’t feel alone, but I don’t want to lie to her.
I can’t jeopardize my assignment up here, but I also know that since she’s on the run and her ex is looking for her, there’s nowhere she’s safer than with me.
I pull out my laptop and search “missing woman and boy in Mississippi” and sadly, there are a lot of hits. I scan through all the images until I find them. There she is, with dark hair, smiling with Kase, a Christmas tree in the background. They both look so different now. They may be smiling in that photo, but to the trained eye, which I happen to have, the smiles are strained. Not the carefree smiles they have in Freedom Valley.
I read the story about them. Brianna and Jase Davidson. Missing for the past year. $10,000 reward. I search for her husband and find Bradley Davidson, a local police officer in their small town of Diamond, Mississippi.
Of course I can understand why she doesn’t trust cops. The problem is that when my mission’s over, she’s going to know what I am, and she’s not going to like it.
I didn’t think I’d consider staying in Freedom Valley after this assignment, but I find myself wondering daily now what it would be like. I need to figure out what I want to do: I can either sign another contract for the next three years or find a different job. With these assignments, I can’t settle down. Nobody wants to be with someone who might be gone for twelve to eighteen months at a time. I love my job, but I’m thirty-one, and I want a family of my own. Plus, now that I’ve spent time here, I can’t imagine myself anywhere other than Freedom Valley.
And the more I’m around Mellie and Kase, the harder I know it’s going to be to leave them. Now that I know the truth about why she’s here and what happened to them, how could I leave? I can’t take her with me when I go. She can’t go back to where her ex is—not even to the next state, just a few hours over.
She’s going to hate me when she finds out the truth. They all will. All I can do is hope that when I can finally come clean, she’ll understand.
I have to keep my head down, focus, and try not to mess anything up. I have my work cut out for me balancing all of this until it’s over.
I finish getting ready for work when I hear Mellie pull in and park. I walk outside and can’t help but smile as I round the ATV to unbuckle Caleb as she unbuckles Kase.
“Nova is hungry, guys. Can you feed her?”
Kase and Caleb jump down and call out, “Yes,” as they run toward the bunkhouse.
“Two scoops!” I call. Then I turn my attention to Mellie. “How was your day?” I ask as I pull her toward me, then lightly boop her nose.
“Did you just boop me?” She grins.
“Yep,” I say, but my eyes are fixed on her lips.
“You heading to work?” she asks, staring at my chest.
