Page 58 of I'll Be There
“I’ll come by in the morning, Liza,” Mona said and gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. “I think you’re in safe hands now.”
Liza caught her hand, squeezed.
Then they were alone.
Conner sank down on the chair Mona had vacated.
“Grace had to text me. Not you.Grace.”
“Conner—it’s just...the hospital. And we have so many hospital memories...I didn’t want you to panic.”
“Oh, I panicked. Micah is right now getting a ticket for breaking land speed records.”
He got up, sat on the bed, touched her cheek. She had amazing eyes, the kind that could still the chaos inside, bring him home. “You don’t have to protect me, Liza. That’s my job, okay?”
She leaned her face into his hand. “No, that’s our job. I just didn’t want to get in the way of your...whatever you were doing with Micah. But yeah, I should have called you. I’m sorry.”
He leaned down, kissed her, his desire for her building so quickly—probably the aftermath of the swirl of panic and frustration—that he leaned away, took a breath, his heart thundering.
“Are you okay?”
He swallowed, nodded. Managed to find his voice. “I just can’t wait to marry you.”
She gave him a sad smile. “I’m so sorry, but this wedding is a disaster.”
“What?”
“And now I wrecked your bachelor party.”
“It wasn’t...oh shoot.” And then all of it simply rose inside him, the need to spill it out—finding Blue and nearly getting shot, the call to Blankenship, and the very real possibility that by this time tomorrow he’d have his brother’s killer.
“Liza, I gotta tell you something.” He blew out a breath. “I went to Fort William today to meet a woman.”
Her eyes widened. “What—”
“No, it’s not—”
“Is he in there?”
The voice, loud and abrasive against the quiet of the corridor, made Conner turn. He hit his feet when he saw a uniform enter the room. The officer, wide-shouldered enough to mean business, wore a deputy’s badge. “Conner Young?”
Micah came in behind him. “It’s not what you think.”
“I think this man is wanted in connection to a possible homicide.”
Conner froze. He glanced at Micah, back to the cop. And in that split second, his options both birthed and decayed before his eyes.
Run—let Micah back him up, and wait for Blankenship to show up, then turn himself in.
Surrender, maybe talk his way out of trouble. After all, how much proof could they have?
And then there was option three.
Liza. “Kyle, what are you doing? This is my fiancé. I promise you, he didn’t kill anyone.”
Well...
“Actually, Liza, the Canadian authorities have been trying to track him down,” Deputy Kyle said. “Someone was shot today at Fort William, and your fiancé was seen fleeing the scene.”
