Page 57 of Stolen Goods
Thad left the cabin and went straight to the car, sparing a quick glance to make sure the tent was still closed and that Addison was still sleeping. He pulled his duffel out from underneath the seats and dug through its contents for everything his plan might require—his trusty pick, a slim bendable wire, a small razor blade masquerading as a key, and a few other miniature gadgets that easily fit in his pockets. Not his jean pockets, of course, but the hidden pockets he’d sewn into the lining ages ago. Then he took a deep breath of clean forest air, not sure he’d ever smell anything so fresh again, and readied himself for this final con.
When he crawled back into the tent, there was nothing he wanted more than to wake Addison with a gentle kiss to her shoulder and soothingly whispered words. But that time had long passed. In fact, it never should have come at all.
He shook her roughly awake and murmured, “Time to go.”
And then he left before he’d have to meet her confused gaze, worried that like always, she’d see the truth lurking in his eyes.
- 22 -
Addison
He was different. Cold. Quiet. He’d barely even looked at her since they got in the car, staring straight ahead at the road with his lips drawn in a thin line and his jaw muscles clenched. Normally, her mind would spin in circles, wondering what she’d done. But she knew this wasn’t about her. He was nothing more than a fraud to most of the world, but no one could’ve faked what had happened between them last night. Addy hadn’t done anything wrong. She hadn’t done anything to upset him. Thad was in his own head, and she knew why.
Emma.
She’d tried not to let herself ruminate over those two syllables she never should’ve overhead, but in the silence stretching between them, as vast as those canyons, Addy had no other distraction.
Who was she?
What did she look like?
Why did he need to see her so badly?
Emma.
It was one of those odd names that could fit almost any person and any time. Had her name been Patricia or Susan, she would’ve guessed it was his mother. If her name were Dorothy or Florence, maybe a grandmother. But Emma? It could be a child. It could be an ex-girlfriend. It could be a wife.
Wife?
Addy shook her head, staring out the window at the desert landscape stretching across the horizon, speckled with green shrubs and broken every so often by the sudden upshot of a jagged hill.
He’s not married.
He can’t be.
She peeked to the side. There was no ring on his finger, and he was her age. He couldn’t be married. He just couldn’t.
Well, why not? Plenty of people my age back home are married. They even have kids!
Her brows pushed together. She sat a little straighter.
…Kids.
Does he have a child?
Is Emma his…daughter?
It was the first guess that reverberated in her gut with a little ring of truth. A daughter. Which would explain the mix of love and anguish she kept seeing in his eyes. He’d no doubt been reckless in his youth…and his adulthood. With his looks and his attitude and his upbringing, it wouldn’t exactly be a huge surprise. Heck, Edie was the most responsible person Addy knew and she’d accidentally gotten pregnant. It wasn’t that unusual. With everything she’d learned over the past few days, Addy wouldn’t be surprised if Thad thought any baby of his was better off without him. Not a deadbeat dad so much as a determinedly absent one. Until now, when he was fleeing the country, meaning this was his last chance.
Addy turned, staring at him, seeing him not so much in a new light but a brighter one, one that made all the cracks that much deeper and darker and permanently engraved in his heart.
“Thad?” she asked softly.
But her tone came out too hesitant, too empathetic. He immediately shut down. “We’re almost to our exit. Can you read off the turns?”
She did.
The silence between each brief direction was stifling. He didn’t glance her way, not once the entire time, not until they pulled onto a little side street and eased to a stop outside a small one-story house. When the engine stopped running, he finally turned toward her. The ache in his eyes made her heart skip a painful beat in her chest.
