Page 23 of Love on the Run

“I’m a simple girl,” Callie said, picking up the sandwich, which was just the right kind of greasy.

“Yeah, right,” he muttered, taking a swig of coffee.“Then why can’t I figure you out?”

“Why do you need to figure me out?” she asked, after the first ridiculously satisfying bite of sandwich.

“I suppose I don’t have to,” Jake reached for a French fry.“I just want to.”

Callie’s eyes widened slightly, but she chose to focus on her grilled cheese rather than answer him.It was a great sandwich, but not good enough to distract her from thinking about what it meant that he wanted to figure her out.Probably just that he wanted to know why she stole a car and drove a thousand miles into nowhere with it. She wondered that herself. It wasn’t like her. Of course, there was nothing like almost being killed to get you out of your routine. She was a little shocked at how cavalierly she was thinking about the whole situation back in LA, the murder… But that was probably just because it seemed like it happened in another life. Not here, in an old diner with a cop who seemed like the modern version of a rugged Western lawman, all honor and duty and other outdated notions.Callie tried to put it out of her mind. She glanced at him under her lashes, and was annoyed to catch him looking back at her.

“Food okay?” he asked, smiling a little.

“Fantastic.” Callie hoped he couldn’t tell what she was really thinking about.

“What did the Doc tell you?”

“I should take it easy for the next day or two, keep checking my temp, and keep taking the antibiotics till they’re gone.”

“Good advice,” he nodded.

“I take it all the resting up will be done under your police supervision?” she asked sarcastically.

“Unless you want me to take you to Missoula. There’s a Greyhound station there. You can get a ride to the airport, or wherever. Back to LA, if you want.”

Callie stopped eating to stare at him.“Really?”

“It’s your choice, Callie.”

“It is?”

“Look, it’s not like I kidnapped you or anything.” Jake frowned at her over his coffee.

“Not technically, although I seem to remember something about how ‘I wasn’t going anywhere unless I walked’,” she said, hoping to cover her emotions with humor.

“That wasn’t a threat, it was a statement of fact.”He smiled at her, not helping her confusion. He had a warm, slow smile that could melt her if she let it.

Susan swept up to the table then, refilling Jake’s coffee.“How’s the food, dears?”

“Amazing,” said Callie, glad of the distraction. “Honestly, you really know how to do a grilled cheese.”

“Why, thank you, hon,” Susan actually preened at the praise in Callie’s tone. “You know,” she said then, looking at Callie speculatively.“You look familiar.You haven’t been here before?”

“Nope. Not even in the state.”

“I could swear I’ve seen your face,” Susan said, and continued to examine her.

Callie shot a look at Jake and saw that he was trying to hide his smile. They both realized that Susan must have seen Callie on a daytime show.But Callie, for some reason, didn’t want to explain that she was an actor.Easier to just be mysterious for now, she thought.

“Guess I just have one of those faces,” she said to Susan.

“Hmm.Well, you need anything else, hon? Coffee? Ice cream?”

“Not this time, thanks.”Of course, she didn’t know if there would be another time.Jake had offered to let her leave, to take her to where she could go anywhere she wanted.But she didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

Jake continued to nurse his coffee after Susan left.He could see she was thinking hard, but he didn’t know what decision she would make. He felt obligated to offer her the chance to go. He had no right to keep her, after all.Short of arresting her for stealing the car, which he had no intention of doing, he had no legal reason to make her stay.Just a sense of obligation, a moral duty to help her because, damn it, she obviously needed help. If only she would admit it.

He got up and headed over to the register to pay the bill. Callie started to make a fuss, but he cut her off exactly one word in. “No way. Don’t even start.You’re not paying for anything. Not even that sandwich.”

Callie arched her eyebrow. “Montana manners?”

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