Page 43 of Love on the Run

Callie waited for him to speak, and had just decided he wasn’t going to tell her after all when he took a deep breath and started.

“I joined the army when I was eighteen. It is beautiful here, but there’s not a lot of opportunities. I figured I’d get a chance to see the world, and maybe find out what it was I wanted to do with my life. My family raised horses, but I knew it wasn’t what I was cut out for.

“Anyway, I joined the Army, and eventually the Rangers. I saw a hell of a lot of the world, including some places I never want to see again. But I made some good friends, and I never really thought I’d come back here—not to live. I had land, and I always wanted to have a cabin. But I figured I had plenty of time for that.

“Then an opportunity came up for me to join the Marshals, and I took it.”

“I sawThe Fugitive.” Callie noted. “I assume it’s nothing like that.”

“Well, not exactly. Not exciting, but I liked police work. I was good at it. And I met this girl in DC, Natalie, and everything was going really smoothly. Life, career, everything.”

“This is where the bad part happens, isn’t it?” Callie asked softly.

“I used to think it was the bad part,” he said cryptically. “Natalie worked in my division—she was on the management side, and she was good at her job too. At least, she was promoted faster than anyone had been before her. Well, we were both in stable careers, living together, and I was pretty crazy about her. I thought she was the one.

“Then one day, an email comes through to the whole office. It was from Natalie. Except she didn’t mean to send it to everyone,” Jake gave a bitter laugh. “She hit the wrong button. She really only meant to send it to our boss.”

“What did it say?” Callie asked, afraid of the answer that was coming.

“It was a short account of the last time they slept together. Detailed, though. Really detailed.”

“Ohhh,” Callie winced. “That’s awful.”

“I quit the same day. I couldn’t deal with it. It was bad enough she’d cheated on me. But everyone in the department knew it too. Someone might as well have put up a billboard on the beltway.

“So I just up and left. I came back here. I was lucky to get a job with the county police. Everyone here knows each other, and my family isn’t too far away. Last year, the old sheriff retired, so they picked me to step in. The easiest ballot you ever saw—I was the only choice. I built the house in my spare time, and that’s it.”

Callie had no idea what to think. “But how could you say youusedto think that was bad, what happened to you? How could it be anything but bad?”

“Well, I was angry about it, sure. And embarrassed. But I figure now, after a few years’ distance, it was a blessing. At least I found out about her in time.” But not in time to not feel hurt.

“That’s a surprisingly healthy way to look at it.”

“Well, it’s taken a long while to get here,” he said, staring out at the view. “You’d hear something different if you’d asked me about it a couple of years ago.” He’d closed himself off after it happened, he thought to himself. He’d learned to not trust people. He wasn’t even sure why he’d told Callie about it, except because she had shared her own story with him.

A gentle touch on his hand surprised him. Without saying a word, Callie had simply taken his hand in her own. She squeezed it gently, but she was still looking out at the view. “I think I can see your house now,” she said in a neutral tone.

Jake felt an odd tightening in his chest. The woman sitting beside him somehow knew how to show her sympathy without swarming him with questions he wasn’t ready to answer. Was it her own experience that gave her insight? She had plenty of things in her recent past that were far worse than what happened to him.

Callie’s hand fit perfectly into his. She didn’t want to let go, but she feared drawing attention to it would only make things awkward. So she cast about for a safer subject. “This is probably the closest I have ever been to camping,” she said suddenly. “How pathetic is that? We went on a nature hike for a school trip once. The trail was paved just like a sidewalk.”

“Amazing you made it back to tell the tale,” he said solemnly.

Callie chanced a look at him. “I packed a granola bar,” she said, deadpan. “Not everyone was so lucky. Cook County massacre.”

His reaction was priceless, eyes wide from almost believing, then a slow smile turned her into a puddle. Only her training kept her from showing her own reaction to his expression.

“I can see why you like to act,” he said. “You almost had me there.”

I wish I was that close to having you, Callie thought, the idea searing through her.

“Do you want to head back?” he asked. “It’ll be time for dinner when we get home.”

Home. Callie nearly jumped at the word, but she covered by saying, “What you call dinner we calllunchin LA.”

“We do eat earlier out here.”

“I’m not saying I won’t be hungry.” Callie grinned as she started to get up. “Truth is, I’m always hungry.” She was still holding Jake’s hand, and he put out his other to steady her. When they were both standing again, there was a split second when they were simply facing each other, hands clasped. Callie got a sudden flash of memory; this was almost the same way they were when she had kissed him in her drug-addled state.

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