Page 107 of The Woman with the Target on her Back (Grassi Family)

It was a silent, but tense, next few hours as Traveler refused treatment, and all four of us sat in the waiting room as Traveler’s old man and her two uncles got worked on.

The sun came up, and Milo headed out, grabbing us some decent coffee, and updating the crew back in Navesink Bank.

By the time he came back, Traveler was at work trying to convince her father out of signing himself out.

Don’s wife had arrived, but had gone up to the surgery floor to wait for him.

Chuck was on his own, walking out toward us with a sling on his arm to keep him from moving his arm too much, where he’d been hit.

“Should I go sit up to wait for Don?” he asked, directing the question to James who had ignored his daughter’s valid concerns.

“Let’s not make shit more complicated right now,” James suggested. “We…allneed to talk,” he added, glancing toward us. “Then we can come back and talk to her.”

“Your place?” Chuck asked.

“Dad, this is—“

“Yes,” James cut her off. “My place.”

We all walked out of the hospital a few minutes later, Chuck and James moving toward Chuck’s car, with the rest of us heading toward ours.

“Okay,” I said as Aurelio and Milo dipped into the car, closing their doors, giving us a little privacy. “Come here,” I said, opening my arms, and waiting for her to walk into them.

She did, all the tension leaving her body in a wave. She melted into me, her good arm wrapping me up. The bad one was limp at her side, and I was careful not to touch it.

I was going to make her let me clean the wound at least when we got to her old man’s house.

“You okay?”

“No,” she answered honestly. “But I need to be. Until this conversation is over,” she said.

“Can I suggest something, and have you actually give it some thought?” I asked, hearing the hope and fear in my voice.

“Okay…”

“After this is over today, can I convince you to come back to Navesink Bank with me?” I asked. “For a couple days. To recoup while your old man finishes up whatever is going on here.”

I expected her to say no, hence the fear in my voice.

But she shocked the shit out of me by quickly saying, “Yes.”

The way my heart felt like it swelled up when she said that? Yeah, I was pretty sure that was proof that things were not and never had been casual with us.

It felt like this might have been something pretty fucking similar to love.

Half an hour later, we were pulling back up to her old man’s house, finding all the lights on, and her father waiting for us at the door.

Aurelio and Milo hung back in the car.

This wasn’t about them.

They could catch some sleep or call back home to fill in our families.

It didn’t escape me that James reengaged the security system once we were inside.

Clearly, this wasn’t fully done, even if the queenpin and her consort were dead.

All the more reason to get Traveler out of Dodge for a while.

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