Page 70 of One More Secret

He points to the cellar walls, referring to the war outside them.

“As soon as you return home, you should ask her out. And treat her like she is the most important woman in the world.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

I return to the farmhouse. Jacques is reading at the kitchen table. “Is he ready?” He keeps his voice low, and there’s an emotion on his face I cannot decipher.

“As ready as he will ever be. I don’t think anyone is truly ready for what he’ll have to endure.”

“Have you made the trip over the mountains?”

I sit at the table. “No, but I’ve heard of what it will entail. It won’t be easy.”

Jacques nods and resumes reading. Then looks up again. “Will you be gone long tomorrow?”

“No. I’ll be back before supper.” Assuming nothing goes wrong. A million things could go awry. Most of them I don’t want to think about.

“But you will be returning here,oui?” Hope shifts onto his lips. The movement is small, but it’s noticeable and heartwarming. And dangerous.

“You’ve become like a daughter to me.” His warm gruff voice yanks on something deep in my chest. The man who was prickly when I first arrived on his doorstep appears at a loss for what to say next.

“And you’ve become like a father to me.” My voice is a cracked whisper.

“Take care tomorrow.” Jacques’s troubled gaze peers at me beneath thick, grey eyebrows. “Don’t let them take you like they’ve taken everything else from me.”

27

TROY

March, Present Day

Maple Ridge

The passenger doorof my truck bangs shut, and I wait for Jess to enter her house. The lights click on inside the front entrance, and I wonder if I should have ensured that the house was secure before she went inside.

Would she even want me to do that? Especially after what just happened. I have no idea why she overreacted when she found out about my original plans to flip Iris’s home. Jess bought the house. And I have no intention of trying to convince her to sell it to me…now.

The Marine in me says I can’t drive away without checking the place. Just to be sure her demons haven’t followed her to Maple Ridge.

I kill the engine. “I’ll be right back,” I tell Butterscotch. I climb out of my truck, jog to Jess’s front door, and ring the doorbell.

The door opens, revealing the frown on Jess’s face. “Yes?” Her voice is as wary as her expression, her tone a long sigh.

“Do you want me to check that your house is secure?”

My question is met with a nearly blank expression and an unspokenHuh?

“I know something happened to you and left you skittish. As much as you want to deny it. But if you’re in danger, I should check no one broke in while you were gone for the day. If there’s anyone trained to do that, it would be me.”

Her face pales, and I silently curse myself for how I put it.

“No one has broken in,” Jess says. “And no one is hiding in the house.”

“How do you know?” If someone doesn’t want her to know they’re in the house, they would’ve hidden all signs that could indicate they were inside.

“I set up traps whenever I leave. If someone breaks in, they’ll disturb the traps, and I’ll be alerted to the danger when I return. But I can’t imagine why anyone would want to try to break in. I don’t have anything of value.”

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