Chapter 4
LANDON
It took Landon a moment or two to wrap his head around the tidbit of information that he”d just been handed.
”Alexander Rogers is your grandfather.”
She didn”t make a noise.
She just sat there, looking at him as if she was waiting for him to catch up to her.
”Alexander...” He shook his head, trying to focus his thoughts. ”H-how?”
”How?” He heard a little hint of humor in her voice and looked over at her, hoping to make sense of it. ”Well,” she shrugged, ”when the man”s sperm meets the woman”s egg-”
”I meant... How did you find out?”
”It wasn”t all that long ago.” Her eyes moved to the large clock on the wall of the kitchen, and Landon wondered if she had to be somewhere.
Or if she was expecting someone.
One bothered him more than the other.
Not that he had a reason to be upset.
Well, beyond his protective feelings toward Willa.
”I got in a little bit of trouble.”
That got Landon”s attention, but she continued on, looking down at her hands. It was a nervous gesture that he made a note of in his head.
”I was in the area where one of our... predators lived, so instead of sending the packet in the mail, I thought I could just drop it off.”
Something clenched in his chest, imagining what had happened.
”There was a car in the driveway. A minivan. So I thought that meant that his wife was home.”
Landon saw the tension that hardened her jaw, but he waited for her to continue.
”I went up to the door and I stood there for a minute or two trying to figure out the best way to leave the information. I knew there were kids. A discarded toy or two in the yard was enough to give me a hint. And I probably should have made the decision faster, but I didn”t. The door opened up and I was looking at the man that I”d been talking to online.”
Landon swallowed hard and managed to keep his hands from fisting in his lap. ”Did he touch you?”
She paused for a moment, her cheeks warming and turning a rosy pink. ”No.” Willa shook her head. ”No.” Her voice was stronger the second time.
Nodding, he waited for the rest of the story.
”His wife came to the door after him and before I could walk away, she reached out and snatched the envelope from my hand.”
She rolled her eyes and sagged back into her chair.
”And before you tell me it was stupid, believe me, I know that. I”ve gone over and over all the things that could have happened. And that”s on top of the things that the deputies said-”
”Deputies?” Landon felt a pinch of pain at his temples. ”Why were the deputies called?”
Willa looked off to the side and chewed on the corner of her lip.
”Willa, please.”
He saw the flare of defiance in her eyes, but it faded away a moment later.
”She opened the envelope and before I could even take a step off of the porch, she pushed him and he fell into me and the two of us hit the grass.
”She got on the phone, I guess. I didn”t hear what she was yelling when I was trying to get untangled from... that man. By the time I had myself together again, there was a deputy holding out a bottle of water in my direction. One of the deputies was nice. Another one must have decided that I was a horrible, crazy person and looked at me as if he wanted to scrape me off of his shoe. I guess it didn”t make things better that the woman was yelling at the top of her lungs that she wanted her husband to go to jail!”
Landon sighed. ”They didn”t though, did they?”
She shook her head. ”No, but they almost took her in for domestic violence.”
Landon sucked in a breath through his teeth. ”And the... your grandfather?”
”Well, it seems like he”s been looking for me for quite some time. My mom... my mother...”
She looked a little uncomfortable trying to talk about her mother. There had to be a story there, but he wasn”t about to pry at the moment.
”My mother was his daughter, but her mother wasn”t his wife.”
Landon felt some of her discomfort there. In the Cooper family, they knew their ancestors until the beginning of recorded time. Having family pop up out of nowhere had to be disconcerting.
”He had my name. My social security number. All kinds of information, but since I turned eighteen, I”ve done everything I could to keep my location... quiet. Not exactly a secret, but just trying to keep myself out of the public eye. For a while after what happened to Kimmy, people recognized me on the street. It didn”t help that I had a bandage around my neck for what felt like forever.”
”People remember the worst stories. And the news tends to grab onto... uh-”
”What”s that they say?” She grimaced a little. ”If it bleeds, it leads?”
He nodded and watched her hands flex and fist. He guessed that she was trying to keep her hands from her throat. Instead of talking about it, he tried to keep the conversation going. ”So when they were writing up the report on the event, that”s when your social popped up on the system.”
She smiled at him and her hands relaxed into her lap. Landon felt a little off-kilter at the way her face lit up.
”Crazy, right?” Willa sighed. ”If I”d just sent it in the mail, then I wouldn”t have my ”grandfather” breathing down my neck.”
He heard the difference in her voice as she talked about the district attorney. ”You two don”t get along?”
”Get along?” She shook her head. ”We”d have to spend time together to see. The only time we”ve had together so far was more of a set of interrogations. That day, they had me sitting in an interrogation room. I had no idea why exactly.
”I knew that I”d caused trouble in that family, but I wasn”t exactly upset about that.”
He nodded. ”No. I don”t think you would be.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. ”What?”
”Are you sure he”s the guy messaging underage girls?”
She hesitated for a moment. ”Well, he thinks they”re underage and seems to prefer them that way.”
”Then I don”t see why you”d be upset that he”s been found out. I would think that you didn”t like the way it all came out.”
She nodded, but her gaze dropped down toward the floor.
As Willa wiggled her toes, he looked at the soft peach color of her nails.
”I was more concerned about the kids in the family. I didn”t want to blow up their world like that.”
Landon heard the worry and compassion in her voice. ”You want me to find out how the kids are doing?”
Her head snapped up and the look of hope in her eyes floored him. ”Would you? I mean, that”s not going to get you in trouble, would it?”
He shook his head. ”I can make some discreet inquiries. It”s not my case, but since you and I are going to be working together, if someone asks, I can say that it”s part of the task force. Because it is.”
“Wait, we’re working together?”
Landon paused for a moment before answering. “I didn’t mention that?”
She shook her head. “I think I would have remembered that.”
“I guess I got sidelined with… everything.”
“I guess so. Then again, I think I was expecting my grandfather to strong arm me in some way since he couldn’t get me to stop what I was doing. It’s probably a good thing that it’s you and not someone who doesn’t know what happened to me. I’d hate to have to explain it and go through the usual silence in reaction, or worse, the pitying looks.”
Willa arched her back, stretching against her chair. When she relaxed again, she had a real smile on her face. ”So, if you can find out the information that would be wonderful. Really. I just want to make sure the kids are okay.”
The relief he heard in her voice hit him like a ton of bricks.
It wasn”t that he was learning something brand new about her. Willa cared about people.
She wouldn”t do what she did it she didn”t care.
Hell, she wouldn”t have nearly died trying to save her friend.
But sitting there in her living room, seeing her healthy and... happy? was doing something to him.
Something he hadn”t felt in...
Something that he hadn”t felt... ever.
”So,” she changed her position on the chair, her legs dangling over the edge, ”this task force.”
”Yeah?”
”What does it involve?”
Landon put his cowboy hat on his left thigh and lifting his right hand up to ruffle his hair.
It might sound crazy, especially to him, but his hat always left a pretty distinct ridge around his head, making his hair look weird sometimes.
He wasn”t really vain, that wasn”t his thing, but he did like to look presentable. It was also different with Willa.
He wanted to look good. Not just professional. He wanted her to work with him, but he also wanted her to be around him.
For years he”d wondered about her but kept himself far away, not wanting to bring up all the bad memories that he”d become a part of years ago.
Eight years.
”Ranger Cooper?”
His thoughts ground to a halt at the sound of his name.
Well, not really his name.
”Sorry.” He shook his head. ”I was thinking.”
She nodded. ”It looked like you were deep in thought. I hope this isn”t going to be a problem.”
”This?”
”This,” she lifted a hand and gestured between the two of them, ”working together. I don”t want you to... to do this if it”s going to be difficult or uncomfortable.”
Landon was stunned.
”You”re worried it would be uncomfortable for me?”
Her lips pursed together and her toes dragged along the hardwood floor. ”I was kind of a jerk to you after you saved my life. You... you didn”t deserve the hate I threw in your direction.”
Landon resisted the urge to cover his heart with his hand. Inside of his chest, he ached for the young girl who”d lost so much on the day that they”d met. ”I didn”t take it personally.” He blew out a breath. ”After...”
Willa smiled and again he felt his whole mood shift along with her expressions. ”I thought about going to see you, but after I thought it over, I thought it would seem weird. I didn”t think you”d want me to bring up the past...”
Her face paled a little and he watched as her throat worked as she swallowed. ”Actually. It was me.” Her eyes watered. ”I didn”t think I could face you again.”
Her admission took the air out of his lungs.
”Do you think you can work with me? For the taskforce? Is this,” he drew in a breath, moving his hand between them in what he hoped looked like a casual gesture, ”going to be okay?”
Her smile eased his worries.
”I know this might sound crazy, but no. I don”t feel weird about this.”
Her phone rang and she turned her head toward the desk. Frowning a bit, she held up her index finger. ”One second. I need to get this.”
She swiped her finger over the phone screen. ”Gus? You okay?”
Landon could easily hear the younger man”s voice come through the speaker. ”Yeah. I”m cool. Almost home actually. But, I wanted to check and see if you told that guy about the creeper.”
He watched as Willa fumbled for the phone, almost knocking it off of the table.
She managed to pick it up and turn off the speaker setting before she held it up to her ear. ”I”ll talk to you later, Gus. Bye.” When she set the phone down again, she didn”t immediately turn to look at him.
Landon gave her the better part of a minute before he spoke. ”Creeper?”
Willa turned and put her back to the desk, blocking the phone from his view. ”Gus is a blabbermouth.”
”Gus,” he almost hated to admit it, ”is a good guy for worrying about you. So tell me about this creeper.”
With a sigh, her chin dropped down toward her chest and she began to talk.
WILLA
She really couldn”t blame Gus for saying anything. He”d done it over the phone and he probably hadn”t expected her to put it on speaker. Or maybe he thought Landon had left. Either way she couldn”t really blame him for the uncomfortable conversation that she”d had with Landon.
Ranger Cooper.
Smiling at the thought, Willa had to admit that quite a lot of time and life had gone under the bridge since the last time she”d seen him.
Back then, he”d been a Sheriff”s deputy and wearing the dark uniform that came with it. Now he got to wear the cowboy styled clothing of a Texas Ranger. It made a difference. So did the beard.
Stepping into the shower, the hot water made her wince a little as she reached for the soap and her long scrub towel that she”d picked up at Hung Phong Market. She worked up a lather on the long strip of towel as she continued to think over their final conversation.
She”d seen the stoic concentration on his face and she had a feeling that his beard had camouflaged the muscle in his cheek that hardened when he was upset. It was something she”d concentrated on when he found her outside the motel room.
She could see the muscle flexing and tensing under his suntanned skin back then.
At first, she”d thought that he was angry with her. A sign of his temper flaring. She didn”t think he was doing it on purpose back then, she just knew he was upset. She heard it in his voice. She”d seen it in his eyes.
And she”d fed off of that upset.
She”d used it as a focus for her eyes and her spirit.
If he could get angry, she could use that energy to hold herself together.
Scrubbing the back of her neck, she sighed.
It was weeks, no, months, before she could admit to herself that she”d needed that small display of anger to keep herself alive. If he”d shown her gentle or worried or sad, she probably would have lost her hold on life.
And it had taken months for her to come to that feeling because before then, she”d been angry about something different.
Surviving.
It was a knee-jerk reaction to hold on, gritting her teeth and holding it together.
She didn”t want to die.
She didn”t want to slip away.
But everything had changed when the reality of her world settled in.
Kimmy was gone.
Her parents were confused, unable to understand how to talk to her. They worried about her recovery. Worried about her moods. When she was released from the hospital, they barely talked to her, hardly looked at her. They didn”t even meet her eyes. And that didn”t make things better. They became ghosts in the house. Or maybe she had become a ghost.
Either way it made ”home” a place she hated to be.
She moved out, sleeping in shelters, pretending to be older than she was.
People didn”t question her. A few people gave her looks that said they might have recognized her. Others just left her alone. They”d all had their share of struggles and trouble and Willa fit right in.
That was the start of the fierce hold she kept on her privacy.
She made her way forward, sometimes on her two feet.
Sometimes on her hands and knees.
But she moved forward.
That”s why it irritated her so much to tell Landon about her troubles.
She knew that he was the kind of person that wanted to fix things for others. It was likely what had driven him to becoming a deputy and now, a Texas Ranger. He”d want to fix the problem for her.
And once he”d heard about the man who”d come knocking in the middle of the night, he was on edge.
Her reassurance that he hadn”t gotten through any of her doors or windows didn”t seem to have a calming effect on him. He”d asked for the date of the incident and when she”d given it to him, he”d made a note in his phone to check the report.
It was just a mess as far as she was concerned.
It felt like she”d gone from someone who was going to be working with him to someone who needed to be protected by him.
Even when she”d pulled up the report on her own and pressed it into his hands, he”d been a little... reserved in his reaction.
The whole conversation had given her a headache and when she”d explained that she wanted to go and lie down, he actually offered to take her to a hotel!
Willa leaned her head back to wet her hair, letting the heated water crash over her head and drown out the world.
It didn”t drown out Landon”s voice.
She heard it inside her head as if he was still standing before her in the living room.
”At least until I can have someone come and change out your locks.”
”My locks are going to be changed. And,” she”d given him a knowing look, ”Gus is going to install security cameras and that Ring thing at my door.”
Exasperated. That was the look that had settled on Landon”s face.
”You don”t have cameras?” He was exasperated with her. ”You identify and track down sexual predators and you don”t have security cameras?”
It was only when he started glaring at the screen of his phone that she leaned in and looked over his arm to see what he was doing.
Booking a hotel room!
”That better be for you,” she”d growled at him, ”because I”m not leaving my house.”
”This isn”t up for a discussion, Willa.”
Willa lifted her hands and worked some of her shampoo into her hair, smiling at her own sassy reply.
”You”re right. It”s not. Because the creeper, as Gus calls him, happened weeks ago. Nothing like that has happened recently and I”m not an idiot. I can handle this for one more night, Ranger Cooper. Unless you”re thinking that I can”t and then I”m pretty sure that you and I can”t work together.”
That got the message home. Or at least it got him to stop booking the room.
”I know... I”m pretty sure I sound like a big jerk right now.”
She”d given him a slightly wry look, but didn”t make a comment.
”I just want you to know that I take your safety seriously. Hearing that you”ve had someone trying to break into your house,” his lips pressed together and became a pale, thin line against the darker hair of his beard, ”makes me... angry.”
She”d touched his arm with her hand and it had shocked them both.
No, not like static electricity.
She”d stunned herself.
She rarely touched people who she barely knew. It had taken her over a year to get comfortable enough with Gus to touch his shoulder without yanking her hand away in shock.
But there she”d stood, with her hand on Landon”s arm.
Thank goodness that he had his long sleeved shirt on and not a t-shirt, or a polo shirt. Touching his skin would have been, or rather it could have been a complete disaster.
Turning around in the shower, she bent forward to let the water rinse her hair clean and she grit her teeth as the water started to cool.
How long has she been in the shower?
No, she told herself. How long did I stand there, holding his arm, not saying a word?
And how long would he have let her do it if she hadn”t taken a step away from him and moved toward the front door?
But somehow, he”d left and she”d been able to take in a full, complete breath as soon as the last lock had clicked in place.
Willa scrubbed at her hair with her fingers, furiously trying to rinse it clean so she could get out of the cold.
She”d toweled off as if there was a foot of snow outside her window, going as fast as she could. When she”d finally pulled on her night shirt and a pair of boxer briefs, any thoughts of dinner had soured, and she was eager to get into bed and try to put all the strangeness behind her.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, she knew, was likely to be more of the same when she was scheduled to meet with the rest of the taskforce at Landon”s office.
It was hard to imagine what life was going to be like once a whole group of law enforcement officers were hovering over her and making sure that she wasn”t going to make a mistake and ruin their cases. That was how her grandfather saw her work.
He”d come out and said it to her face. ”So there aren”t any misunderstandings, dear.”
”Ugh.” She pulled back her blanket from the bed and slipped in with a sigh.
Willa knew she needed to recharge her batteries. She needed to be well rested for the taskforce meeting. She knew what she was doing and she knew she had to prove it. That was a lot of weight on her shoulders.
And maybe it was that weight that helped her slip off to sleep moments later.