Chapter 7 #3
“Yes. The only way these guys can help is if they know what they’re up against. I don’t want you to worry.
They have a second man, Colton, stationed outside my house to keep an eye on you and my family.
The codeword is ‘Atlas.’ If someone claims to be him, don’t go anywhere with them unless you hear that word. ”
Her heart began to pound as a wave of fear swept through her. Codewords, security teams… it sounded too dangerous. That itching need to pack up her life and disappear into the dark started to build in her bloodstream.
Kara’s head began to swim. It was all so real…
and unreal. Angelo was trying to help her.
There were people here to protect her, but what was she getting them into?
She’d never asked for this, even though she had desperately wanted it for as long as she could remember.
She couldn’t do this to them. It was too dangerous.
For her. For them. She should grab her bag. She should disappear.
Have to go… have to get out of here… have to hide…
“Kara…? Kara!” Angelo’s voice drowned out the rush of panicked thoughts and her rapid breathing. “Listen to me, Kara. Take a deep breath. Okay… now hold it… release. It’s okay, Kara. It’s going to be okay.”
She wanted to believe, him. God, she really did, but how could he know what he was getting himself into?
“O… okay…” Kara said, calming down. Angelo’s voice, even when full of worry, had the strangest ability to bring her peace like nothing else had.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She didn’t like the idea that even more people knew who she was.
The wider the circle, the easier it was for something to slip.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Angelo replied. “The guy who attacked me knows you’re at my home.
They could already have people watching you.
But they won’t make a move if you have got a security team watching the place.
Right now, where you are is the safest place you can be until we find a way to sort things out. ”
That made sense but didn’t exactly put her at ease. Her father’s men could be outside the building right now, watching.
“It’s going to be okay,” Angelo assured her again.
She truly hoped so.
“So… what’s your favorite color?” His sudden change of topic threw her off.
“What?”
“Your favorite color. We should probably get to know each other for real if we’re going to convince everyone we are engaged. We should have done this the first night, but I was a bit out of it. We really do need to get to know each other if we want to pull this off. So… favorite color?”
Kara glanced around the room. She didn’t have a favorite color. She’d spent so much of her life trying not to stand out, she’d lost herself somewhere along the way.
“Er… I don’t have one?”
“You must have to have a favorite color,” he insisted.
Her temper flared a little. “I don’t. I don’t have one, okay? I was raised to avoid patterns. Not to wear the same kind of clothing, or the same colors, or anything else that could be used to profile me. So, no, I don’t have a favorite color. ”
There was a painfully long beat of silence before Angelo spoke again.
“You never really had a childhood, did you?”
His realization struck her like a blow, even though she knew he didn’t mean for his words to land so hard.
Her throat felt like she swallowed glass. “Not really…”
“I’m so sorry.”
Kara realized how that must have sounded to him.
“Well, I mean I didn’t have a normal childhood.
No trips to Disney, no public school, no friends in the conventional sense.
But my mom did everything she could to let me have fun.
We visited a lot of the national parks, I’ve slept in a tent beneath a glowing Milky Way in a dark sky park and I’ve seen every silly roadside attraction like the world’s biggest yarn ball.
It’s just… when you asked about my favorite color I didn’t meant to snap at you, I’m sorry…
I guess I didn’t want to think about some of the things I have missed. ”
“It’s okay, Kara. You shouldn’t have to apologize for anything.” He paused a moment, then his voice held a note of brightness to it as he continued. “Let’s make up for lost time,” said Angelo.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s start by figuring out your favorite color.” He laughed. “It could be fun.”
“Okay, how do we do that?” She had to fight to keep a faint skepticism out of her voice.
“Just close your eyes… Now, think of the rainbow, then single out each color by itself. Lay them out in front of you. Which one draws you to it the most? Which one feels the most like you? Not the Kara that has to blend in and move from town to town. The Kara who is sitting in my bed, surrounded by my world, the Kara who is safe.”
She closed her eyes, let out a shaky breath, and then did as he asked.
A kaleidoscope of colors swirled around her.
She pulled one toward her at a time, examining it, seeing how it felt to her.
Blue like the sky? It’s pretty, but also cold.
Green like the forest? Not as inviting as she’d like it to be.
Red? No, anything but red. After a long moment, she took a deep breath and smiled.
“Gold.”
“Gold?” Angelo echoed curiously.
“Yes, like honey or sunshine or the light of a lamp when you read a good book.” Gold was warm, safe, beautiful.
Gold was the color of the glints in Angelo’s light brown eyes.
Gold was the color of the city that he’d spent his summers in, learning to cook with his grandmother. That gold was her favorite color.
“Gold it is then.”
“What about you?” she asked.
His chuckle was soft, intimate. “I love a lot of colors, tesoro mio.”
“No fair! You have to pick one,” she tried to sound indignant rather than wanting to laugh.
“Then blue.”
“What kind of blue?” she asked.
“The color of a summer sky, that deep, bright, intense blue,” he said. “The same color as your eyes.”
His favorite color was the same blue as her eyes? Why did that make her throat tighten? She tried to contain a torrent of new feelings and drew in a breath, trying not to let him hear how much that single statement had affected her.
She tried to think of something clever to say, but only came up with, “You are such a flirt,” spoken in a prim tone, but her Italian God only chuckled again.
Angelo chuckled again. “I can’t help it, it’s in my blood. But know this, Kara, I’m a one-woman kind of man. I’ll flirt with you the rest of my life if you let me.”
“Is that you or the morphine talking?” she quipped and he only laughed louder.
“Probably both,” he admitted.
Something pinched her heart when she thought of Angelo in her life for the rest of her life. That wasn’t possible, but she didn’t have the heart to shatter the illusion just yet. Maybe… she could indulge herself in that fantasy for just a little while? What harm could it do?
“What do you like to do for fun?” Angelo asked. “Do you have any hobbies?”
Again, it was such an innocent question, but it stung her because she had no answers. How could she indulge in a hobby when all she could do was work, eat, sleep… and run.
“You go first.” If she could get him talking about something else, he would forget to ask her about her own hobbies.
“I like to cook.”
“That’s obvious,” she laughed. “I’m reading one of the cookbooks on your nightstand right now. You have to get excited about something other than cooking.”
“I get excited about you,” his husky reply had her face flaming with heat and yet she laughed too.
“You are a flirt,” she said.
“You said you were reading one of the cookbooks? Which one?” She heard the creak of the hospital bed in the background. She could picture him lounging back on the multitude of pillows the nurses had tucked behind his back when she’d last seen him.
She flipped the book to check the cover. “It’s the one with the classic American recipes. This corn casserole sounds good. You put a note about using saltines rather than torn up bread, why?”
“Crackers make casserole a little looser, more like a soufflé. It’s more of a personal preference, really.”
“So, cooking and what else?” She couldn’t deny she was curious about him.
“Um… travel. I love to travel. I’ve been to restaurants in a number of different countries. You can read all the history books yor travel guides ou want about a place, but if you really want to understand it? Learn how they cook. Travel and cooking are my two big interests.”
She considered that. “I think I’d like to travel overseas… I’ve just never had the ability to get a passport. But I have traveled around the United States a bit. I try to pick a new place that interests me each time I move. But I would love to visit Europe.”
“I’d love to take you to Ortigia,” he said. “Show you where I grew up during the summers.”
For a moment she let herself pretend that might actually happen. “That would be nice.”
“Okay, how about something you haven’t done but want to?”
Angelo’s question made her think of so many things… and right now far too many of them involved him naked and a bed. She tried to keep her responses appropriate.
“I’d really like to learn how to swim. I never really got the chance.”
“I was on the swim team in high school. I could teach you,” he volunteered. “It would be fun.”
“Oh yeah?” She knew that wouldn’t happen. It was the end of December, and she would be long gone by then, but it was fun to pretend.
“Sure! My friend Thad owns a really nice hotel. It has a penthouse with its own private heated pool. I know he’d let us borrow it. I would love to teach you. Everyone should get the chance to learn how to swim.”
“That might be fun.” She couldn’t believe she was agreeing, but right now it was impossible to tell Angelo no. And she’d have to stay for a few weeks, anyway. Maybe it might actually be possible? She couldn’t deny the idea was exciting.
“Are you interested in cooking?” he asked.