Chapter 16
Blaine couldn’t stop himself from closing his eyes and letting out a rather harsh sigh of relief.
Yesterday.
Ethan had been gone a week, but as of just yesterday he was alive and clearly well enough to make this apparently regular stop. Meaning he was also still in the area; he hadn’t taken off for some gang-infested big city.
Belatedly he tuned back into what Rafe was saying.
“—owner said he’s worried that they were scoping out the place.”
“Ethan would never…”
Erin’s voice trailed away, making Blaine look at her again. He had no trouble reading her expression, but then he’d always been fairly decent at it. Except when it had counted most, apparently.
He didn’t have to ask what had stopped her declaration. She could no longer say with certainty what Ethan would or wouldn’t do. He’d be willing to bet that a week ago she would have said he’d never fall in with the kind of troublemakers these other kids seemed to be.
“That wasn’t the point,” Rafe said gently. “The point is, he has surveillance cameras.”
Blaine’s head came up sharply. “He does? Did they get Ethan? Can we see the—”
He stopped when Rafe held up a hand. “I already have. It’s a little short on clarity, but he let me send a copy to St. Louis. Ty’s working on it now.”
Blaine blinked. “He just handed it over?”
Rafe gave him that satisfied smile again. “He never hesitated, once I told him who I work for. He’s heard of Foxworth. The branch here helped somebody he knows. Besides—” Rafe leaned down to scratch the dog’s ears “—he liked Cutter. We should have a cleaned up copy at the office soon.”
Erin had been silent since the mention of the hamster, but now she asked, “Is your office close by?”
“It’s just a few blocks from the mission,” Blaine said, knowing that to any local that pretty much pinpointed the neighborhood. Belatedly he realized why she’d asked. “Planning on joining us?”
“Planning on keeping me from it?”
There was no denying the snap in her voice, but then, his own had been a little sharp, too. Enough that Cutter let out a low sound, not a growl, but not quite a whine, either. He felt the craziest urge to apologize to the dog for upsetting him.
Erin, on the other hand…
But when she spoke again her tone had shifted completely. “I’m sorry. Again. If I try harder, can we set this aside until Ethan is home safe?”
He wanted to tell her that was up to her, since she was the one doing most of the sniping, but he didn’t. All he said was, “Fine. Truce.”
Cutter moved again, and he glanced down to see the dog looking from him to Erin and back again almost assessingly.
“You two,” Rafe said sounding more amused than anything, “remind me of a couple of other people.”
Blaine wondered if he meant himself and the woman he’d been so estranged from. He wasn’t sure how that would make him feel, given where they seemed to be today, all healed and moving forward.
He couldn’t even imagine that happening with Erin. Not after what she’d done. Not after she’d thrown away nearly thirty years of being together, from childhood right up until the day she’d walked out without an apparent second thought.
Not even if he still wanted her more than he’d ever wanted a woman in his life.
She opted to follow them to the Foxworth headquarters, and although he thought it, he said nothing about her needing to be back at the house in light of the newly declared truce.
But he watched her walk toward where her car was parked fifty feet or so down the street.
Watched the way she moved, watched that sweet backside and the long-legged stride.
And again that memory of those legs wrapped around him nearly swamped him.
Sex with Erin had been like no other, not that he’d sampled much.
Only a couple of times before they’d faced the fact that they were meant to be, and only once since she’d walked out on him.
And if he was honest, he’d admit that last time had been as much to see if he could still function as anything else.
Erin had treated him as if he were made of fragile glass after he’d been hurt, backing away from anything sexual.
At least he’d thought it was because of his injuries, then.
Now he knew better. She’d even then decided she was going to leave, and only stayed as long as she did because she’d felt she had to.
His gut was starting to churn again, as it had so many times since he’d arrived here. He felt a nudge at his left knee and looked down to find Cutter staring up at him. Wondering if that soothing knack the dog had would work for this, too, he reached down to stroke the dark head.
It worked.
The calming ripple went through him, and he could feel himself settle. He shot a glance at Rafe, who shrugged.
“We call it the Cutter Effect. I can’t explain it, but I’ve been glad of it many times,” the tough veteran said with a crooked smile at both Blaine and Cutter. “But we’d better get going. She can’t follow us if we’re not moving.”
On the short drive she kept a safe distance, but as they turned onto the side street a block away from the main road she was the only other vehicle moving. She slowly pulled into the long driveway after them. Rafe waved her past the gate, then to a spot beside them on the wider part of the drive.
Blaine got out, then turned to look at the older-model sedan as she maneuvered into the spot Rafe had indicated.
“That thing sounds like crap,” he muttered.
“I noticed,” Rafe said as he got out and opened the back for Cutter to exit.
Then he walked toward the other car, motioning to Erin to roll down the window.
Blaine couldn’t hear what he said over the noise, but when she pulled in beside the Foxworth SUV, she left the car running.
Rafe walked around and lifted the hood, and the clatter got louder. Blaine walked over to look himself.
“Fan belt,” he said.
Rafe nodded. “Plugs, too. And it sounds like the timing’s off.” He pulled out from under the hood and looked at Erin, who was looking worried. “How long has it been sounding like this?”
“A couple of weeks, maybe a month.”
“Okay. Probably hasn’t built up too much carbon yet.” He went back under the hood.
Blaine kept looking at Erin. “When did you have it serviced last?”
“I…it’s been a while.”
It wasn’t like Erin to let things pass like that. He studied her for a moment. Then deciding that he couldn’t make their relationship, such as it was, much worse, he went ahead. “Why?” When she didn’t answer and looked away, he had the answer. “What’d you spend money on instead?”
Her gaze shot back to his face, and this time stayed.
Sometimes he almost forgot just how sky blue her eyes were.
He could almost see her reading his suspicions.
Could she blame him? He already sent her as much as he could, and more often than not did without so she could have more, to see to their son. She shouldn’t have—
“The new edition of Ethan’s game. They’re expensive.” Her expression shifted then, to something less worried and more defensive. “Yes, I bought him the game that got him into this trouble. So it’s all my fault. Happy now?”
“I’ll be happy when he’s home safe,” he said, a little sharply.
He heard a faint sound and looked down to see Cutter had stepped in between them again. The dog was looking up, from one of them to the other, with those dark, knowing eyes.
“Rafe said he’s sort of a peacekeeper, among a ton of other things,” he said.
“And it seems we need one,” she responded. “Or at least, I do.”
Blaine was startled by how sad she sounded.
Cutter seemed to hear it, too, because he moved to nudge at her hand with his nose.
Automatically she moved her fingers to stroke his dark head, while Blaine watched her face, curious.
There was no mistaking the change when it came.
Her expression went from tension and sadness to, if not happiness, at least calmness.
And then, as he looked, it changed to nothing short of amazement.
And she turned her head to meet his gaze.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” he asked.
She nodded, and looked back at the dog, shaking her head in wonder. It was a shared moment like those they’d always had before. A moment in the life he wished they could go back to.
Rafe dropped the car’s hood, startling him out of the useless reverie. Blaine looked over just as he started toward them.
“I’ll deal with the car later. Let’s get to that video.”
And that quickly Blaine was back in the present, dealing with a potentially disastrous situation that would blow up the present as thoroughly as Erin had blown up their past.