Chapter 11
ELEVEN
“It’s time we did a perimeter check,” Mac announced once the kitchen was clean. Colin could tell by the way Mac raised his eyebrows that there would be more to it than that.
“I need to brief you,” Colin answered.
“You can do that while we walk.”
“Wait!” Juni, back at the table and coloring, dropped her crayon, jumped down from her seat, and ran up to the two men. “Can I come with, Colin?”
She’s killing me. Absolutely killing me with that hopeful look.
“Sorry, Junebug. This is work. We’re only going to be walking around the yard, okay? I’ll be right back.”
“Can I see you? The whole time?”
Colin glanced up at Maren and hated the distraught look in her eyes.
She thinks she’s failing Juni.
“Juni, sweetie,” she started as she set her coffee down on the kitchen counter. “They will be right outside, like Colin promised, keeping us safe.” She ran her hand over Juni’s head.
“Hey, Juni,” Colin tried. “Could you, uh, color a picture for me while I’m gone?” He looked toward the kitchen. “The fridge doesn’t look right without some art on it.”
Juni’s eyes got round. “How did you know Mo—Auntie Mer puts my drawings on the fridge at home?”
Colin smiled softly as he dropped to his knees. “Because everything I’ve seen tells me she takes really good care of you. She does, doesn’t she?”
Juni nodded solemnly.
“What does she do? Besides put up your artwork?”
“She takes me to school.”
“That’s good. What else?”
“She gives me ice cream.”
Colin chuckled. “Wow, that’s so much better than taking you to school.” He looked up to wink at Maren and saw the unshed tears in her eyes. He had to look back at Juni quickly. “What else?”
“She reads me stories out of the Fairy Book, and she fixed the Blue Fairy and Mr. Kibble.” Now she was getting excited. “And she bought me Snoopy in Las Vegas because he looked lonely on the shelf.”
“She does so many things for you, huh? You know what else she does?”
Juni shook her head, hanging on Colin’s every word.
“She keeps you safe, Junebug. She brought you here to us, to your family, to keep you safe.”
“Uncle Reid and Uncle Beckett are family but they’re far away right now.”
“They are, so she brought you here. You’re safe here, Juni.” Before he realized it, he’d reached out to cup her cheek. “She can sit with you while you color, and we’ll be back inside before you know it. Nothing and no one is going to get you here.”
“That’s right, Juni,” Mac chimed in. “We’ll be real quick.”
Juni kept her gaze on Colin. Then she nodded.
“Thanks, Juni.” Colin straightened. He braved another look at Maren. She was blinking back tears now, and the warm, beautiful smile she was giving him was killing him, making it impossible to remember that this was just an assignment.
“Let’s pick out a good drawing for Colin, what do you say?” Maren put her hand between Juni’s shoulder blades and gently guided her back to the table. She looked over her shoulder and smiled again, gratitude shining in her eyes.
Mac clapped Colin on the shoulder, bringing him back down to reality.
He gestured for Colin to go ahead of him out the back door to the small patio just off the kitchen.
They walked down a flagstone path through the well-kept garden, past a bench with a metal placard on it facing one of the flower beds, toward the fence at the edge of the forest behind the house.
Colin wasn’t expecting an attack. They were on Watchdog property, and while it wasn’t hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world, there were dozens of cameras positioned around the buildings, the roads, and in the woods, and they both had radios.
Mac had his radio clipped to his belt and his gaze on the house, but his posture was easy and non-threatening, the way he might have approached a spooked horse on the ranch he grew up on in Alberta.
Which means he’s about to say something I’m not going to like.
Colin put it off by briefing Mac on the meeting, trying to tamp down the frustration that wanted to bleed through his voice. Maren was clean. Juni was clean. The sister was the problem, not them.
Mac took it all in with the occasional nod and that warm, thoughtful expression he wore when he was working through something.
“So they’re keeping Maren in the dark,” Mac said finally.
“For now. They said.”
“They?”
“Gina mostly.”
Mac nodded. “And you think that’s wrong.”
“I think Maren’s owed the full truth.” Colin stopped at the corner post and checked it.
Solid. “She spent four years raising her sister’s kid believing her sister’s death was nothing more than some rando asshole who fled the scene.
Now she’s here because the sister—the twin—she trusted was living a double life and had shut her out.
” Colin turned and kept walking down the side yard. Mac fell in beside him.
“Just so you know,” Mac said after a moment, “I’m not hitting on Maren.”
Colin stopped dead. His head snapped toward Mac. “What? Why would you think I cared?”
Mac kept his eyes straight ahead, but there was a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Mighta been the green-eyed monster in your eyes when you opened that door this morning and saw us sitting cozy at the table.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He started walking again, faster.
“Mmm.”
“I don’t,” he insisted.
Mac grinned. “She’s a client. She’s not interested in me, either, I can tell you that.” Colin ignored the side eye Mac gave him. “And like I said, I’m not interested in her.”
Colin pivoted. “Who are you interested in?”
The tips of Mac’s ears turned red. “None of your beeswax, brother.”
“Beeswax? Anyone ever tell you that you sound like someone’s granny?”
Mac’s grin widened. “Nope. But we were talking about you.”
“We’re not.”
“We are.” Mac stopped walking and turned to face him. The smile faded, but his expression stayed warm. “I know what happened with you. Why you don’t like kids.”
Colin felt his chest tighten. “Mac. It’s not that I don’t like kids, it’s—”
“It’s why you’re pissed about how Maren’s been treated. Because it reminds you—”
Colin held up his hand. “I don’t need the play-by-play.”
“Fine.” Mac took a step back. “But you need to hear this.” Mac’s voice stayed steady. “Maren’s situation isn’t the same. Someone she trusted lying to her, sure. Innocent woman who got blindsided, absolutely. And yeah, she stepped up as a mom when she didn’t have to.”
Colin looked away. His hands flexed at his sides.
Mac took a breath. “You’re triggered. I get it.”
“Oh, you’re a therapist now?”
Mac just narrowed his eyes. “Maren’s not going to be a client forever. And when she’s not?” He waited until Colin looked at him. “She might be worth the risk. She and Juni both.” Mac clapped him on the shoulder once, gently. “Just think about it.”
They finished the perimeter check in silence. When they got back to the safehouse, Mac pulled the door open and held it.
“Coming?”
Colin followed him inside. Juni looked up from her coloring page, saw Colin, and her whole face lit.
“You came back again.”
“Told you I would, Junebug.”
“I colored this for you!” Juni held up a picture of a knight squaring off against a dragon. She’d given the knight dark hair and eyes like his.
Over her head, Colin caught Maren’s gaze from the seat beside Juni. She was smiling at him, soft and warm and entirely unguarded.
Mac was right.
She was absolutely worth the risk. They both were.
But as broken as he was, was he worth theirs?
The knock came mid-day, light and apologetic. Kyle had radioed ahead, warning Colin and Mac. Colin still checked the window first and saw Arden’s truck in the drive, then he opened the door and stepped back to let her in.
“Hi there,” Arden said when her silver-gray eyes found Maren at the kitchen table with Juni. She had a picnic basket in her hands and guilt written all over her face. “I brought quiche and sandwich fixings for lunch and dinner. And an apology.”
Juni looked up from her coloring. “Aunt Arden!”
“You don’t owe anyone an apology,” Maren said.
“Yes, I do.” Arden set the basket on the table. “Can we talk?”
Maren stood slowly, like she was bracing for bad news. “Of course.”
“Look what I colored, Aunt Arden,” Juni said at the same time.
“Hey, Junebug.” Arden set the basket on the table and crouched down to Juni’s level. “You keeping these guys busy?”
“I colored Colin a knight.” Juni pointed toward the kitchen.
“It’s on the fridge.” She grabbed Arden’s hand.
“Come with me and I’ll show you.” Before Arden could answer, Juni was up and pulling her along, a huge smile on Arden’s face.
“See? It’s him.” Juni pointed to the drawing that Colin had stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet.
“I see that. He looks very brave.”
Colin felt his ears heat. Mac, leaning against the counter, was grinning like an idiot.
“Can I talk to your aunt?” Arden asked Juni.
“You mean my other aunt.”
While Arden beamed, Colin watched Maren shrink into herself, just the tiniest bit.
“Yes, your other aunt.” Arden turned to Maren. “Can we sit?”
“Of course.” They took the couch. Colin stayed near the door, close enough to hear but far enough to give them space. Mac drifted toward the kitchen to supervise where Juni wanted to place her latest masterpieces.
“I’m sorry that you’re staying here instead of at the ranch,” Arden said quietly. “I want you to know that I would prefer if you were.”
Maren’s hands twisted in her lap. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“No, it’s not okay.” Arden’s voice sharpened with frustration. “You drove across the country with Juni because a dead man told you to trust us. That took guts. And we repaid that by keeping you at arm’s length.”
“You’re keeping Juni safe. That’s all that matters.”
“We’re keeping both of you safe because you’re both family,” Arden said. “And it kills me that it doesn’t feel that way to you.”