Chapter 14
Jenna stood and smoothed her jacket while Luke sent a text—to Wes, she assumed—and then pocketed his phone.
He looked up at her. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
They walked back down the aisle toward the entrance of the church, their footsteps quiet on the old floorboards. The building felt different now than it had when they’d arrived. Less like a sanctuary and more somewhere they’d stayed too long.
Luke held the door open, and Jenna stepped into the midday light.
She stopped on the top step and let her eyes adjust.
The street was busier than it had been earlier. Lunch hour foot traffic filled the sidewalks. A few cars moved slowly through the downtown block. A couple emerged from the general store across the road.
Everything appeared normal and ordinary.
If only it was.
She fell into step beside Luke on the sidewalk.
They didn’t talk. There was too much to say, and none of it was suited to a public sidewalk. They both seemed to understand that without saying so.
As they walked, she was all too aware of Luke beside her.
She’d never gotten over him. She’d just gotten better at pretending.
Right now, he’d gone quiet, and she wondered what he was thinking. Did he believe the explanation she’d told him? Did he understand?
She wasn’t sure.
One conversation in a church wasn’t enough to undo whatever narrative he’d developed about why she left.
But she hoped it was a start.
“For what it’s worth,” she murmured, “I never stopped thinking about you. About all of you. There wasn’t a single day I didn’t . . . I just want you to know that.”
His jaw flexed. “I know you think that’s true.”
His words didn’t indicate forgiveness. They weren’t even close to forgiveness. But they were an acknowledgment that she wasn’t simply a woman who’d walked away without looking back.
She’d take it.
They walked another half block in silence. Luke’s truck was visible ahead, parked where he’d left it in front of Hollow House.
They were almost there.
Jenna was already thinking about what came next. Wes arriving. Luke leaving for Refuge Cove. Their unfinished conversations.
She looked at the ground, putting one foot in front of the other.
Then she looked up.
The same instinct had kept her alive reared its head.
What had triggered it now?
Her gaze stopped on a dark SUV at the far end of the block.
The vehicle headed toward them—and it was moving fast.
Her lungs froze.
The driver didn’t slow, even though there was pedestrian traffic ahead of it.
Then the SUV turned.
And the driver aimed the vehicle straight at Luke and Jenna.
Luke saw the SUV just as Jenna gasped beside him.
He grabbed her arm and threw himself sideways, taking her with him.
They hit a narrow strip of grass between the sidewalk and an antique shop.
Luke twisted as they went down, his shoulder taking the worst of it.
The SUV screamed past, a gust of wind from its wake sweeping over them.
Luke lay still with Jenna half beneath him. His heart slammed against his ribs as he waited, anticipating more danger.
Finally, he lifted his head.
The SUV had reached the end of the block. The vehicle fishtailed as it took the corner too fast. Then it disappeared.
Luke and Jenna were safe—for a moment, at least.
At once, Luke became aware of how close he and Jenna were.
Her face was inches from his. One hand gripped his jacket with white-knuckled fingers.
She was breathing hard. So was he.
Her eyes were wide and dark and looking straight at him.
For one suspended second, neither moved. He was too caught up with her closeness. Her flowery scent. Her . . . everything.
Then reality crashed back into him, reminding him that these were not things he should be feeling. He could not entertain any enjoyable feelings toward her—not if he wanted to keep his heart safe.
Not just his heart either. His children’s.
He scrambled to his feet and forced his thoughts to shift.
He reached to help her stand. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Her voice trembled. “You?”
“I’m fine.” He didn’t mention the throb in his shoulder. It would go away.
He grabbed his phone and called Micah again and told him what had happened. He told him everything had happened so fast that he hadn’t seen the license plate.
Micah promised to file a report and have his deputies remain on the lookout.
As he ended the call, he glanced at Jenna. Her arms trembled.
The near hit-and-run had left her shaken—as it would anyone in her shoes.
Jenna wasn’t just a heartless woman who’d abandoned her family. She was frightened and living in fight or flight. Her years of running had taken a toll on her.
Despite their history, concern rushed through him. He knew for certain that he couldn’t just walk away from her now.
He didn’t know what their future looked like, but they still needed time to sort things out.
He was trying to figure out the next move when a truck pulled to the curb.
Wes Bennett cut the engine and got out. Remington, his Doberman pincher, followed him, staying on his heels with the reserved elegancy the dog always encompassed.
Wes’s eyes went from Luke to Jenna and back to Luke.
He stopped a few feet away and nodded. “Luke.”
Luke stared at him and tried to keep his emotions in check. He knew he couldn’t blame Wes, but it was hard not to. It was hard to think that this man had shared uncountable meals with his family, and he’d never once thought to mention that he knew where Jenna was. That he knew she was safe.
If Luke were in Wes’s shoes, he would have probably done the same thing.
But that fact didn’t make Luke feel better right now.