Chapter 15
Luke stared at Wes another moment. He needed to get some things off his chest before he moved on.
He glanced at Jenna. “Give us a minute.”
She nodded and moved a few steps away, putting distance between herself and the two of them.
Luke turned back to Wes, his voice barely contained. “You knew.”
Wes met his gaze, his expression steady and serious. “Yes, I did.”
“The whole time.”
“Yes.” Wes held his gaze.
Luke opened his mouth. He wanted to say something sharp and satisfying, but he couldn’t find the words. That was probably just as well since they were in public.
Wes shifted and blew out a long breath. “Listen, Luke. It was complicated. I wasn’t allowed to tell you. I want you to understand that. It wasn’t a choice I made lightly or by my own freewill. I’m sorry for that. Truly. I was between the proverbial rock and hard place.”
Luke looked at him another moment. He filed their future conversation away for another time. He was getting good at that today.
“That’s not why I called you here,” he said instead. “I need you to stay with Jenna until I can get back and figure out what we’re doing next. It’s not safe for her to be alone, and she can’t go back to Hollow House. Jenna can explain everything that’s happened—if she wants.”
“Got it.” Wes nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Thank you.” Luke held his gaze a beat longer before saying, “We’ll talk later.”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Luke turned back to Jenna. She watched him with a careful gaze as if trying to read how their conversation had gone. He didn’t have the time—or the energy—to reassure her.
“I need you to stay with Wes,” he told her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Something flickered across her face. Gratitude, maybe, or relief that he wasn’t simply walking away from all of it. “Got it.”
Luke climbed into his truck and made the drive to Refuge Cove.
Jenna followed Wes inside Ember & Oak, one of the local restaurants. Remington—Wes had introduced her to his dog—followed them. Wes had explained that the eating establishment was dog friendly.
She was grateful for the dim interior after the brightness of the street.
The lunch crowd was light. A couple sat near the window, two women at a corner table, and a man alone at the bar with a newspaper. No one looked out of place.
Wes chose a table near the back, away from the windows and close to the fireplace, where a low fire was burning despite the mild afternoon.
No sooner had they settled across from each other did a server appear. They ordered without really looking at the menu—a French dip for her and a burger for Wes.
Jenna had always liked Wes. He and Rowan had been dating when Jenna and Luke were first married. Then Rowan had left for Hollywood, he’d gone into the military, and the two of them had broken up. He’d later become a marshal.
She’d run into him about five years ago when she and Luke had taken the kids to DC. Somehow, she’d known when she looked at him, that he knew about her. About her past. About her new identity.
He hadn’t said anything, and she’d known Wes would keep her secret safe. She’d appreciated that.
She hadn’t thought she’d see him again, yet here he was.
As soon as the waitress disappeared, Wes looked at Jenna across the table, his expression unreadable. “I didn’t know you were back. Not until Luke texted.”
“I’ve been here about a month.”
Surprise moved through his gaze. “A month?”
“I’ve been trying to work up courage to talk to Luke, trying to figure out the best approach.”
He nodded slowly and turned his glass in his hands. “How much does he know?”
“Everything—at least, the basics of everything. I told him this morning.”
“How did he take it?”
“About as well as you’d expect.” She looked at the fireplace. “He listened. He asked questions. He didn’t walk out. That’s more than I deserved.”
“You deserve a lot more than you’ve been handed, Jenna. No one can understand what it was like to be in your shoes except you. You weren’t being selfish.”
A moment of silence passed as she tried to figure out what to say next. She appreciated Wes’s words more than she could express, but she still wasn’t sure she believed them.
She frowned before attempting to find the right words. “Things haven’t gone as smoothly since I’ve been back as I hoped. That’s why Luke called you.”
He went still as if anticipating the worst. “I figured something had happened.”
She told him about the gunfire that morning. About the dark sedan she’d seen on more than one occasion. About the footstep at the church and the SUV charging toward them on the sidewalk.
Wes’s face grew tenser and tenser with each update. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“I thought I was safe, Wes. Roderick is dead. The marshals told me the threat was gone. That’s why I came back.” She locked gazes with him. “Was I wrong? What if coming here was a huge mistake?”
“It’s too early to know that.” He said the words without false reassurance, which she appreciated.
“I’m afraid the Barone crime organization didn’t die with Roderick, no matter what they may want you to think.
People don’t let go of that kind of power and control easily.
There are other people who could have stepped up. ”
Her chest tightened, even though she’d known he’d say that. “So what does that mean for me?”
He frowned before answering. “Give me a minute, and I’ll make some calls and see where things stand. I still have contacts who might know.”
“Thank you.” She took another sip of her water.
“What about your own people?” Wes set his glass down. “You’ve still got a marshal on paper. Reaching out to your handler is the protocol here, Jenna. You know that.”
“I know.” She’d known he’d ask. She’d been dreading it. “His name’s Deklan. He’s the one who found me at the grocery store when Roderick escaped.”
She turned her water glass a slow quarter-turn.
“He’s also the one who called me and told me it was over. That Roderick was dead, the threat was closed, and I could stop looking over my shoulder. He’s the reason I came back here at all.”
“And now?”
“And now I don’t know what his word is worth.
” Her voice stayed low. “Somebody leaked my name to Roderick in prison. Somebody who had access. If the leak came from inside the program, then the first call I make to Deklan is the call that tells them exactly where I am.” She met Wes’s eyes.
“I trust you because you’ve got no reason left to be in this.
You’re not on anyone’s payroll. Deklan—I can’t be sure of anymore. ”
His eyes clouded as if he didn’t like her implications, but he nodded anyway. “Makes sense.”
Her gaze met Wes’s again. “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Should I stay here?” She held his gaze. “Or should I go? Because if I’ve brought something dangerous into Blue Ridge Hollow—into Luke’s life, our children’s lives—then maybe the right thing is to disappear again. Let them be safe. Let them—”
“Jenna.” His voice was quiet but firm as his gaze locked onto hers.
She stopped, her heart pounding in her ears as she waited for him to continue. “Yes?”
“You can’t leave Luke again. Not now.”
The weight of his statement settled over her.
Some things, once started, had to be seen through. She’d walked back into Luke’s life and told him the truth.
Disappearing again would be a cruelty she’d never recover from.
It was a cruelty they’d all never recover from.