Alaskan Hideout. Sarah Varland

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      “And I’d like some of those, too.”

      Again her cheeks burned. “I’ll give them to you, the ones I have.” She pressed the nurse call button. “I’m assuming they were planning to discharge me soon. I’ll tell them it needs to be now.”

      Noah looked between them, shook his head. “Let’s get out of the hospital to somewhere we can talk comfortably. I’ve got my car out front. Emma, Tyler, why don’t the two of you climb in and we’ll drive to the station? Do you have...regular clothes, Emma?”

      She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I think they might have been stained from the wreck.” Her hand went to the spot on her forehead. The wound wasn’t too large but head wounds bled a lot.

      “I’ll have my sister Kate bring you something. She’s about your size.”

      Emma nodded, thankful. Even if the clothes swallowed her, as garments often did—she was only five-two—anything was better than a hospital gown.

      The nurse walked in just then, with the good news that the doctor had agreed to her discharge. When her papers were done, Emma tied a second hospital gown around the back of herself so she could at least walk without being exposed in any way even if she did look ridiculous.

      She glanced in Tyler’s direction as they walked toward the car, careful to stay sandwiched between the two men yet feeling the tension radiating off both of them. She’d been lying to herself. She’d told herself Tyler would never forgive her, but somewhere deep inside, hope had flickered.

      Its flames were completely extinguished now.

      He’d never forgive her.

      * * *

      Tyler’s jaw was clamped so tight he was getting a headache. He glanced at his watch. Just past four in the afternoon and he felt like he’d lived three lifetimes since he’d gotten called out to help with the wreck just after lunch.

      Emma Bass was in town.

      She had a son.

      He had a son.

      She hadn’t told him.

      His mind kept spinning in circles over those indisputable facts, with enough questions mixed in to make him feel physically ill. It was like he’d run too many miles without stopping for food or water and was full-body exhausted. But in his mind the biggest question was what he had done so wrong.

      Besides the obvious. He’d handled their relationship well the entire time they were in college, balanced his emotions with his faith, his convictions. His sense of right and wrong. The one time he hadn’t...

      Noah had grilled him on the drive to the hospital, more stunned than Tyler about him having a son, if such a thing was possible. Noah was the oldest, Tyler next, but somehow Tyler had always felt like his siblings looked up to him. He was the stable one, the one to always be counted on. He had to be defined by something, do something noteworthy even if it was just being the dependable sibling, with Noah saving the world from crime, Kate making a name for herself as one of the best trackers in Alaska, and Summer running on mountains, at the top of the world without flinching.

      Tyler? Tyler was just dependable. It was what he was good at.

      Until now.

      He felt the weight of Noah’s disappointment, had wanted to defend himself, but knew there was no use. Summer’s reaction was the one he was bracing himself for. Tyler had known she’d beat herself up over her own past but he hadn’t shared a word of his. Hopefully his little sister would understand it just hadn’t been the right time to share his story.

       Emma Bass was in town.

      His mind looped back as he looked over at the woman next to him in the back of the police cruiser. The cut on her forehead, her pale skin, the hospital attire... All of it reminded him that no matter what questions he had about their past, someone was after Emma and, for some reason, she’d felt it best to come to Alaska. Knowing she was in danger made it difficult for him to breathe, the physical impact unexpected but intense enough that Tyler knew he needed to find a way to compartmentalize his feelings until she was ready to talk, to separate himself emotionally so he could help Noah in whatever capacity he was needed.

      He knew the Moose Haven PD was small-town, though the department now had its biggest complement in years with four officers now that Clay had joined the force. Still, they didn’t have an excess of manpower and Tyler couldn’t see Noah putting someone on Emma full-time since they hadn’t been able to do that when a serial killer was after his sister few months ago.

      An idea settled in his mind. Tyler wasn’t an officer, but he’d been to the police academy in Sitka, had just finished the training recently. Noah had wanted more reserve officers just in case. Even though he didn’t have a lot of experience, Tyler could technically do the job.

      If it came down to it, Tyler would do what he had to do to keep Emma safe.

      Not because he still felt anything for her. But because it was the right thing to do.

      Noah turned left when he should have turned right.

      “I thought you were taking us to the station?” Tyler asked from behind the Plexiglas.

      Noah shook his head. “I changed my mind. Emma needs to be somewhere comfortable, right?” He looked back at her and Tyler saw a small smile on Emma’s face at the consideration. “She’d probably like to see for herself that her son is okay, too.”

      “He’s at the lodge, not at the police station?”

      Was that alarm in her voice? Tyler had talked about his family all the time in college and even if Emma had never had the chance to meet them, she should know that they were good people. Dependable.

      Of course, she should have known the same thing about him.

      Noah spoke up. “He’s safe there with my sisters. They’re two of the toughest people I know and I left them there with Clay Hitchcock, one of my best officers.”

      Emma’s face relaxed a little. “I know Clay. From college.”

      “That’s right, I’d forgotten that,” Noah said. No one responded and the rest of the drive passed in silence as they drove out of town, away from the bay and into the deep woods of the northern edge of town.

      A short time later the cruiser pulled up in front of Moose Haven Lodge and Tyler glanced up at it, trying to see his family lodge through Emma’s eyes.

      Their relationship, already on rocky soil after their life-altering mistake, had fallen apart when he’d scrapped his plans to open his own lodge on a beach somewhere and had agreed to take over this one for his parents so they could retire. She’d refused to leave Texas for Alaska, said the name of his home state like it was the literal end of the earth, unsettled and uninhabitable. He hoped the gorgeous log-sided lodge in front of her made her feel...something.

      Regret? Tyler didn’t know...that wasn’t right to wish on anyone. But he did somehow hope she saw how wrong she’d been about his ability to provide a nice life for them.

      Apparently for the baby they’d СКАЧАТЬ