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“Ending world hunger.”
She laughed. The happy sound took him back in years to when they’d been kids together. He’d been forced to lie every second of every day. He’d been discouraged from making friends and fitting in too much, but he’d defied them all, claiming Patience as his own. Even then he’d known he was different, but he’d still wanted to belong. Being friends with her had been the only “normal” part of his life. He’d needed her to survive.
His choice had been selfish and she’d paid the price for his decision. When he’d had to leave, he hadn’t been able to tell her why. Later, he’d known getting in touch with her would bring her into his world. He’d liked Patience too much to sully her with that.
So what was his excuse now? As he stared into her eyes, he knew he’d again chosen what he wanted rather than what was right for her. But he’d been unable to resist the call of his past. Maybe he’d secretly been hoping she wasn’t as good as he remembered. Now he had to deal with the fact that she was even better.
She leaned toward him. “You’ve stalled long enough, Justice. What happened all those years ago? One second you were there and the next you were gone.”
She still wore her brown hair long. He remembered the slight wave and how her hair had moved as she walked, swinging back and forth. Sexy.
He’d been too old for her then. At least that’s what he’d told himself every time he’d been tempted to kiss her. An eighteen-year-old masquerading as a sixteen-year-old, to outwit the man who wanted him dead.
“I was in the witness protection program.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
He let the words sink in and took a moment to study the cartoon hairstylist on the front of her black “Chez Julia” T-shirt. The drawn hairdresser was wielding scissors with comical intent.
“Are you kidding?” Patience asked. “Seriously? Here?”
“Where better than Fool’s Gold?”
“That can’t be real. It sounds like something from the movies.”
“It was plenty real.” He sipped his coffee and thought about his past. He rarely talked about it. Even his closest friends weren’t privy to the details.
“My father was a career criminal,” he said slowly. “The kind of man who believed the world owed him a living. He went from one scheme to the next. If he’d put half as much effort into working a steady job, he could have made a fortune, but that wasn’t his way.”
Patience’s eyes widened as she held on to her cup. “Please don’t make me cry with your story.”
He raised one shoulder. “I’ll do my best to stick to the facts.”
“Because they won’t make me cry?” She drew in a breath. “Okay, bad father. And then what?”
“When I was seventeen, he and a couple of buddies held up a convenience store. The owner and a clerk were killed and my dad was the one who pulled the trigger. The friends were caught and gave up my dad. Bart. His name was Bart Hanson.” Justice had been born Bart Hanson Jr., but he’d rejected that name years ago. Had it legally changed. He’d wanted nothing that had belonged to his father.
“The local SWAT team came to take him in. Dad wasn’t going without a fight. He’d planned everything and was going to take out as many officers as he could. I figured out what he was going to do and jumped on his back. I distracted him long enough for the police to get him. He wasn’t happy with me.”
An understatement, he thought. His father had cursed him, vowing to punish his son, no matter what it took. Everyone who knew Bart Hanson had believed he was more than capable of murdering his only child.
“That’s so horrible. Where was your mother in all this?”
“She’d died years before. A car accident.”
He didn’t bother mentioning that the car’s brakes had been cut. Local law enforcement had suspected Bart but had been unable to make the charges stick.
“When I testified against my father, his anger turned to rage. Right after sentencing, he broke out of jail and came after me. I was put into a witness protection program and brought here. That’s when we met.”
She shook her head. “That’s amazing, and scary. I can’t believe you went through all that. You never hinted or...” She looked at him. “Seventeen? You were seventeen? I thought you were fifteen. We celebrated your birthday when you turned sixteen.”
“I lied.”
“About your age?”
“It was part of me being in the program. I was two years older than you thought. Still am.”
He could see she wasn’t amused by the joke. “I was only fourteen.”
“I know. That’s why I never—” He picked up his coffee. “Anyway, my dad was spotted in the area. I was living with a marshal at the time. The decision was made to get me out of town immediately. I wanted to tell you, Patience. But I couldn’t. By the time my dad was caught and put away, so much time had passed. I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.”
Or that he should get in touch with her. Even now, telling her the sanitized version of his past was a lot for her to take in. She looked dazed. He’d lived it and he still had trouble believing it had happened.
“What happened to your father?” she asked. “Is he still behind bars?”
“He’s dead. Died in a prison fire.”
Burned beyond recognition, he thought. Bart had been identified using dental records. A hell of a way to go, Justice thought, still aware that he felt nothing for the old man. Nothing except relief he was gone.
The question of how much of his father lived within him wasn’t anything he was going to discuss with her. That was for the late nights when he was alone and the shadows pressed in. Patience wasn’t a part of that. She was light to his dark, and he didn’t want that to change.
“My head is spinning,” she admitted, then put down her coffee. “You know what’s really twisted? I’m actually still more surprised that you were eighteen when I thought you were sixteen than the fact that you were in a witness protection program because your father wanted you dead. I think that means there’s something wrong with me. I apologize for that.”
He smiled at her. “At least you have priorities.”
She studied him for a second, then ducked her head. “I can’t imagine what you had to go through. Here I was, feeling sorry for myself because I had this crazy crush on you. I wanted to tell you. In fact, I was going to that last day, but Ford walked up.”
He told himself the information was interesting but not important. Even so, he felt a sense of satisfaction, quickly followed by a sense of loss. He’d often wondered what would have happened if he’d just been a regular kid who happened to live in Fool’s Gold. Unfortunately his luck had never been that good.
He knew if he were a halfway-decent guy, he would walk away now. That a man like him had no place in her life. But he couldn’t leave, just as he’d never been able to forget.
“I remember that day,” he admitted. “You were acting like there was something on your mind.”
“There was. You. At fourteen, my girlish heart trembled whenever you were around.”
He liked the sound of that. “That bad, huh?”
She nodded. “I took hope in the fact that you didn’t seem interested in anyone else, but was worried you only saw me as a friend. I was determined to tell you the truth. I was also terrified. What if you didn’t like me back?”
“I did like you. But I was too old for you.”
“I see that now.” She grinned. “Eighteen. How is that possible? I’m totally freaked. I’ll recover but I’ll need a moment.” Her smile faded. “Justice, when you were just gone it was... Well, we all missed you and were worried about you.”
He reached across the table and lightly touched the back of her hand. “I know. I’m sorry about that.”
“It was like you were never there in the first place. I used to walk by the house and hope you’d show up as mysteriously as you’d left.”
He’d hoped she had done that, he admitted, if only to himself. He’d often thought of her, wondering if she remembered him. Some days memories of Patience were all that had gotten him through.
“Were you really here last fall?” she asked.
“Briefly. I had a client.”
“Dominique Guérin. I know. I’m friends with her daughter.” Patience tilted her head. “Why didn’t you look me up then?”
Before he could figure out an excuse that sounded better than he’d been apprehensive—which was, he admitted, a fancy way to say “scared”—a girl walked into the store. She was maybe ten or eleven with long brown hair and familiar brown eyes. She glanced around, then skipped over to their table.
“Hi, Mom.”
Patience turned and smiled. “Hey, baby. How’d you know I was here?”
“Julia told me you were going for coffee.” Her gaze slid to Justice. “With a man.”
Patience sighed. “This town does love to gossip.” She put her arm around the girl. “Lillie, this is Justice Garrett. He’s a friend of mine. Justice, this is my daughter, Lillie.”
CHAPTER TWO
AS SOON AS Patience said the word daughter, she knew there was a problem. How was she supposed to casually mention she wasn’t married in front of her daughter and while Justice’s gaze slid directly to her left ring finger? Just as complicated was the burning need to cut to the chase and blurt out “I’m single.” A need she resisted. Giving him information was one thing. Sounding desperate was another.
“Hi,” Lillie said, leaning into Patience, her expression both shy and curious. “How do you know Mom?”
“I knew her when she was only a little older than you.”
Lillie turned to her. “Really, Mom?”
“Uh-huh. I was fourteen when I knew Justice. He lived here for a while. Then he had to move away. We’re old friends.”
More friends than old, she thought. At least that was her hope.
She kept her arm around her daughter. “Lillie is ten and the smartest, most talented, beautiful girl in all of Fool’s Gold.”
Her daughter giggled. “Mom always says that.” She leaned toward Justice and lowered her voice. “It’s not really true, but she loves me so she believes it.”
“That’s the best kind of love to have.”
She was about to go for it and say she wasn’t married when it occurred to her that she didn’t know anything about Justice’s personal life. She sucked in a breath and fought against the heat she felt burning on her cheeks. What if he was half of a happy couple with a dozen or so charmingly attractive children?
Why, oh why had she admitted she had a crush on him without getting a few facts? She really had to start practicing thinking before speaking. The evening news was always showing great stories about some eighty-year-old getting a high school diploma or learning to read. Surely she could teach herself to self-edit.
“Justice has moved back to Fool’s Gold,” Patience said. “He’s going to...” She paused. “I have no idea what you’re going to do here.”
“Open a bodyguard training facility. My partners and I haven’t worked out the details yet, but we’re going to offer security training for professionals along with corporate team building and survival training.”
“Stuff you do outside?” Lillie asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“Mom doesn’t like going outside.”
Justice turned to her and raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not a huge fan of weather and dirt,” Patience explained. “It’s not like I have to live in a plastic bubble.” She offered a weak smile. “So, um, you’ll be moving your family here?”
“You have a family?” Lillie asked. “Any kids?”
“No. It’s just me.”
A score for the home team, Patience thought with relief. “Lillie is the only one I have,” she said, hoping she sounded casual. “Her dad and I split a long time ago.”
“I don’t remember him,” Lillie offered. “I don’t see him.” She looked as though she was going to say something else, then stopped.
Patience had hoped for some reaction from Justice at the news of her not being married. A fist pump would have been perfect, but there wasn’t any hint as to what he was thinking. At least he didn’t bolt out of the building. She supposed she could take that as a good sign. And he had looked her up on his own. It wasn’t as if she’d gone looking for him or they’d run into each other.
On the other hand, he’d probably left the witness protection program years ago and he’d never bothered to get in touch with her. The men in her life tended to leave. Her father. Lillie’s dad. Justice. A case could be made that Justice hadn’t chosen to leave, but he also hadn’t chosen to reconnect. At least not until now.
She drew in a breath. She needed a bit of distance to gain some perspective. Justice was an old friend. She didn’t have to make any assessments of his character at this very second. She also had errands to run and a thousand life details to take care of. She wanted to spend more time with him, to get to know the man he’d become. Just not here in the middle of town.
“Come to dinner,” she said before she could stop herself. “Please. I’d like to catch up more and I know my mom would love to see you.”
His expression softened. “She still lives around here?”
“We all live together,” Lillie told him. “Mom and me and Grandma. It’s a house of women.”
Patience laughed. “Obviously a phrase she’s heard before.” She shrugged. “I’m back at home. I moved out briefly while I was married, then came back with Lillie. It works out for all of us.” Ava had company, Patience had support so she could feel less like a single parent and Lillie had the constancy kids craved.
His dark blue eyes didn’t seem to judge, for which she was grateful. “How’s your mom doing?”
“Pretty well. She has good days and bad days.”
“It’s lasagna night,” Lillie told him. “With garlic bread.”
Justice gave her an easy smile. “Well, then. How could I say no?” He turned his attention to Patience. “What time?”
“Six work for you?”
“It does.”
She stood. “Great. We’ll see you then. You remember where the house is?”
He rose and nodded. “I’ll see you at six.”
* * *
PATIENCE FORCED HERSELF to walk at her usual pace. She wanted to run, or at the very least, skip or jump. But that would require an explanation and probably some nervous phone calls from neighbors to local law enforcement.
Lillie chatted about her day at school. Patience did her best to pay attention, but she had a difficult time. Her mind kept wandering back to her unexpected encounter with Justice. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that he’d shown up without warning. Talk about a blast from the past.
They turned up the walkway leading to the house. She paused, looking at it with a critical eye, wondering what Justice would see.
