The Escape (John Puller, #3)(153)

“Well, considering he’s been calling me XO for the last year or so, I’d say, yeah, it is unusual.”

She lightly punched him in the arm. “You sound a bit jealous.”

“I am. Maybe more than a bit.”

“But that’s a good thing, right? I mean your dad recognizing him?”

“The doctors said it was probably only temporary. The shock of seeing him.”

“What do doctors know? I say stick with the belief that your dad is still there, Puller. And he may come out from time to time. And when he does, enjoy having him back. And never take it for granted.”

He stopped walking and turned to her. “I’ve come to expect good advice from you.”

“Well, I don’t often get the chance to give it. It feels nice in a life that is usually centered around deception.”

“I can understand that.”

There was an awkward moment of silence until she said cheerfully, “So your brother’s fully reinstated. Record cleared. His military career can take off like a rocket again.”

“Yes. He’s excited and scared.”

“I would be too. Anyone would be. But you could have said all this over the phone. We didn’t have to fly out to Kansas.” She added quickly with an impish look, “Now, don’t get me wrong. I like graveyards as much as the next girl.”

“I thought I’d lost you,” he said abruptly, his voice breaking slightly.

She gingerly touched her head. “See, you did lie to me. You said you were sure I was going to make it. But I don’t hold it against you.” She paused and then added jokingly, “And my brain is still all there. Docs assured me. Nothing leaked out. Not like I had any to spare.”

However, her look revealed how moved she was by what he’d said.

He drew closer. “Saying things like that are… hard for me.”

She touched his cheek, her expression now serious. “I know that, John. Believe me.” She ran her gaze up and down him. “You look so handsome in your dress blues. Going somewhere?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? You don’t know?”

“It’s actually up to someone else.”

“Someone else? Who? Your CO?”

“No. Actually, it’s up to you.”

She seemed taken aback but drew closer to him. “And how is that?”

In answer he took out two tickets from his jacket and held them up.

She looked at them. “Plane tickets?” She glanced up at him and said in a panicked voice. “Wait a minute. Not to Vegas?”

“No, to Rome.”

“Rome?” she said quietly.

“Ever been there?”

“Twice. Probably the most romantic city in the world.”

“I have a week’s leave. I want to spend it with you. And only you. I want us to get as far away from crime scenes and clandestine ops as is humanly possible. I just want us to be… normal. Just for a week, Knox. And see what happens. Together.”

Knox seemed overwhelmed by all of this. She said, breathlessly, “Puller, we really don’t even know each other.”

“I know enough.”

“You know nothing. You only know what I told you. And as you quite rightly pointed out, I’m a liar.”

“Knox, I—”

She gripped his arm. “I can’t tell you how flattered I am.”

Puller took a step back, his whole body seemed to deflate, and he looked at his feet. “Flattered? Isn’t that what women say when their answer is no?”

She used her finger to lift his chin so he was looking at her. “Like I said before, you’re a ramrod-straight kind of guy. Honorable to a fault. And my life is…none of that.”

“But only the professional side. And only out of necessity.”

“I’m not sure there’re any distinct lines there, Puller. Not for me. Not anymore.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Whether you do or not is immaterial. A fact is a fact.”

Puller looked down at the plane tickets.

She said, “I hope they’re refundable.”

He grinned for a second but there was nothing behind it.

“But you might have need of them one day.”

He quickly glanced at her. “Why?”

She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Because you just never know, do you?”

“So where do you go now?” he asked dully.

“Where they tell me to. Just like you.”

“Can you answer something for me?”

“What?”

“Why were you crying that day back in Charlotte? Was it because we were talking about your dad?”

She looked down at her bare feet, her toes pushing against the wet grass. “No. Like I said, I had gotten over him a long time ago.”

“So what, then?”

She let out a quick breath. “It was because I knew I was going to have to keep lying to you. That I was going to keep on using you.”

“So?”

“So before it didn’t matter to me. Suddenly it did and it hit me like a train that morning.”

“What changed?”

She grazed his cheek with her hand. “I think you know what changed.”