The Chance (Thunder Point #4)(29)

On the nights Eric worked late he snuck like a prowler into Laine’s house. They’d been together every night since that first night.

“I feel creepy doing this,” he told her. “Like a man who can’t get enough of his woman. I should leave you alone some nights.”

“I like that you can’t get enough,” she said. “I’m perfectly capable of tossing you out if I don’t want you here. Remember, I’m a black belt.”

“I’d never make you throw me out. All you have to do is tell me to go home.”

However hard it was to keep from constantly thinking about her or sneaking to her in the dark of night, he was determined to do two important things—keep his business growing and spend time with Ashley. This was her last year of high school and he’d barely found her.

* * *

It was Eric’s night for closing the station so he had a late lunch at the diner. He wanted to be there when the place was quiet and Ashley arrived after school to work her shift. When he ordered his sandwich he told Gina he was hoping to catch their daughter to find out what was new in her life. He was just finishing his food when Ashley came in. Just the sight of her filled him with pride. And gratitude to Gina for all the sacrifices she’d made to bring her up right. It didn’t hurt a bit to see she smiled just as broadly at him.

“Let me change clothes. Then I’ll sit a few minutes until the after-school crowd descends.”

“Just what I was hoping,” he said.

She took his empty plate with her when she went back through the kitchen on her way to the bathroom to change. Just minutes later she brought herself a soda and slid in across from him. “How’re things?” she asked.

“Good. But that’s my question for you. Have you given any more thought to U of Oregon? We could drive up to see it, talk to someone there.”

She grinned. “I’m set for now. Besides, I’ve seen the campus. I’ve gone to see some games—you’re right, it’s a great place. But I’m good.”

“Still planning on community college?”

“It’s a good decision. I’m not ready to commit to a four-year program yet. I want to dip in, work part-time, live at home for now. I have to give some more thought to what I want to study.”

“As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with the cost of tuition because I said I can help with that. I want you to feel like you can stretch if you want to.”

“I’m stretching,” she said. “You aren’t trying to get me out of town, are you?”

“Absolutely not! Eugene isn’t that far!”

“But now you have a girlfriend.”

He was shocked. He shouldn’t have been. He’d known from the first date this would be all over town.

“Eric,” she said, laughing at him. “You have a girlfriend. A nice girlfriend.”

“I’m in denial,” he said.

“Why? Aren’t you ready for a girlfriend? Too soon after being dumped by the computer geek?”

“No,” he said. “To my embarrassment, that wasn’t serious. It should’ve been, since we lived together, but really...” He cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry I never met her,” she said with a laugh. “Then maybe I’d understand why you were never brokenhearted.”

“Cara’s a great girl. You would’ve liked her,” he said. “But she wanted someone entirely different and I understood. It was time to move on. That’s why we never got serious, I guess. And now...”

“Now you’re hooked up with the mystery woman,” Ashley said.

“Huh?”

Ashley just laughed again. “Gimme a break, Eric. Computer researcher? For some agency? Good friends with a woman who was in a cult for years before she escaped with her daughter? I should say barely escaped. And later both of them had to be rescued?”

He could feel his eyes grow about as large as hubcaps.

“Whoa,” Ashley said. “You bought all that research stuff?”

He thought she did investigative research for the FBI and he was keeping a tight lid on that, per her instructions. He knew she probably went out on search warrants from time to time or something. What was this cult and rescue stuff? “I don’t like to pry,” he said evasively. “And apparently I don’t get much gossip.”

“Probably because you’re always under the hood of a car. Haven’t you wondered about her?”

He just shook his head. “Do you?”

“Well, yeah! Not that she isn’t well-liked. Everyone likes her a lot because she’s very cool. And she’s tight with Cooper and Spencer and Rawley, who just happen to be the three guys who staged a big rescue to get Devon’s three-year-old out of that cult after she was kidnapped. Come on, Eric,” she said with a laugh. “Your girlfriend is some kind of secret operative. She can probably build a car out of her cell phone or something.”

He swallowed with a gulp. “Kidnapped? Operative?” He gave his head a shake. “Jesus. So what are people saying?”

“You mean guessing?”

He just nodded stupidly.

“Well, like she’s undercover. Or in the witness protection program. Or she was a cult member who’s going to testify against the ones who got away. Or that she’s on the run, hiding from bad guys. Or maybe she’s a computer researcher, but that’s so boring. And she just doesn’t seem boring. Have you checked to see if she has a Wonder Woman outfit in her glove box? Because I bet she is—Wonder Woman. Or something.”