your calls or texts. I was horrible and I do owe you an apology whether you want one or not.”
“You’ve already apologized.”
“What it boils down to is . . . I was scared.”
Three little words had never wounded like those. His fingers flexed around the wheel. “I’d never put my hands on you to hurt you, Sarah.” He glanced at her.
“What?” She blinked at him. “Oh, I wasn’t scared of you physically, it was more of an emotional thing.”
Okay, now he was just confused. “How so?”
“That last date after our kiss—”
“That was a really good kiss, by the way.”
She laughed and rubbed a hand over her eyes. “Yes. Yes, it was. But that was beside the point. I think it was . . . you just reminded me too much of my dad that night.” She grimaced. “Minus the kissing part.”
“Ouch. Thankful for that anyway.”
A short laugh bubbled from her lips. “How can you make me laugh when I’m talking about things I’d rather not?”
“It’s a gift.”
She looked away but didn’t seem quite as tense as she was at the beginning of the discussion. “Being reminded of my father brought up other memories that brought to mind . . . other stuff that I didn’t want to think about.”
“And we’ve moved from mud to tar.”
She groaned. “I’m sorry. It’s just really hard to talk about it.”
“Then at least tell me how I reminded you of your father.” He had no idea what she was talking about but knew that reminding her of her father was bad. Very bad. “What’d I do?”
“I told you a little about the story I was working on. The drug ring that was operating on base.”
Oh yeah. He remembered that.
“You said, ‘That’s not something you want to mess with, Sarah. It’s dangerous and will come back to bite you. You need to back off before you get hurt, and back off now.’”
He frowned. “I remember that. I also remember thinking, ‘I’m just getting to know this amazing woman and I want it to continue.’ I thought about what you were investigating, who you were investigating, and I was scared to death something would happen to you.” He cut his gaze to hers. “I guess I came across as a bit of a dictator?”
“Just like my father.”
“I see.” He cleared his throat. “Well, thank you for clarifying.”
“I’d also like to clarify one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The truth is, I know you’re really not like him. You’ve demonstrated that over and over in the last few days. I know you’re Caden’s friend, so I guess I’ve just chalked your presence up to that.” She gave a small laugh. “I suppose, as much as I don’t have the right to wish it, part of me was hoping you might be sticking around because you wanted to.”
Hope inflated, even while he shut his mind to the real reason he was sticking tighter than superglue. “I’m definitely sticking around because I want to.” A completely true statement. He squeezed her fingers. “Now, are you ready to do this?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She still didn’t move.
“So?”
“So, I’ll tell you the rest of it one day.”
“Soon?”
“Yes, soon.” She punctuated the promise with a nod.
“Then I’ll be ready to listen when you’re ready to talk.”
Stepping back into the hospital sent chills down Sarah’s spine, and she couldn’t help the flash of memory from when she’d entered Brianne’s room to find the woman in such agony. A shudder rippled back up her spine.
“You okay?” Gavin asked.
“Yes, why?”
“You shivered and went all tense when we walked in.”
Observant, wasn’t he? “I’ll be all right.” She walked past the information desk without pausing.
Gavin stayed with her. “Not going to announce you’re here, huh?”
“I think I’ll just see if I can find the nurse who was on that night. Donna.”
“She might not be working this shift.”
“I know. But first, we need to make a stop.” Hand pressed against her side and moving carefully, she made a beeline for the gift shop located on the first floor across from the elevators.
“What for?”
“Flowers.” With their conversation fresh in her mind and wishing she had time to process it further, Sarah pushed open the door and made her way back to the floral arrangements. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of premade choices to consider, so that made the decision easier. She chose a vase with an assortment of pink and yellow calla lilies.
“That’s one of our most popular arrangements,” the woman to her right said.