Cover Me - By Catherine Mann Page 0,80
of the restrictions that came with living there, she’d never expected to be afraid of her own home. She’d been so close to Deputy Rand Smith on more than one occasion when she’d helped Sunny, or when he’d come farther up the trail to get someone. And she couldn’t help but wonder now if his trips all the way to the community had been for a different purpose, perhaps to touch base with an accomplice, someone who could be plotting new murders.
Tears stung her eyes every time she looked at Sunny. She hadn’t fully grasped until now how horrible it would have been never to see her again. Close on that thought followed the sting of grasping how deeply she’d felt betrayed over Sunny not returning to say good-bye.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d wondered if her sister had delayed returning on purpose, to keep her from leaving. Yet now that she looked back she saw what she should have known all along. Sunny wasn’t passive-aggressive. Sunny met life head-on. She’d been out there stranded in a snowstorm, with a mass murderer, and had come out alive.
With Flynn’s handsome face reflected in the rearview mirror, she could see from his jaw that he was still talking—even if she couldn’t hear him.
She nudged Sunny and signed for about the tenth time today. “What’s he saying?”
Sunny’s hands flew as she answered. “We need to check in with Flynn’s father, prepare him for the notifications about to come through.”
Misty kept her arms low, not wanting to draw attention to what they were discussing in case Flynn started watching in the rearview mirror. “What about Phoenix?”
Pain flashed across Sunny’s face. “We’ll talk to him. Then we have to wait and see. I think he probably always knew this day was coming. It’s up to him how to handle it.”
Nodding, Misty continued, “Do you trust this guy Wade?”
“Yes, I do, actually.”
“Even though you’ve barely known him a week?”
“He’s saved my life more than once, even today actually. He risked his own neck to pull me off my snow machine. I was so close to going over the edge of that cliff, no one in their right mind would have even tried. But he did. And after everything that’s happened this week, I’ve learned knowing someone a long time—like the deputy—doesn’t mean they’re trustworthy.”
Misty’s eyes slid to Flynn as if against her will. She’d known him for fifteen years and still she didn’t understand what happened four years ago. And yet the past couple of days, he had been the man she knew, remembered.
Sunny ducked into her line of sight. Her sister signed, “Why are you with Flynn?”
Misty sagged back against the seat. “Because he offered.” And she finally admitted the truth to herself. “Because I’ve missed him. And because today has made me realize how really rare second chances are.”
Her eyes slid back to the front seat even though that meant her world would go silent again without her sister signing the conversation. She wasn’t even close to getting over Flynn, but she was still just as committed to moving into the real world and having the cochlear implant surgery. She was committed to leaving the mountain. And now she had Sunny and her military friend to escort her out once they’d cleared away matters here. Flynn didn’t need to help her any longer.
He steered the truck round a jutting mound of boulders she recognized well, the final barrier shielding her village from anyone who may have wandered unwittingly into this remote corner of the world. The landscape opened up to her moonlit valley with a hundred buildings built alongside a small lake. So familiar. A place she could no longer call home. She’d said her good-byes, or so she’d thought.
Life had offered her a second chance here. A second chance for a last night to find closure with Flynn.
***
Wade paced in a circle around the open main floor of the log cabin that housed Sunny’s business. Well past midnight, they had finally arrived at Sunny’s home after meeting with Flynn Everett’s father, head of the town council.
The bottom floor was sectioned off into four areas, mirrors all around and a skylight above making the small place look larger. One corner held fitness equipment. By the door, there was a check-in counter with fresh muffins, granola, coffee, and a water dispenser. Tucked behind it were two computers and some toys and kiddie tables set up with books, paper, and crayons. And the remaining