to do, so he stayed where he was.
A few minutes later he heard the inner gate open and he saw her. She looked small and scared as she clutched that plastic bag in front of her. Her hair had always been dyed far too much. While she'd been in here, she'd let it grow out completely to its natural dark brown, which was far more attractive on her. The guard with her turned and said something to her and he saw her smile. That was a good sign. LuAnn nodded and the inner gate closed as the outer gate opened. LuAnn walked tentatively through the outer gate and stood in place as it closed behind her. She turned and looked at it, likely not sure what to do.
Pushing himself off the hood of his car, he began walking toward her and thought that she looked like a scared rabbit. Her fingers squeezed the contents of the plastic bag and his heart actually hurt. This was not the same woman who'd put herself in this place. He hoped that was a good thing.
She turned her head and saw him walking to her and she hesitated for a moment, then started walking to him. A few steps later, they met face to face, and she tilted her head up and smiled at him.
"Hi."
"Hi." He looked into her blue eyes, and he felt happy. "Let me carry that for you."
She looked down at the bag and clutched it tighter to her body. "Do you mind if I hang on to it? It's all I have."
His heart sank to the pit of his stomach. He reached forward and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "You have me." He whispered.
He heard her sob as he held her, and tears sprung to his eyes. He allowed her to cry into his chest with the stupid plastic bag between them, and he knew he'd made the right decision in coming for her today. Dog would come around. He hoped anyway.
She sniffed and pulled away, "Sorry. My emotions are all over the board today. It's surreal being out and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. Normally right now I'd be gardening."
He turned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began leading her to his car.
"Can you garden at Linda's house?"
"She said I could. My brother-in-law, Tanner, made a place in the backyard I guess."
"Well, darlin’ that's a great start, don't you think?"
"Yeah."
He opened the trunk. "You want to put your bag in here, so it doesn't blow around?"
He saw her look down at her meager possessions and swallow. Good God, this just made him sad. But she carefully placed her bag in the trunk tucked safely into a corner and stepped back. He closed the lid, walked to the passenger side of his car, and opened the door for her.
"Wow, what a gentleman."
She giggled and without thinking, he said, "Dog would kick my ass if I didn't treat a woman respectfully."
She halted and looked up at him. He saw her swallow, then she slowly sat in the seat. He closed the door, chastising himself as he walked around the car for bringing up Dog so soon.
He slid into the driver's seat, put the key in the ignition and started the engine, then pulled his seatbelt over his shoulder and clicked it into place. Looking at LuAnn, he saw her put her seatbelt on. Neither of them said a word. How did you break this awkward silence?
3
Dog. The reason for her fall from grace ha, if that's what you'd call it. She never had a lot of grace. She'd been crass, nasty, bitchy and awful to everyone who mattered to her and some who liked Joci. All because she'd believed herself in love with Dog when he didn't think of her as anyone more than a little sister. He was the most handsome man she'd ever known ---tall, broad shoulders, strong, good-looking with that long, blond hair and those damned arms. Then, there was the fact that he'd made room for her at Rolling Thunder. He looked after her and Linda after their brother Lance died. She'd stupidly thought it was because he loved her, too, but that he needed time to sew his wild oats and one day, they'd be together, as in a couple.
Then Joci came along. At first, she couldn’t believe that Dog seriously was interested in anyone except her. Not only was she plain, Joci