“Push yourself too hard and you’ll slide backward.”
Olivia knew her words were meant to help, but that didn’t stop her from justifying her actions. “I can’t push my mind to remember a solitary thing. Pushing my body is my only option.”
Sasha swallowed, looked away. “Leo is waiting for you on the porch.”
No argument . . .
Olivia was liking Sasha more each day.
She passed Pam, who was sitting in the living room, a book in her hand. “You’re not coming?” Olivia asked.
“What’s the point? If I tell you it’s time to turn around, you’ll just ignore me.”
Which had happened on their morning walk.
“Besides, if you can’t make it back on your own two feet, he can carry you. I can’t.” She flipped the page in her book, never looked up.
Olivia wanted to laugh but settled for a smile instead.
“We’ll be back before it’s dark.”
Pam looked at her watch, glanced up, then back to her book. “Stubborn.”
Olivia walked past her and out the front door.
Leo stood talking to Isaac and Lars, the three of them laughing about something.
“Looks like we have a crowd,” Olivia said when she approached them.
Lars nodded toward the opposite side of the drive. “We’re on a mission. Two of the sensors keep getting knocked offline by raccoons.”
“Try moving them up,” she suggested. “Above the level of the animals.”
Isaac cleared his throat.
“That was the plan,” Lars said, the smile on his face fading.
Leo turned to her. “If you want this walk, we need to go now. If we’re still out when it gets dark, I’m carrying you back.”
Olivia narrowed her gaze. “You’ve been talking to Pam.”
He lifted his hands in the air. “There are three women in this house, and two of them are ticked that you’re doing this. I can piss off one of you or two of them. What would you do?”
Lars chuckled. “Have fun.”
She moved ahead of Leo and took a good look at the second set of stairs.
“If you can’t make it down, you won’t make it back up.”
Her eyes shifted to him, drifted to his chest. “I’ve seen you without a shirt. You’re capable of getting me up these stairs.”
“Now you’re just using flattery to get what you want.”
Without asking, she placed her hand on his arm and reached for the handrail.
She took her time and felt good at the bottom.
“Let’s do this,” he said.
She removed her hand from him and started walking. “I know I appear obstinate—”
“Are,” Leo corrected her. “It’s only been a week. And most of that time you were in the ICU.”
“They kept me in the ICU for security. I’m pretty sure Neil bribed them for the room.”
Leo stayed silent.
“We’re simply going to have to agree to disagree on this,” she finally said.
“Fair enough. But I’m your walking buddy. I’ll be able to tell if you’re getting better or worse from day to day where the others may not if they aren’t out with you all the time. And you’ll bullshit them if it serves you.”
“You think I’m that conniving?”
Leo glanced down, then back to the road. “Yup.”
She laughed. “You might be right.”
The gravel under her feet crunched, the noise heavy in her ears. Why not a paved driveway? The homeowner spent a lot of money on the house itself.
But would Neil pick a house with a paved drive?
No. He would want to hear cars coming and going.
Olivia watched her feet moving. Why would she know what Neil was considering when he picked their location?
“What are you thinking?” Leo asked.
“Random thoughts. They keep coming out of nowhere.”
“Memories?”
She shook her head. “Not memories. It’s hard to explain.”
“Try.”
“Like this . . .” She reached behind his back and patted where he held his weapon. Smiled when she confirmed with a touch what she’d figured out earlier that day. “I never saw it, but I knew it was there.”
Leo had stopped to watch her. “I am a federal agent.”
She kept walking. “It’s not knowing that you should have a gun on you, but that you did and where it was. Isaac has his in his cargo pants. Must be strapped in somehow, otherwise it would have been obvious. AJ has his here.” She patted her left flank. “Lars . . .” She stopped, thought of him before he walked off to set sensors. “He’s armed to the teeth. Why would I know that?”
“You’re intuitive?” Leo didn’t sound convinced by his own words.