escape. Then when it was over you started crying.”
“What?” Josie said, a little more forcefully than she anticipated. She wasn’t typically a crier.
“Yeah, you spilled everything about how Noah had pushed you away. How much you loved him.”
“Oh God,” Josie said.
Luke waved a hand in the air. “Don’t be embarrassed. It was sweet. I knew you were being vulnerable because when we were together, you always kept so much of yourself—well, to yourself. So I made some confessions of my own.”
“About what?”
He looked away from her. “I’d really rather not talk about them when I’m sober.”
“Luke, please.”
His eyes found hers again. “Let’s just say that I still have nightmares about everything that happened: my best friend being killed in front of me, me being tortured, spending time in prison. I get… scared. I told you that’s why I had gotten Blue. Because I felt better with him around. That’s why I still live with Carrieann. Because I hate being alone.”
“I’m sorry,” Josie said.
“You went to sleep in my bed and a couple of hours later, I got in. I just… I was having a lot of anxiety. It made me feel better to be close to you. Real manly, I know.”
“Oh, Luke. I understand. Believe me, I do.” Josie looked down at Blue who had now taken up position at Luke’s feet. “But Luke, Blue was outside the bedroom door. When I woke up, his dog bed was empty, and he was outside the door.”
“Against it, right?”
“Well, yeah. I almost tripped over him. I wondered if you put him out there because we were—you know.”
Again, Luke laughed. He reached down and patted Blue’s head. “Blue can open doors, remember?”
That Josie did remember.
“That door to my bedroom tends to swing shut on its own if it’s not propped open,” Luke added.
They both turned when they heard the sound of someone calling Josie’s name. Noah stood at the mouth of the tent on his crutches. He balanced on them and lifted one hand to wave her over.
Luke went on, “Sometimes, when I am having a really bad night, he sleeps outside the door, pressed against it. That way no one can get to me without getting past him first. I didn’t teach him that. He just figured it out. That’s what makes him so special.”
Josie smiled at Blue. “Oh, there are a lot of things that make him special,” she said. “Stick around, would you? We might need your help finding Lucy still.”
Luke looked from her to Noah and back again. “Go,” he said. “That’s where you should be.”
As she walked toward the tent, and Noah, she looked over her shoulder at Luke one last time. “Thank you, Luke.”
Sixty-Two
Noah hobbled outside the entrance of the tent to meet her. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me you got shot? Jesus, Josie.”
Josie stopped in her tracks. She could tell by his tone that he was genuinely upset. “I’m sorry, Noah. I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I had a vest on.”
“So did Amy Ross, and now she’s fighting for her life. You know damn well those vests don’t make you invincible. You could have been killed.”
“Noah, I’m sorry.”
“I had to find out from a couple of Feds who carried you out of the woods. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Josie put a hand on her hip. “They didn’t carry me,” she said.
He pointed a finger at her. “Don’t change the subject.”
What could she say? She didn’t tell him because she had wanted to go home first and make sure she wasn’t pregnant before she got checked out at the hospital? Because, had she been pregnant, she wouldn’t have known exactly whose it was? What a mess she had made of things.
Noah said, “I just lost my mother, Josie. I can’t lose you, too.”
“You’re not going to lose me,” Josie said, softening her tone. “I promise.”
“You can’t make that promise,” he shot back. “Not in this line of work.”
“Neither can you,” she pointed out. “You’ll be back on full duty in no time and back in the field with me.”
He didn’t respond.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth,” Josie said. “But wait, did you say Amy Ross is alive? Did she make it through surgery?”
Noah looked away from her, and she could tell by the muscle twitching in his jaw that he was taking a moment to compose himself. He met her eyes once more. “Yes. She made it. She’s in recovery now. Heavily sedated. They