First Real Kiss

“Seventy-two.” She looked me up and down, and it felt like she weighed me, measured me, and found me wanting. “Seventy-three if we count the Library Rescue here. I wasn’t intending to add another chapter, but it seems I’ll have to now.” She puffed out her cheeks and shook her head. “History is so demanding. It’s always revealing itself and changing the past. Do you know, I had the entire thing completely written until you chose the twentieth anniversary to reveal yourself. I’d worked out everything with my publisher, and we were a total go. And then this.” She waved a hand up and down over my frame. “I guess it’s good to finally have that little mystery solved. And apparently you have your own mysteries you’re working on, so if you’ll help me, I’ll help you.”

“That’s great you’ve been compiling this for so long.” I accepted the sheaf of papers from her. Instead of being a scary list, each page contained just one person’s information. Seventy-two pages. “Thank you.”

“It’s confidential!” She left, slamming the door in our faces.

I looked at Luke. He looked at me.

The door flew open again, and Marcia shoved a clipboard at Luke. “Sign. Both of you. It’s a non-disclosure agreement. And trust me, I’ll have the two of you in court faster than an armadillo crosses a road if I hear one breath of rumor that my list has left your possession.”

Luke signed. I signed. We went to the car and headed out. As soon as we passed under the community’s welcome arch, we both blew out our breath and looked at each other.

“Wow.” Luke ran a hand over his perfect, dark brown hair.

“Yeah.” I hugged the list. “Where do you want to start?”

“Back in the medical records office.” He curved his knuckles and ran them over my cheek lightly. Chills scampered over my skin. “Or we could go to my place to continue what we started at the hospital. It has a nice sofa.”

“That sofa is made of steel.” And I knew what he was thinking we’d do on that sofa. “We’re on task, pal.”

“Just kidding, sort of. I’m here for you. We’ll find your rescuer.”

“You really get it, don’t you? The fact I need to find him and get some closure on the past.” He got that, whether or not Luke understood the magnitude of what meeting the man who rescued me could mean—including what it could mean for Luke and me and our future. “I can’t thank you enough.” I flipped through the list. “Can we rule out all the women, and just start with the men?”

“We have to contact all of them. Marcia’s orders.”

Ugh. True. “Okay, then …”

Luke pulled to the side of the road. He took the list and flipped through it. “Oh, to be as obsessive-compulsively organized as this woman.” He pointed at the address lines. “She has arranged these by neighborhood for us.”

“So we can save time? Are they all in Torrey Junction?”

Luke flipped, flipped, flipped, and then said, “All but two, and they’re in Reedsville, but we’ll call them and arrange something with them.”

“They’ll probably be so glad to hear from us instead of Marcia Dawsonside, they’ll motor on down to Torrey Junction.”

He handed me back the list and drove on. I looked through it, page by page. Face by face—there were even photos she’d assembled, all looking to be from about ten years ago—but none jumped out as potentially being my rescuer.

Bummer. Huge bummer.

“Do you honestly think she listed every rescue worker and every injured survivor?” Luke flexed his hands on the wheel. “For instance, am I in there?”

“You!” I set down the papers. “What are you talking about? Were you a survivor, too?”

Luke pulled over to the side of the road again, a shady place beneath some willows. “I’m just saying not every injury was reported. In fact, in my case, I don’t even remember my injury—all I know is I nearly choked from all the dust from the quake. And there’s a chance I was injured, but I’m not sure.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“You never told me this.” Well, he’d told me about the dust. “What happened? Where were you when the earthquake happened?”

“I was at work.”

“At the”—no, it wouldn’t have been the hospital then. “Where?”

“At the beach. I was a lifeguard.”

“You’ve always wanted to save lives.”

“Just since my brother Lance died. But that’s not the point.”

Oh, but it was part of the point—if the point was getting to know Luke and what made him tick. Every cog in his spiritual mechanism fascinated me. I was falling for this guy—not to mention his kisses. Which was why I definitely couldn’t go back to The Citadel with the nice view of his living room sofa and its soft throw pillows and its potential for more than a few kisses.