“Do you think the fire was because of me?”
It sounded stupid in my ears. How and why would this invisible person want to hurt me so badly?
He shrugged. “Like I said, it’s best you leave tonight.”
“And what if I brought this on? Isn’t it too late for that? How can I leave them unprotected?”
“I can bring people in to watch over the place.”
I pictured an army of security guys in fatigues surrounding the community.
“Kalen, you can’t,” I said.
“Can’t what?” Turner asked, stepping into view from what must have been his bedroom. “And I thought his name was Jeremy?”
As he glanced between us, I could see his wheels turning. If he hadn’t already figured it out by now, he was putting it all together.
“My full name is Jeremy Kalen Brinner King,” Kalen said, not looking away from me.
“He’s the guy?” Turner said.
They both waited for my answer. I nodded and Turner mimicked my action but not for the same reasons.
“He’s come for you,” Turner said more to himself.
“He came to warn me, and I should have listened. Mary’s house is destroyed.”
Turner seemed to snap out of it. “You don’t know that,” he said, being his levelheaded self.
Kalen ignored him and focused on me. “You need to leave and now.”
Turner’s head whipped around to face me. He had been watching Kalen talk. Now I saw hurt mar his beautiful face. “You were leaving without telling me?”
He didn’t have to say the word again for me to hear it at the end of what he said.
“We don’t have time for this,” Kalen protested. “I will protect you even from yourself.”
Turner came over and demanded an answer. “You’re leaving with him?”
“What choice do I have?” A sob threatened, but I managed to hold it back.
Kalen just stood there, smug in knowing that he’d won.
“You don’t even know if the fire is related to whatever’s going on with you. How do you know he didn’t start it to force you to leave with him?”
Turner glared at Kalen.
I swallowed, knowing it was truth time. “He couldn’t have. He was with me.”
Turner bobbed his head once in resignation and turned to go back through the inner door he’d come from.
“Wait,” I called out, shoving past Kalen. I entered the room that turned out to be Turner’s bedroom without knocking.
He stood there with his hands folded on top of his head and his back to me.
“It’s not what you think.”
Excruciatingly slow, he turned to face me.
“And what am I to think? That you lied to me. That your boyfriend showed up to collect you, and you’re leaving with him.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I pleaded.
He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “That you lied about giving us a chance.”
I stepped up to him, determined to convince him of the truth. But he beat me to the punch line. “Do you love him?”
That stopped me dead. I couldn’t look at him. Lying wasn’t my strong suit. He didn’t wait for my answer, seeming to draw his own conclusion from my silence.
“Do you love me?” he asked, voice tight.
“Yes,” but it came out as a whisper.
“You can’t have it both ways.”
“I know.”
My heart wanted one thing. My mind another.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he began, causing the beating in my chest to pick up. “Before I knew you were coming, I’d planned to join a group similar to the Peace Corps. Their mission is to help communities in third-world countries survive with the resources they have.”
Of course, he would. That was the man I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. He gave with all of his heart.
“Growing up here, I’m in a unique position to understand how to accomplish that having lived that way all my life. Most of the volunteers don’t have that knowledge,” he said.
He reached out and took my clammy hands, as I had no idea how to answer his oncoming question.
“Go with me.” When I said nothing, he added, “Or I’ll go with you. I’m pretty sure New York is like the jungle.”
I smiled at his growing grin. “Lions, tigers, bears, and all that.”
“Something like it,” he said.
“I’m willing to go anywhere as long as I’m with you.”
Big words from a man who had no idea who I’d become. I wasn’t the girl he’d fallen in love with and neither was he the boy I’d loved. We were different, yet the same.
I knew I could trust my heart with him even if the traitorous thing had other plans. But that particular part of my anatomy had made all the wrong decisions in the past. Maybe it was time to listen to my brain. If I’d done so from the beginning, Turner would be my husband and Kalen would be a social media headline I would have missed.
“Don’t answer now,” he said. “Think about it. Above it all, I want you to be happy.”