“Pointless question. If I’m an honest man, I say no. If I’m a liar, I say no.”
“Yeah, but I want to hear how you say it.”
Rainwater ran in a rivulet down his neck to be absorbed in the collar of his shirt. The same short-sleeved red shirt from yesterday evening—he’d slept in the car, and he hadn’t left or changed his clothes.
He knelt on the ground beside her with bare, wet arms and a night’s beard growth on his jaw, and he looked more human than he had yesterday.
Their eyes met.
There was nothing there.
“I lie,” he said.
And then she had to shake her head, because things were getting seriously fogged up inside her brain. She believed him. She was one hundred percent certain he was telling her the truth about being a liar.
What the hell was she supposed to do with that?
“Did you lie about the hurricane being a Category Four?”
“I might have.”
“It’s still a Three.”
He shrugged. “Either way, they’re evacuating.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
“I’ll give you my word. When I give my word, I keep it.”
“What will you swear on, your honor? Your immortal soul? The life of your mother?”
“I don’t swear on anything. I just swear.”
“You’re a liar, but you keep your word-that’s-based-on-nothing when you bother to swear it.”
“Yes.”
God help her, she believed that, too. And it wasn’t like she had much of a choice—she couldn’t remain attached to a palm tree with a hurricane coming.
“So, safe passage. You give me your word. You won’t come back here or send anyone else here to knock this place down until the hurricane’s gone and we’ve both had a chance to—to regroup.”
Though how did you regroup, exactly, when you’d lost everything?
You regroup with your group.
Right. She needed people. Since it was August, not wintertime, her snowbirds were flung all over the country, but she could get to Mitzi—and Mitzi was really the best person, given the situation.
Roman inhaled, preparing to speak, but Ashley cut him off. “And I want you to drive me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You need to evacuate me.”
The plan took shape even as she spoke. Mitzi. Of course. One of her grandmother’s closest friends and a born schemer, Mitzi would know what to do. She would tell Ashley how to save Sunnyvale, and if Ashley brought Roman to her—well, that would be perfect. Ashley would have time to get to know him in the car. She’d discover his weaknesses. Figure out his tells. And then when she turned him over to Mitzi—
Mitzi would fix this.
“You have to give me a ride.” To Georgia. “To the house of a friend of mine, because I need somewhere to stay.” And she’ll know how to cut you off at the knees. “And you have to swear not to knock Sunnyvale down.” Until I’ve had time to figure out how to rescue it. “And you have to give me a chance.” To bluster and flail wildly until you’re so distracted by my incompetence, you don’t know what hit you when Mitzi tells me how to deliver the knockout punch.