style="font-size:15px;"> What did that mean?
“You okay, honey?” Cheryl came and stood beside her and rubbed her arm.
Not too long ago that sort of casual touch would’ve been completely foreign to Bree. Living a lifetime without anyone touching her had made all touches feel odd.
Judy, the other full-time waitress, came and flanked Bree on the other side, knocking Bree’s hip with her own.
“You’ve been staring at that pitcher of tea for a full minute. You thinking about asking it out on a date? Tanner would probably be jealous.”
The sound of his name just made her abdomen muscles tighten more.
“I’m scared,” she finally whispered.
Saying it, talking personally about herself, was still so difficult. But these women were her friends.
Friends. Still such a foreign concept.
Both women immediately pulled in closer. Cheryl wrapped her arm around Bree’s waist. “Scared of what, honey? Do you feel like someone is watching you again? Do you think it’s the Organization?”
“They’re gone,” Judy assured her. “They may not be in prison yet, but none of them are free. Especially not Michael Jeter. He’s not going to get anywhere near you.”
Bree shuddered at the name of the man who’d kept her and her mother captive and hurt them both to force Bree to use her computer talents to further his agenda. Her mother had never fully recovered from his torture. But they were right—Jeter was currently awaiting trial and couldn’t hurt her anymore.
“No, not Jeter,” she whispered. “Tanner.”
“You’re afraid of Tanner?” Judy asked.
This was why Bree didn’t like talking. She always messed it up. She could feel herself withdrawing, falling back into old, bad patterns of retreat that were more familiar.
But Cheryl got right up in Bree’s face. “Hey. Talk to us.”
Bree looked in the older woman’s eyes. There was no judgment there, just acceptance and kindness.
“Order up,” Dan yelled from the kitchen window a few feet away.
“In a minute!” both Cheryl and Judy responded in sync. Dan sighed.
“Why would you be scared of Tanner? Did something happen?” Judy asked.
Spitting it out was probably the best option. “He’s coming to get me in an hour. Said he had a surprise and not to get dressed up.”
“A surprise isn’t bad, Bree.” Cheryl rubbed her arm again. “Granted, that boy should know better than to think you’re going to like surprises, but it’s definitely not something to be afraid about.”
“But he told me not to get dressed up! That means he doesn’t want me to go to any trouble with my hair and makeup if he’s just going to tell me it’s over.”
The other two women met each other’s eyes.
“Or...” Judy drew the word out. “He has something else planned and he doesn’t want you to worry about a dress or fancy shoes.”
Bree’s forehead wrinkled as she considered that. “Like what?”
“I’ve got another order up, gals,” Dan said from the window again.
“In a minute!” Now Bree joined the battle cry. She looked to her friends with a little more hope.
“Maybe a hike,” Judy said. “I know it’s colder out, but you both like to hike.”
Cheryl took the pitcher of tea from Bree’s hands and set it down on the counter. “Maybe stargazing. That’s romantic. He wouldn’t want you to get dressed up for that.”
Judy gave a one-shouldered shrug. “A motorcycle ride. I know he doesn’t have one, but maybe he borrowed one.”
“The point is, the words surprise and casual are not bad. Tanner Dempsey is nothing if not straightforward. That man is never going to blindside you.” Cheryl kissed her on the cheek, and then both women smiled and headed toward the kitchen to keep Dan from having a fit with undelivered food.
Bree turned and made her way back over to Mrs. Little, pouring her some more tea.
She wasn’t convinced surprises weren’t bad. She’d had a lot of years where the unknown meant dangerous or painful.
But one thing they said was definitely true: Tanner wouldn’t blindside her.
He’d spent the last month helping her with damn near everything. Helping her move back into the Andrewses’ small apartment on the outskirts of town. Helping her learn how to interact with others. Helping her figure out how to navigate her life now that she wasn’t on the run anymore.
And most important, helping her deal with the crippling loss of the twins she no longer had to care for. She knew Christian and Beth were back where they belonged, in their mother’s—Bree’s cousin Melissa’s—care. But after nearly three months of being their sole caretaker, losing them so suddenly had left a huge gap in Bree’s life.
Tanner had distracted her with dates and horseback rides at his ranch and kisses that curled her toes.
So Judy and Cheryl were right. Bree wasn’t exactly sure where her relationship with him was going, but if he had something bad to say, he wouldn’t beat around the bush.
The door to the diner chimed as it opened, and as if her thoughts had conjured him, Tanner was there—all long legs and big, broad shoulders that almost filled the door before he made his way inside. Her gaze continued up to his face, his thick dark hair cut short. That square jaw covered in what seemed to be an almost perpetual five o’clock shadow.
Those brown eyes.
Bree couldn’t stop staring. Even knowing she was standing there holding a pitcher of tea in the middle of a restaurant and just staring, she still couldn’t stop.
But at least he was staring at her, too.
He closed the distance between them, stopping when he was a few feet from her. “I know I’m early. I just had to see you. Today has been...”
She took a step closer. “Are you okay? Did anything happen?”
Every single part of her body seemed to clench as he reached out and trailed his thumb down her cheek. “It’s all fine now.”
She couldn’t look away from those brown eyes. It wasn’t so long ago that she found it hard to look him in the eyes, but more often than not now she found it impossible to look away. “Fine. I mean, good. I’m glad it’s fine.”
He took her awkwardness in stride as always. “I’ll just sit out here until you’re finished and chat with Dan and folk, if that’s okay.”
Sure. The
