Page 123 of Protecting You
The quilt covering the bed looked handmade—by Callan’s mother, no doubt. The fabric squares Alyssa had moved to the sewing table added splashes of color. The walls were decorated with old photographs of the Templeton family—Callan’s parents on their wedding day, Callan and Hannah jumping off the dock into the lake.
It was cozy and safe, the perfect place to hide until it was time to leave. She was hiding, not trusting herself to have a conversation with Callan. Every time she thought of his rejection the night before, it stung. Yes, she understood he needed to focus on Peri. Of course he did. But that truth didn’t heal the wound.
If he didn’t want a relationship with her, then he shouldn’t have given her that mind-blowing kiss. He shouldn’t have led her to believe he cared about her. That there might be a future for them.
It didn’t matter. She just needed to avoid him.
A knock sounded. Solid, forceful.
Callan.
She was tempted to tell him to go away, but the last thing she wanted was for him to know how hurt she felt. She swung the door open.
“Can we talk?”
His words had her defenses rising.
He must’ve seen something in her expression, because he added, “We need to go over the plan and figure out how to…” He turned his gaze toward Peri’s room, lowering his voice. “She’s going to have to come with us, so?—”
“What? She’s coming?”
“Shh.” Again, his gaze flicked away. “I don’t have another option.” He ran his hand over his blond hair. “It’s not ideal.”
To put it mildly.
Alyssa wasn’t about to invite him into the bedroom, so she shoved her feet into her shoes and then led the way past Peri’s closed door and down the stairs. She snatched her jacket off a chair where she’d draped it the night before and stepped outside, where Peri wouldn’t overhear.
It was supposed to warm into the seventies later, which would be perfect for her grandparents’ anniversary party.
Now, it was in the low fifties. Sunshine dripped through the tall trees all around, sparkling on the puddles left over from yesterday’s rain. New spring leaves were bright green against the darker pines. Birds chattered, squirrels hopped branch to branch.
Alyssa turned toward the side of the house, wanting to see the lake that had been nothing but a dark expanse the night before. Her bedroom was on the front side of the house, so the view from her window had shown only forest.
Through the woods, she glimpsed the neighboring house, which was probably a hundred yards distant.
She zipped her jacket as Callan fell into step beside her.
“I’m trying to figure out how to do this,” he said. “You and I have to sell the idea that we’re engaged, but with Peri?—”
“What?” She froze and faced him. “We’re not telling my family we’re engaged.”
“Ghazi will be watching. Not personally—at least there’s been no indication that he’s left the Brookline house. But he’ll have people there.”
“This is myfamily. I’m not lying to them.”
“We have no choice?—”
“You didn’t lie to your family.” As the words left her mouth, she remembered that he almost had. She’d stopped him from introducing her as his fiancée.
“I would have,” he said. “If not for Peri, if not for Dad’s heart attack, I would have. We have to stay in character. But… I mean, you’re right. I didn’t. I thought they had enough to deal with, and since Ghazi doesn’t know who I am…”
“Right. And who cares about my family?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying?—”
“I thought you were a Christian.” He’d prayed a couple of times for them. Didn’t that mean something? “I don’t know what church you go to, but at ours we’re taught not to lie.”
His expression hardened. “In my line of work—the line of work you wanted to be in—sometimes lying is part of the job.”
