Page 126 of Protecting You
“How will you explain to Peri the fake engagement?”
“Yeah. More importantly, how do we keep Ghazi’s men from realizing she’s my daughter? How do we keep her out of danger?”
Alyssa turned and faced the house where they’d left the innocent little girl.
“We’re going to Brooklynn’s house first so I can borrow a dress. We can all drive together. Maybe it’ll look like Peri’s with her.”
“Okay.” He pressed his lips together, seeming to have trouble holding Alyssa’s eye contact. “I know it’s unfair, but do you think there’s a way Peri could be gone when we announce the engagement? I just…I don’t want to lie to her.”
Peri was only a child, a wounded, grieving child. She deserved their protection from all of this.
“I can tell Brooklynn the truth, and she?—”
“No. We can’t tell anybody.”
Alyssa stifled a sigh. “Okay, then the truth. Theothertruth. We tell my family that we were going to tell your parents but your dad had a heart attack, so…so I’ll tell Brooklynn about the engagement and ask her to take Peri for a walk while we make the announcement.”
“Will she do it?”
“I don’t see why not.” Except for the obvious, that Brooklynn was going to be furious with her. Or disappointed, which would be even worse.
But this was the price Alyssa paid for doing business with a terrorist. This was the cost of keeping her family safe. It would be worth it, even if they never forgave her.
* * *
“It’s just down the hill,”Alyssa said.
Callan rode the Mustang’s brake, following the traffic toward the coast in downtown Shadow Cove.
“Ooh, it’s so pretty!” Peri said from the backseat. “Look at the pink house!”
The “pink house” was actually an office building. The first floor contained a real estate company. Alyssa used to get her teeth cleaned on the second.
She’d grown up just a couple of miles from here, and when she’d been young, she hadn’t thought there was anything special about her little town—all the old houses-turned-businesses. Back in the eighties, before she was born, somebody had started a revitalization effort in town, hoping to attract tourists. One of the woman’s inspired ideas had been to paint all the downtown buildings bright colors. To hear old-timers tell it, there was a lot of pushback from locals, but their failing businesses had them grudgingly agreeing, with the caveat that they could paint everything white again if it flopped.
It didn’t flop.
Shadow Cove was not only delightfully attractive and charming, as were most Maine towns on the coast—at least the ones tourists frequented. But it was unique. York and Kittery, Boothbay and Bar Harbor. They were lovely, but similar.
None of them had this. It was the best little town in Maine.
Maybe, she was the teeniest bit biased.
They passed souvenir shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream parlors. Some of the businesses were new, but most had been there as long as she could remember. The arcade, where they used to drop their weekly allowance in video game slots, back when they were a quarter. The pizza parlor, owned by third-generation Greek immigrants. The popular restaurant overlooking the coast, which served everything from local seafood to Canada’s famed poutine.
“I wanna go there.” Peri pointed at the new bookstore in an old building that had been completely remodeled. A bay window boasted a Winnie-the-Pooh display featuring the Hundred Acre Wood behind giant stuffed animals—Pooh Bear, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore.
“That building used to be the library,” Alyssa said. “I borrowed every Nancy Drew mystery they had when I was little.”
“I love Nancy Drew! Can we go, Daddy?”
“Maybe later.”
As delighted as his daughter seemed, tension wafted off of Callan. And Alyssa got it. They were walking back into the lion’s den. Callan was certain that Ghazi would have people at the country club, watching. The thought of getting themselves—and more than that, Peri—anywhere near the terrorist sent her anxiety spiking.
She wished he’d stayed home, stayed far away from this. Maybe it would put her in more danger, but better that than the sweet eight-year-old who’d already survived so much tragedy.
“Are we getting close?” he asked.
