Both officers, Levi Wicks and Christy—who Cassie was having a hard time believing was the same person she’d known in high school—were kind in their questioning, but Cassie still felt as if her head were spinning. If only she’d gotten a better look at the man. She’d done everything she could, they assured her, and while Cassie knew in her head that their words were true, she still couldn’t quite shake her guilt for putting Will in that situation. She’d had no inkling they’d be facing this kind of threat in Alaska, or she’d have... What? She had friends in Florida, ones she’d trust with Will, but not for such a long period of time. So she’d had no choice but to bring him with her. He was in the room with them now, hearing things no six-year-old should about danger, but he was playing a How to Train Your Dragon game on her phone, which Officer Wicks had brought since they’d stopped by the scene of Cassie’s accident on their way, so she could only hope his little mind was full of Night Fury dragons and not this conversation she was having with the police.
“We’ve been working this as a typical missing persons case, but no one had reported the damage to the house that you’ve just told us about,” Officer Wicks told her. He glanced down at his phone. “Excuse me just a minute.”
He stood and walked to another room to take the call, then came back.
“That was one of the other officers confirming what you said about the door and telling me about the rest of the house.”
“Was it more than just the front door?” Cassie asked, having not gotten far enough in her thoughts to wonder about that.
“Yes, the house has damage in several rooms. The office and the bedroom look like a tornado blew through, but jewelry and electronics are still there, so it’s not a random break-in.”
“Which means we need to change the way we are running the search also,” Jake said. “We’ve been looking for her, but the assumption was that there was a good chance it was a hike that went wrong.”
Did that change how the search-and-rescue team worked? Cassie wouldn’t have guessed so, but then again she didn’t know much about that kind of work.
Office Wicks spoke again. “The sooner you can meet with your team and brief them, the better. They need to know to be on guard also, in case any evidence they might uncover could make them targets.”
Jake nodded. He was still worried; she knew by the way the corners of his eyes crinkled, the blue in them shadowed ever so slightly. He looked at Christy, who seemed to understand better than Cassie what was bothering him. A fact which bothered Cassie far more than it should have when this was a man she’d given up every claim to years ago. And had driven a bigger wedge between them by keeping Will a secret, something they hadn’t talked about yet but would need to. Jake had been kind to Will, calm in his presence. Had he guessed his age? Could he see a resemblance and know it was his son? Cassie didn’t know—she’d never considered how any of this would play out, at least not in any realistic sort of way. Or did Jake think she’d been unfaithful?
That idea hurt. She would have never been untrue to him. She’d loved him, completely.
“Cassie, you need to stay with someone.” Christy didn’t bother softening the words with any kind of preamble.
“I had been planning to stay at my aunt’s house.” She scooted forward to the edge of the couch she’d been sitting on. “If you’re done with me now, I’ll just head that way.” Because if the police were finished taking her statement, then they’d be leaving soon, and no way was she sitting here alone with Jake. The conversation they needed to have could be done...another time. Right? She’d already been in his house too long and she couldn’t deal with the growing tangle of confusing feelings inside her, the guilt tormenting her.
God, forgive me. I should have told him about Will sooner.
A third prayer to a God she had never been sure existed. Cassie wanted to sort those feelings out later, figure out why it was starting to feel natural. She wished she could talk to Jake about it.
Looking over at him, his broad shoulders that had always been there to help her carry any burden she’d faced, his clear glacier-blue eyes that had never once lied to her, it was hard to remember why she’d left.
And then she remembered it had never been Jake. He’d never been the reason.
It had been all her.
They’d had their future planned. She’d doodled her first name and his last name all over her wedding notebook, had filled it with ideas for their day. And then somewhere along the line she’d realized she wasn’t just planning a wedding, wasn’t just falling in love. She was about to spend the rest of her life as someone’s wife. Jake’s wife. She’d been raised by just her dad—well, he’d had some help from his sister, her aunt who was now missing—after her mom had left him when she was two. He’d done an amazing job and had tried to give her everything she could ever need, but she had still never quite felt like part of a family. Not the kind like Jake had. Maybe that was why she’d gravitated toward him in the first place, his idyllic life, though as she’d gotten to know him and had started a relationship with him, she’d fallen head over heels for the man himself.
And then she’d realized that as much as she wanted a family, she had her mom’s DNA, her blood in her veins and...what if she turned out like her? Left Jake and some sweet blue-eyed baby? Besides that, here in town people would have expected her to be his support as his wife. She’d had dreams of her own, wanted to be a doctor just like Jake had. She couldn’t reconcile her dreams with being a traditional wife, and she’d wondered if that’s what had sent her mother away, wanting more, feeling trapped, even by love. She’d panicked. So she’d left, given them both space to pursue their dreams.
But she’d left without explanation, and she could only assume she’d broken his heart. She’d certainly broken her own.
They were all staring at her, she realized after a minute or so of being lost in her own personal memory lane.
“Would you be open to the possibility of staying somewhere else?” Officer Wicks asked, and she guessed she should be thankful he was asking and not ordering her. Not that police were allowed to order people around for no reason, but she understood the fact that she was risking her safety by going back to her aunt’s house.
But what other options did she have?
“If you both feel it’s necessary, I can consider something. I certainly don’t want to endanger Will.” She addressed her comment to the officers, hoping that despite what she’d heard about Jake getting his team involved, whatever that meant, that he’d stay out of this particular conversation.
“Then it’s settled, you’ll stay here,” Jake spoke up.
She felt the blood rush to her head and a wave of dizzy panic hit her. Cassie swallowed hard, blinked the feeling away. “I’m not staying...”
“All nice and professional. My parents turned the upstairs into sort of apartments. You’ll have privacy but I’ll be close by. The two of you will be safe there.”
Cassie opened her mouth to argue. Closed it again.
Seeming satisfied, Christy and Officer Wicks both stood and moved toward the door before Cassie could decide what to say, how to protest. She wanted to stop them, demand that they stay, but what, was she afraid to be alone with him? Surely not. Even if her...feelings hadn’t dissipated over the last decade, she was an adult. She knew when relationships weren’t healthy, and she wasn’t good enough for Jake. That should keep her away from him no matter how much looking at him, being in the same room with him, made her wish she could forget all the reasons she’d ended it in the first place.
And she would stay away from him.
Even if it was going to be infinitely harder to do while living in his house.
“Remember, if you think of anything else that could help, description-wise, give us a call anytime, okay?” Christy handed her a business card, which Cassie took as she felt herself nod. Then she stuck the card in her back pocket.
“Thanks for coming out,” Jake said, then the two officers left. Jake shut the door behind them.
And it was just the three of them. Mother. Son.
And Father who didn’t know he was one.
“We need to talk.” Jake could feel the charge in the air between them, a thousand levels of awkward and the invisible scarring that came from being so close to someone in the past only to have your shared life ripped in two and not see her again for seven years.
And she came back in danger. Needing your help.
And with a son.
“We do.” She agreed before he could follow his train of thought any further. His heart skipped a beat. Nodded. He waited for her to start, looked over at the kid who was still playing on the cell phone.
“Will?” Cassie waited until he looked up to continue. “We’re going to stay here. I...I knew Jake when I lived here before.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“We’re going to stay here, okay?” she repeated, as if stalling for time.
“Because the guy was chasing us earlier?”
“Yeah. It’s safer if we aren’t alone, all right, bud?” She moved closer to him, pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his head, then drew a breath.
“Maybe we could stream a movie for him?” she asked Jake. Jake nodded, understanding that whatever way this was going, Will didn’t need to hear the conversation. He turned Netflix on, scrolled through the kid options until he got to one about dragons, at which point the kid reacted enthusiastically and he offered him his Bluetooth headphones. There, they were now functionally alone. At least enough to finish this conversation.
“So...” Cassie trailed off as she took a seat on one of the chairs, her shoulders tense as she perched on the edge of the cushion. She wasn’t in any better shape than Jake was. He took a deep breath, tried to convince his shoulders to un-hunch.
“Please don’t do that, Cassie. Just...” Just what? He couldn’t very well tell her to spit it out, not when it was something this important.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. You need to know.” She took a breath.
Jake braced himself the best he could.
“He’s yours, Jake.”
He’d have said five minutes ago he was prepared to hear either, but there was no way a man could process this well. At least not that Jake could figure out. He stood, walked across the room. Back to the chair. Across.
Run. He could go running. His feet on the trail through the woods, using his body and his mind to the limit would help, but he couldn’t leave Cassie right now. Or Will.
His son.
Air. He needed air. He walked to the kitchen, as far from Cassie and Will in the living room as he dared to go without feeling like he was putting their safety in jeopardy.
After a few minutes he started back toward her. “Cassie...” He trailed off. What was there to ask? He let his eyes go back to Will, took in his features with the knowledge that he was his. His son. Again, the words echoed in the hollow spaces inside him, the ones Cassie’s leaving had caused. He had more family? Someone counting on him?
He opened his mouth to ask her another question when someone knocked on the door. He watched her shoulders tense.
“I’ll answer.” He stepped toward it, willing it to be someone who’d go away quickly. He didn’t want this conversation interrupted.