42097609460

When she trailed off, he finished her sentence. “Combat? No, I
wasn’t that kind of army. I was a criminal justice major in college
and I ended up in CID.”
“What’s that?”
When he told her, she turned toward him. “Like the police?”
He nodded. “I was a detective,” he said.
Katie said nothing. Instead, she turned away abruptly, her face
closing down like a gate slamming shut.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head without answering. Alex stared at her,
wondering what was going on. His suspicions about her past
surfaced almost immediately.
“What’s going on, Katie?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, but as soon as the word came out, he
knew she wasn’t telling the truth. In another place and time, he
would have followed up with another question, but instead, he let
it drop.
“We don’t have to talk about it,” he said quietly. “And besides, it’s
not who I am anymore. Believe me when I say I’m a lot happier
running a general store.”
She nodded, but he sensed a trace of lingering anxiety. He could
tell she needed space, even if he wasn’t sure why. He motioned
over his shoulder with his thumb. “Listen, I forgot to add more
briquettes to the grill. If the kids don’t get their s’mores, I’ll never
hear the end of it. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Sure,” she answered, feigning nonchalance. When he jogged off,
Katie exhaled, feeling like she’d somehow escaped. He used to be a
police officer, she thought to herself, and she tried to tell herself that