Page 201 of Fly's Path

“I went home.” No lies. “That’s not true. I ran.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth.” He pulls me closer to him. “We need to talk about that, because I can’t chase you all over the world.”

“Oh, you can’t?” I peek up at him with a flirty smirk.

“I can, and I will, but I’d prefer that you come and talk to me instead.”

A man in a parked car starts staring at us. “Fly, did you leave your car with the valet?”

“I just dropped it at the front door.”

“Well, I think they want us to leave.” The second I make eye contact, the man jumps out of the SUV and runs over with a set of keys.

Fly takes them while keeping an arm around me. He leads me to the passenger seat, then helps me up.

Thoughtful little things like that are what I love about Fly. “Now that you know everything about me, are you still in love with me?” I blurt out the scary words.

“Which part do you think I would stop loving you for? Being homeless because you spend your money taking care of your grandmother—”

“Wait, how did you know it was me paying for her and not the government?”

“Because the government doesn’t pay for the best facility around. Most times you can guarantee it’s the worst.”

This man’s attention to detail is going to get me in trouble. “I’d almost gotten the money figured out.”

“Sheri, I don’t care how much you have. I do care about you living in your car, though that’s done. You pick where you want to live, but you’re not living in a car or Jimbo’s shack.”

“WHAT? How do you know about Jimbo?” I know I didn’t mention him…or did I?

“You live in a small town that seems to love you. When you were missing, they rallied around to help me find you. Andsomehow, I promised Gertie that we would bring our kids back here every winter to see her.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“The thing with Gertie is you do what she tells you, or else. Which means we need to get married and have kids.”

“Well, if we ‘need’ to, I’m game. How many do you want? Because she seemed to think you would like a lot of them.” Fly said that like it’s that simple to decide that we’re getting married and having a bunch of kids.

Or am I the one letting my fear make it more complicated than it needs to be? “She might be right.”

“That woman seems like she’s always right.” Fly clears his throat. “I want to let this go because your brother said he would take over the care for your grandmother, but we can’t not have this conversation. What you’ve been through amounts to long-term abuse. The physical bruises will heal quickly, but what she did to you…what they did to you, won’t. I’m impressed with the strength you’ve shown to make it through that, but I want you to think about seeing someone to talk about it. And if something happens where your brother can’t do it, I’ll take care of your grandmother. You’re not getting hurt by family anymore. Never again.”

“You can’t protect me from every pain.”

“I can sure try to.”

That man. I reach over and place my hand on his. “That’s something a prince would say.”

“About that…it might have been mentioned that you got a tattoo.”

A blush steals up my face. “I did. It was a teenage intrusive thought again.”

“What intrusive thought?”

“That if I couldn’t have you with me forever, at least part of you could remain on me for eternity.”

“Sheri, you’re talking in code.”