in a puzzle someone was sliding together. They could be waking up at
the beach house, the morning after. The nightmare never having
occurred. How was it possible that one could know another person for
such a short period of time and have it feel like several lifetimes?
God would only let that happen once, if ever. And in Lee’s case, God
had taken it away. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right. He pressed his
face into her hair, soaking up every particle of her scent.
“How long are you here?” he asked.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Nothing fancy. Dinner at my place, a quiet talk. Letting me hold you
all night.”
“As wonderful as that sounds, I’m not sure I’m up to that last part
just yet.”
He looked at her. “I’m being literal, Faith. I just want to hold you.
That’s all. That’s all I’ve been thinking about all these months. Just
holding you.”
Faith looked as though she might start crying. Instead she brushed
away the lone tear that had tumbled down Lee’s face.
Lee glanced in the rearview mirror. “But I guess that’s not in
Reynolds’s agenda, is it?”
“I doubt it.”
He looked back at her. “Faith,” he said softly, “why did you step in
front of that bullet? I know you care for Buchanan and all, but
why?”
She took a shallow breath. “Like I said, he’s unique, I’m ordinary. I
couldn’t let him die.”
“I wouldn’t have done it.”
“Would you have done it for me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You sacrifice for people you care about. And I care a great deal
about Danny.”
“I guess the fact that you had all the means to disappear-fake ID,
Swiss bank account, safe house-and instead went to the FBI to try and
save Buchanan should have clued me in on that.”
She clutched his arm. “But I survived. I made it. Maybe that makes
me just a little extraordinary, in a way?”
He cupped her face with his hand. “Now that you’re here, I really
don’t want you to go, Faith. Like I would give everything I have, do
anything I can, if you wouldn’t leave me.”
She traced his mouth with her fingers, kissed his lips, stared at his
eyes, which even in the darkness seemed to have the blinding heat of
the sun behind them. She never thought she would ever see those eyes
again; maybe the fact that she might, if she were to survive, had been
the only thing that had saved her, had not let her die. Right now she
wasn’t sure what else she had to live for. Other than the apparently
depthless love of this man. And right now it meant everything to
her.
“Start the car,” she said.
Puzzled, he looked at her but said nothing. He turned the key in the
ignition, put the car in gear.
“Go ahead,” Faith said.
He pulled the car away from the curb and the vehicle behind them
immediately did the same.
They drove along, the car following them.
“Reynolds must be pulling her hair out,” Lee said. “She’ll get over
it.”
“Where to?” he said.
“How much gas do you have in the car?” Faith asked. He looked
surprised. “I was on a stakeout. Full tank.”
She was settled against him, her arm curling around his middle, her
hair tickling his nose; she smelled so wonderful he felt dizzy.
“We can drive to the lookout spot off the GW Parkway.” She looked at
the star-filled sky. “I can show you the constellations.”
He looked at her. “Been chasing stars lately?” She smiled at him.
“Always.”
“And after that?”
“They can’t keep me in Witness Protection against my will, can they?”
“No. But you’d be in danger.”
“How about we’d be in danger?”
“In a second, Faith. In a second. But what happens when we run out of
gas?”
“For now, just drive.”
And that’s exactly what he did.