That matched what Maya had said yesterday.
“What about Seb Antonov?” Lulu asked anxiously. “Have you located him yet?”
“He and an accomplice have been spotted on their way to Canada. They won’t get past the border.” Agent Clement blew his nose again.
Maya spoke up at that point. “Lulu and Tristan, you two have done an incredible job keeping Raul safe. All credit to you both. Until they’ve arrested Antonov and his minion, you need to be on guard. The man’s unpredictable. If I had my way, you’d lie low and stick close to Lost Harbor.”
Lulu and Tristan shared a secret amused glance. That didn’t sound bad to her.
“What happens next?” she asked.
Melbourne answered. “Now we take some statements—from you and Raul here—then I take this boy to his family. Sound good?”
Raul cheered, but a pang struck Lulu right in the heart. This was it. Goodbye to Raul. Ever since that fateful miming session on the Northern Princess, her mission in life had been to protect him and get him back to his family. In the process, she’d grown very attached to the kid. He was so polite and courageous. Like a mini-Prince Valiant. He also made her laugh with his obsessions with all things American. When she’d snagged a hamburger for him that first night in Lost Harbor, before they hid behind the dumpster, he’d gobbled it down with so much carefree joy that she’d almost forgotten they’d just fled the Northern Princess.
She crouched down next to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and clung to her. “Gracias por todo, Lulu. Maybe I will see you again soon.”
God, she loved the formal way he talked. “I’m going to miss you, profesor.”
His giggle sounded more boy than professor. Maybe now that he was going home, he could let his guard down.
“Oh, and thank you for saving my life,” she added, shaking out her wrist. “We had some fun times, didn’t we? Maybe best not to tell your grandparents about all of them.”
“I will tell them everything,” Raul said fervently. “I’m going to write a book. You will be the heroine.”
“Oh. Well, in that case…” Laughing, she gave him one more squeeze and stood up. She banished her tears to the back of her mind, determined not to rain on the boy’s happiness.
After their goodbye, Tristan took his turn. He bent down to shake Raul’s hand. “Nice work out there. You can be my crew member any time.”
“Gracias, Capitán!”
Tristan didn’t even scowl at his use of the hated capitán, which just proved that Raul had won him over too. As Lulu blinked away a tear, she noticed that Tristan was slipping something into Raul’s jacket pocket. Chocolate bar? Jerky? Whatever it was, she couldn’t identify it, but Raul smiled happily at Tristan.
After Lulu and Raul had finished their statements, she walked outside with the boy to wave goodbye to him and the agents. A brisk wind cut through her thrift store jacket and made her cheeks go numb. A grove of spruce trees swayed back and forth like priestesses in prayer. Gray-bellied clouds roamed overhead with their threatening loads of what…rain? Sleet? Snow?
She got the message. This was the real Alaska—when the forces of nature take over and the humans turn their focus to survival. Something deep inside her thrilled to the challenge, to the dare flung down by the autumn wind. Can you survive? Can you do more than survive? Can you live?
The FBI agents’ car pulled out of the parking lot, with Raul turning to wave at her through the back window. Then it turned the corner onto Main Street and disappeared behind a stand of birch trees that had lost nearly all their leaves. Their branches twisted white and naked against the sky.
She stared after the vehicle, feeling blank and empty, until other things filled her field of vision. The art store on the other side of Main, the physical therapy office, the teenager skateboarding down the sidewalk, a banner for the community college.
Footsteps sounded behind her and a warm hand settled on her shoulder. Without turning around, she knew who it was. Her body recognized his touch and initiated a slow melting process from her belly to her heart.
Tristan.
She was going to stay in Lost Harbor, she decided. She couldn’t walk away from someone who made her feel like this with one touch on her shoulder. Random chance had deposited her in Lost Harbor, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make the most of it.
She would stay for the fall. Or even the winter, maybe. She’d find her own place and her own work and she and Tristan could…date. They could see where this thing between them led—without the pressure of a kidnapper chasing them.
Filled with the joy of making that decision, she spun around to share it with Tristan. Then froze at the look on his face.
He held his phone in one hand, while the other fell away from her shoulder. “I just got a call. My father’s in the hospital.”
“Oh Tristan.” Her stomach clenched, her body reacting viscerally to the worst kind of news. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. My mother was nearly hysterical, it was hard to understand her. I’m going on the next flight.”
The next flight. Tristan was leaving?
“To…Chile?”
“Yes. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Will you…do you know…?”
She filled in the blanks. “What I’m doing? No.”
A second ago, she had known. But now? Did she really want to stay here if Tristan wasn’t around?
She’d decide that later. This was an emergency. All hands on deck.
“But don’t worry about me, Tristan. How can I help? I can help you pack. Drive you to the airport. You just tell me what you need.”
The lines of tension in his face eased and he ran his fingers through his thick hair. “Fuck, I don’t even know. My boat, the roof on my house, winter preps, my sister…shit, I need to call Toni.”
“Come on.” She spread a hand across his back and steered him toward Toni’s truck. “You make phone calls while I drive. I’ve always wanted to try driving on the wrong side of the street. How hard could it be?”
Her tiny little joke brought a twitch of a smile to his face.
Following her suggestion, he called Toni while she drove them back to the fairytale house. Tristan and Toni decided that he should travel to Chile first, because she was in the midst of helping Bash with the first session of their fight training camp. If things looked dire, he’d tell her right away and she’d fly down.
“Papa will want you there,” she heard Toni say. “It’ll reassure him to see your hairy face.”
She could relate to that. A kind of panic was brewing inside her at the thought of Tristan leaving. Why should that be, when she’d only just met the man?
Shoving aside all such thoughts, she helped him pack and tidy up Toni’s kitchen.
“You’re welcome to stay here,” Tristan told her as he zipped up his duffel bag. “I checked with Toni. They’ll be back either tomorrow or the next day, but there’s plenty of space.”
“That’s very kind, but no.” She didn’t want to intrude on Toni and Bash, who she barely knew. Nor did she want to sleep in the guest room where she and Tristan had spent such an intense and glorious night.