“Sure does.”
“Screw you both,” Wyatt said as he left to follow Melanie.
He met her in her bedroom while she was changing her shirt. He didn’t bother knocking and didn’t offer any privacy when he saw her undressing. “I’m going to be okay,” she said over her shoulder.
“You haven’t been out of my sight for more than a few hours since all this happened.”
She tossed her shirt on the bed, grabbed another. “How do you think I feel? I haven’t left Hope at all. I couldn’t do it if I thought she wasn’t protected.”
“Jo can stay.”
“Yeah, but you know what?” She stopped messing with her shirt and placed both arms on his shoulders. “It’s you Hope asks about. It’s you she feels safe with.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “I hate this.”
“If I can get Nathan to say something . . . anything that proves I didn’t sign that damn paper, think of how much less time either of us has to deal with this. I’d love to focus on one thing . . . finding Lewis and putting him in jail for a long, long time.”
“Fine. But if you’re not back—”
“Ready, Mel-Bel?” Jo walked into the room. “Oops, sorry.”
“Stop, we were just saying what needed to be said.” Melanie placed a quick kiss against his lips and pushed him away.
Jo moved into the room and started taping the wire on Melanie’s delicate skin. Once it was secure, the bulk of the device tucked into her bra, she put her shirt on and buttoned it up. “The receiver will be in the car, with Luke recording the conversation.”
“He can hear the whole thing?”
“Yeah. Remember, if you start to feel uncomfortable, tell Nathan you have a headache and leave. If at that point you don’t walk out, Luke will come in and get you.”
“Sounds simple.”
“It is. Agent Burton will be close by, but you probably won’t see her. Don’t stress that.”
“Okay. Now, everyone needs to act normal or Hope is going to catch on,” Melanie told them both.
“I’ll see you outside then, and make sure Luke knows what’s going on.”
Jo left, leaving Wyatt and Melanie alone.
His palms itched, his head screamed with worry.
“Kiss me,” she told him.
He didn’t have to be told twice. His kiss didn’t linger, it just said he cared. “Be safe. Don’t take any chances.”
“Wyatt. I’m not wired to speak with a drug lord. It’s Nathan . . . a putz, but hardly a criminal.”
He didn’t feel any better.
He kissed her again. “Be safe.”
“I will.”
She was actually nervous. They were driving north of River Bend to Waterville. The only real meeting place was a burger joint that doubled as a pizza parlor. It was public, and often loud, but it wasn’t in River Bend and it wasn’t all the way in Eugene, which Melanie refused since it was too far from Hope.
Luke drove around the restaurant before finding a space close enough to pick up a signal from the wire.
“He’s going to see me out here,” Luke said.
“I told him you were with me and that you’d stay in the car. He seemed to understand the threats and didn’t argue.”
“Good.”
She saw him step out of a rental car a few slots away and head inside. “Here goes nothing.”
“I’m right here.”
She winked and stepped out of the truck.
A pair of dress slacks and a pullover shirt replaced Nathan’s normal suit. He saw her approach and looked around. “No posse this time?”
She pointed toward the truck Luke was driving. “Just Luke.”
Luke shot his hand in the air with a little wave and a smile.
Nathan shuffled his feet before stepping inside the burger joint. It was after two, and the place wasn’t filled to the brim, but it was noisy.
They found a small table by the window and sat.
“Thank you for meeting with me.”
“My attorney suggested I not,” he said.
“Mine, too,” she lied.
“Why am I here, Melanie?”
“I need to know why. Why are you doing this?”
He looked around the restaurant. The place was filled with teenagers and young twentysomethings. No police or lawyers to be found.
“I want to know my daughter.”
If that was so, then why wasn’t he asking about her?
“Why now?”
“I’m in a better place now.”
Words he said the first time he walked into town.
“Okay.”
His eyes swung to hers. “Okay, what?”
“I think you should get to know Hope, too. Maybe you should come over for dinner.”
He seemed shocked.
“You’re serious?”
“Right now she’s scared to death you’re going to take her away. I can’t have her afraid of her own father, can I?”
“I don’t think my attorney will think that’s all right.”
Scurrying away already. What a shock.
“It doesn’t have to be tonight.”
His head nodded like one of those bobblehead dolls. “Probably something we should plan.”
“Right, for Hope’s sake.”
His untrusting eyes narrowed. “Why the change of heart?”
Melanie attempted to act unaffected. “I know I’m not going to win.”
“Why?”
“You’re smarter than me.” He always told her how his intelligence outweighed hers when they were together. A part of his ego she didn’t feed then.