With O’Banyons. No fucking longer. I’d learn how to replace a transmission myself before I gave Bill any more business.

Five minutes later we pulled up in front of Sarah’s place. I wanted to take her to the ranch and handcuff her to my bed, but I’d dropped Kelsey off only a little while ago. Between Alice, Claire, and Kelsey in the main house, there would be no privacy. The first time I was with Sarah after six years, we’d be alone, that was for fucking sure. And her place was in town and a hell of a lot closer.

“You know where I live,” she said, finally looking my way.

“I keep track of those I care about.”

I didn’t offer her more than that. For now.

I parked, helped her out, led her up the steps to the front door. She lived in a small house in the older section of town. The porch had a swing, and the door was painted a glossy red. She’d been renting it from an older couple who’d moved to Arizona. It was small but all hers. “Give me your keys, baby girl.”

She blinked at me. “I left my purse at the shop. I’ve got a hidden spare.”

As she went down the steps to pick up what appeared to be a fake rock from her front flower bed, I called Noreen again, asked her to send someone to O’Banyons to collect Sarah’s things. I didn’t trust Bill, and I didn’t think he’d mess with someone in a uniform.

She opened the door, and I followed her in, shut it behind me. Locked it.

I noticed the size of the room. The color of the walls. The furniture. How neat it was. How it smelled like Sarah. All of it, because that was what I did. Observed. But I didn’t look away from my baby girl.

“Huck,” she said, then stopped as if other words were stuck.

I didn’t say anything, just pulled her into my arms. Hugged her tight like I had at the rollover scene earlier, but this time there wasn’t anything between us any longer.

She’d cried then, for coming upon a dead body. It was a shock that I’d sadly gotten used to.

But now she cried for a different reason. There were so many possibilities for the tears. Her dad being an asshole. Learning the truth about what he’d done before she went to college. For what he’d just said to her in the shop. I’d heard every fucking word.

I wanted to punch him in the face. I wanted to rip him to shreds telling him what I thought of him. Fuck, I’d been wanting to do both for so fucking long.

But Bill O’Banyon was nothing to me now. I had Sarah in my arms, and I wasn’t letting go.

Her hands came around my back, and she clung to me, cried into my shirt. I stroked her hair, her back, whispered to her how perfect she was. How special. How I’d missed her. Needed her.