John groaned, but Mary just laughed. “Too young to be tied down,” she answered playfully, although a splinter of regret wiggled its way between each word. Actually, she was single because the opposite was true. Too old for anyone to want to tie her down. For one anyone in particular. She smiled at Jack, hoping he couldn’t see the rawness her own words had caused her. “Just a lone wolf, I guess.”

John took the opportunity to jump in and change the subject. The rest of the breakfast, though by no means comfortable, flowed a bit easier, mostly thanks to John’s constant corralling of his father into legal subjects and away from personal ones.

Still, by the time the two of them finally exited the restaurant, Mary couldn’t help but dramatically sag against the side of the building.

“I warned you,” John said with a shake of his head, a little twinkle in his eye. He reached out and plucked the duffel from her shoulder.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE INSTALLATION OF Mary’s new door went smoothly. Despite his familiar tone with John on the phone the night before, Christo was extremely professional with Mary. And after he installed the door, he even went around to all of her other doors and windows, making sure that she would be safe to sleep there that night.

He talked her through a quality security system to purchase and even agreed to come back and install it tomorrow if she wanted.

With a wave and smile, he was on his way back to his wife and kids, and then it was just John and Mary there alone again.

Though she’d slept well the night before, and it was only five o’clock, Mary felt fatigue starting to descend. The detective had called her that afternoon and told her that she could start cleaning up her shop Monday morning. She was both antsy to get started and preemptively exhausted at the thought of all the work there was to do.

“You all right?” John asked as he stood in the doorway between Mary’s kitchen and living room, his hands in his pockets, his sleeves rolled to his elbows, concern in every line of his face.

“I’m fine. Just...overwhelmed.”

She poured two glasses of lemonade and put one in John’s hand as she walked past him to go sit on her couch. John followed her and set himself down in the armchair. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Do you, ah, feel safe enough to sleep here tonight? I mean, without the security system installed yet?”

“No,” she answered with a humorless laugh, figuring that John most likely knew her well enough at this point to know whether she was telling the truth or not.

“Do you want to sleep at my place again?” he asked in a voice that was much lower than his usual tone.

Yes.