She smiled, turned, and slid her arms in. He settled the coat on her shoulders, a similar memory of his grandparents choking him for a second. Hannah locked up, and they started down the sidewalk. “I can’t believe I’m walking home from work. Six weeks ago I thought I’d be spending most of December in Spain.”

“So you miss it?” He wondered, always, if she would tire of living in the suburbs. Tire of him.

“Not one bit.” She leaned against him. “I don’t know what I was looking for, but I found happiness here, with you. Maybe I wasn’t looking for something as much as running away. There were a lot of bad memories here.”

“Aren’t they still here?”

“Yes, but now we’re making some good ones to cancel them out.”

“I heard from Chet today,” Brody said.

“How is he? Has he had any luck?”

Chet was in Las Vegas. Detective Douglas hooked him up with a private organization that searched for missing kids. He was consulting and hoping to find some trace of his daughter. “No luck yet, but he hasn’t given up hope. There have been a few leads. He’s sober. He’s keeping busy, and he seems to have found some purpose helping families find their missing kids.” Hope, that’s what Chet had found in Vegas.

“That’s something.”

They walked to the house. Inside, Danno greeted them with a meow, looking over his shoulder and trotting to the kitchen. Hannah handed Brody her coat. “I’m coming.”

She followed the cat down the hall. Brody hung their coats on pegs and joined her in the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out a small piece of leftover chicken. The old cat rubbed on her ankles as she handed him the meat.

“You’re going to spoil him.” Brody leaned on the wall.

“Yes, I am.” Leaning over, Hannah grinned and scratched Danno’s head. The old cat purred louder.

Eyeing her long legs and tight butt in her faded jeans, Brody walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. His lips cruised along her collarbone. “We have an hour.”

“Don’t you think of anything else?” She laughed, angling her head to give him better access.

He nuzzled the soft skin at the base of her neck. “Once in a while I have other thoughts, but I forget everything when you’re in the room.”

Just as Hannah had run from her hometown to escape bad memories, Brody had been running away when he left Boston. He’d thought he’d found happiness in Scarlet Falls, but happiness wasn’t a place. He could be happy anywhere as long as he was with her.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments