She laughed. “I can see where you inherited your reserved nature. Rose is a talker, isn’t she? I think she pointed out every single nail you put into this house.”

“Did she throw up again?”

“One more time. But she kept some crackers down. She’s sleeping now.”

“Thanks for being so patient with her. I, ah—” He scratched the back of his head. “It means a lot.”

“Are you kidding? She told me stories about you all day. I loved it.”

He looked down, a smile playing around his mouth. “Shit. You were probably heading to your truck to make a getaway, huh?”

“Actually, I probably should get it. I parked it a few blocks away.”

“It’s parked around the side of the house. I took your keys off the table and got it earlier. I don’t want you walking around alone at night.”

“Uh, okay.” She sat up and frowned at him. “I walk around at night all the time.”

He glanced away. “Yeah, but it’s different in the city. Give it a couple of days, until people know your face and word gets around that you’re staying with me. Then you’ll be fine to go anywhere you want, at least in this neighborhood.”

She glanced out at the dark street, scooting a little closer to his legs. It seemed much less peaceful than it had a minute ago.

“So did Mama tell you all about how I won the second-grade spelling bee with the word ‘promiscuous’? That’s her favorite story.”

“She did, actually. Among other things.” Andra nudged his legs. “You never told me you got shot.”

“That makes it sound worse than it was. It felt more like a bad rope burn, actually. Want to see?” He pulled up his basketball shorts, revealing a line of scar across the outside of his thigh as thick as her thumb. She must have been terribly distracted to have missed that on the one day they’d been naked together in her room.

She trailed her fingers along it, wincing. “She said you were rescuing trapped people out of flooded houses when it happened, but I didn’t understand how guns got involved.”

“When we chopped into the attic, the guy thought we were looters and started shooting.” LJ shrugged. “Things were crazy, and it was an accident. He was pulling people out right alongside me the next day.” LJ pointed to the east. “He lives about five streets that way.”

Andra closed her eyes and laid her forehead on his knee, her hand cupped over the scar. She couldn’t even fathom forgiving someone for shooting her. Much less trusting them to help her chop through roofs while she was standing on a bandaged leg. And yet, because it was LJ, it made perfect sense.