Marie felt painfully full, but she tried to finish a little more of the eggs and bacon. She didn’t want to appear ungrateful. “So . . . so what do you do, Logan?”
He downed the contents of his coffee mug. “Uh, security. Mainly. And I train . . . I teach self defense.”
Security. That sounded important. Marie bit her lip, trying to think of something else to ask or say about that. But she didn’t want to say something ignorant or come off stupid, so she just looked down and kept her mouth shut.
“What about you?” he asked. “How’d you end up in Anchorage?”
She really didn’t know how to answer that. “Long story. So do your friends, um, do they all do security too?”
He gave her a pointed look. “Not really. We all work at the same private school, though. Where ya from?”
The smell of honeysuckle and the sound of crickets chirping flashed across her mind. “Mississippi, originally. But I’ve seen all the Midwest and Canada.” At that, she smiled. It was one of the few accomplishments in her life she was proud of.
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Surely not all of Canada.”
Marie rolled her eyes. Of course he wouldn’t be impressed. “Well, if you wanna get technical. I been to every province. That better?”
He took her hand, rubbing lazy circles with his thumb. “Mmhmm. And how’d you manage that, sweet thing? I know that Civic didn’t make it cross country.”
“Hitchhiked,” Marie said with a casual roll of her shoulder, hoping he would let it slide.
The look of abject horror on his face suggested he wouldn’t. His hand tightened on hers. “You hitched all the way across Canada? Alone?”
Marie really wanted to talk about something else now. “Yeah. It was fine. So what kinda business brought y’all to Anchorage?”
Logan rubbed his forehead. “No, no, back up. That isn’t fine. Jesus, what the hell were you thinkin’?”
Marie blushed. “I dunno. I . . . thought it’d be an adventure.” Dear God, that sounded so stupid. She wished she could take that back, or maybe just sink into the floor or something. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. She should go. She should go.
But his grip on her hand was strong. “So you just up and left one day? Decided to go on an adventure, hitchhike across the country? You got any idea what coulda happened to you, Marie?”
None of the really bad stuff happened ‘til I got to Anchorage, ironically enough.
Logan’s words stung. It kind of hurt that he thought she was that dumb. But then, he didn’t know about the mutation that all but ensured her safety if worse came to worst. “I didn’t ‘just up and leave’. I got turned out by my folks. I always wanted to see Alaska and knew hitchin’ was the only way I’d ever get here. Didn’t seem any worse than livin’ on the street.”
His expression softened fractionally. “Why’d they turn you out?”
“Why’re y’all here on business?”
He didn’t answer.
Neither did she.
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