The Girl Next Door

Chapters 29-32

-29-

When they emerged from the bathroom, they found George had finished packing up the room. He'd piled it all up on Emma's bed and was waiting in the open doorway, texting on his phone. At the sight of him, so clean-cut and poshly dressed, so out of place in this run-down dump of a motel. George was such a germaphobe, she knew he must hate to even touch anything here, and yet he was here, uncomplaining. Finn was the same: less polished, perhaps, but equally out of place. They were here for her. A tiny smile cracked through the vail of misery that had engulfed her since discovering her car missing. These sweet, wonderful men! She couldn't leave them, even though the voice of her conscience insisted that leaving was the only way to keep them safe.

"I think that's everything," George said, pocketing his phone and gesturing to the pile on the bed. "I just need you to tell me whether to load it into my car or Finn's truck."

"Yours," Finn said, squeezing Emma's hand to let her know he had no hard feelings about her choice.

"No, Finn's," she corrected, lifting his arm by their joined hands and tucking herself beneath it. She was terrified to stay, so afraid that someone she loved would be hurt in the next attack. But having decided to stay, she might as well do the thing that would bring her the most comfort...and that meant Finn. She'd made up her mind that here was where she would rebuild her life, and Finn was an integral part of the life she wanted. She knew how it would hurt him if she chose to stay with George.

Finn pulled her against him in a sideways hug, and she closed her eyes and leaned into the shelter of his big body. He felt like safety, and she wanted to believe he could deliver on his promise. He kissed her temple. "Love you," he whispered.

She turned her head to nuzzle her cheek against his shoulder, but she didn't trust herself to speak.

They loaded the truck, then walked back to the office to turn in Emma's room key. Officer Nilsson was gone, and Delores reported that the viewing of the surveillance tape had not been fruitful.

"I's mostly a view of the office door, in case we have a break in. It doesn't show much of the parking lot at all, but that officer took the tape, just in case," she explained.

Emma had doubted there would be a video of the theft. Her luck just hadn't run in that direction lately.

After saying goodbye to Delores, Emma hugged George, thanked him for his help, and said she'd pick up Ludo on their way back to Finn's. George sighed. "I'm gonna miss that big ol' fur ball."

She wished she had Ludo already, as her hands felt empty and useless as she sat in the passenger seat while Finn followed George out of the lot. She hated the circumstances, but she wasn't sorry to be leaving the motel at all. She'd hated that dingy, nondescript little room, the sketchy, noisy neighbors and their never-ending drama, the need to keep Ludo crated all the time, or to leave him with George. She looked forward to seeing her dog and prayed that Finn wouldn't ever have reason to regret taking them in.

They didn't speak as the pavement rolled beneath them, but Emma didn't mind. She was wrung out and exhausted from all the talking they'd already done, though it was still only midmorning. She liked that Finn wasn't intimidated by silence, that he could let conversations lapse without feeling an obsessive need to fill the void. It was nice to be able to be with him and still have the space and privacy to be in her own head... not that her head was a comfortable place, just now.

"When do Catie and Phoebe get back?" Emma asked, a long while later. She would be glad to see Catie, but she was nervous about seeing more of Phoebe. Even though she trusted Finn's assurances about their relationship, she couldn't imagine that a closer acquaintance with the woman he'd almost married could be anything but awkward.