Page 190 of Secrets Hidden In The Glass

He shrugged. “Fifteen minutes—twenty tops.”

She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she kept her hands on her lap, remembering the tension-filled ride home. “What were you up to?”

“Just a little work stuff.” He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her back onto the pillows with him so he lay on his side and she turned her head to meet his gaze. “But that can wait, because I need to apologize again for being a complete ass on the ferry.”

She shook her head. “You weren’t.”

“Yes—”

She shook her head a second time, rolling to lie face-to-face with him and stroke her fingers through his hair. “It’s not fair that I’m asking you questions you can’t possibly answer. You’re the sheriff, but more importantly you and I are in a relationship. I don’t like thinking that I was taking advantage of that. I’m sorry I keep putting you in such a horrible position, but I’m even more sorry we had a fight.”

“Disagreements are going to happen sometimes—bad days, not seeing everything the same way.”

She swallowed. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m going to piss you off; you’re going to piss me off. But I’m not going anywhere.”

She nodded, wondering if she would ever be fully capable of believing that not everyone left—even when Nate had showed her time and again that he wouldn’t.

“This is hard—the whole situation.” He slid his fingers along her jaw and tucked her hair back behind her ear. “But it’s hardest on you. I don’t resent that you need answers. I’m just frustrated that I can’t find them fast enough.”

She sighed, regretting that her problems weighed so heavily on his mind. “You alone have found more in two and a half weeks than anyone has in twenty-two years. You’ve given me the gift of knowing that my biological mother was good to me.”

“I want to give you more.”

She captured his hand, holding it with both of hers as she pressed his palm to her heart. “I wish I could describe how much what you’ve done means to me. For most of my life I’ve wondered what I did wrong. I’ve wanted to ask her why she didn’t love me enough to stay, but now I know she did.”

“Callie—”

She shook her head, not wanting this to be their only topic of conversation. Lately they spent their time in the past, yet they had this moment right now. “Tomorrow. We can find the answers tomorrow.”

Sighing, he nodded.

“My mom’s here,” she said, smiling.

“I know. She’s great. We had a nice conversation.”

She narrowed her eyes. “About what, exactly?”

“You, of course.” He rolled to his back and pulled her on top of him. “She told me all kinds of embarrassing things about your childhood—like denting the driver’s ed car and eating yourself sick on Easter morning when you were ten. Puked right in your basket.”

She gaped. “I did not. She did not.”

“Oh right, that was me.”

She laughed as she swatted at him.

He chuckled.

“Sheriff Nathan Carter dented the driver’s ed car?”

He nodded, twisting a lock of her hair around his finger. “Took the turn by The Point too fast—fishtailed and smacked right into the guardrail.”

Her eyes went huge. “You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself. That’s a long way down to the water.”

“I think my instructor, Mr. Chuck, might have pissed himself. He claims he spilled his coffee on impact, but to this day I don’t buy it.”

She laughed again, loving when she found out fun little details about Nate’s life. The Carters never had a dull moment. “Did you really vomit in your Easter basket?”