4. Like To Pretend

4

LIKE TO PRETEND

" W ill you relax?" Andi said to Jack an hour later as they sat in her kitchen. It was just after eight p.m. Thankfully she didn't live that far from the hospital and it's not like she had to get her car either because she'd been on a walk when she tripped and rolled down a hill causing more drama in her life.

"It's hard for me to relax when I get a call that you're in the hospital and unconscious. How the hell was I supposed to know what happened?"

"You didn't have to jump on the first flight here," she said. "And then you got to the island fast too. How did that happen?"

"The flight was the easy part. I was able to get on the first one and you know why."

She did know. Because she was in Witness Protection and Jack was the one who set her up, he was always able to get to her fast.

"If you were that concerned over my safety you would have had someone from the Boston office come over and keep an eye on me," she said.

Jack sighed and reached into the bag of food they'd picked up. He'd called the order in when she was getting discharged and they stopped for the sub and soup on the way.

No way she was eating a sub right yet without checking out her teeth. She got more soup and had yogurt in the fridge. She'd test other foods tomorrow.

"I should have done it," Jack said. "But I didn't want to alert anyone without knowing. Once they said you didn't have a lot of injuries other than your head, I was concerned about when you woke up and wanted it to be a familiar face you saw."

"Also, you would have known if anyone from my father's past was in the area," she said. "But we know that isn't the real reason for everything."

"Don't go there," Jack said. "It was a threat and everyone agreed. The timing of it worked out well. It was that or I'd kill Leo and then where would you be if I was in prison?"

She laughed. "You wouldn't have gotten caught," she said. "I know it and you know it and let's not talk about it because you'd never be able to live with yourself if you did that."

"I've killed people before," Jack said.

"I don't want to talk about it with you any more than I wanted to talk about it with my father. I like to pretend you color and paint when you're at work if you're not sitting on the phone and chipping a nail typing some silly report."

"You're too soft and trusting," Jack said. "All the more reason you shouldn't be here without me."

She'd heard this before. Not just from Jack but her father too.

Andi wasn't hard like her mother. She didn't do whatever she wanted when she wanted.

She played by the rules and gave people more chances than she should.

She trusted the wrong people and her father had always feared for her safety.

Not that she'd ever given him reason to feel that way.

Until Leo.

But she'd kept that quiet until there was no way to keep it quiet. It was probably good her father wasn't alive during that time.

She wanted out and knew that what Jack offered was the only way to do it.

The timing was ideal and she wasn't sure she'd ever admit that to anyone. That she had to change her name and location and it worked out perfectly. Her past was buried where it belonged.

"I don't trust anyone anymore," she said softly. "That's why I'm alone."

"Don't go there," Jack said. He opened his sub and took a massive bite and she got a spoon to eat her soup. Her head was killing her and she didn't want to talk about this anymore. She was lucky she wasn't moaning over the aches and pains happening on the rest of her body.

But she knew Jack was going to be sitting next to her all night while she slept so it was best to get some of this out now so she could relax a little.

"It's hard to trust someone when they don't know I'm living a lie," she said. Andi hadn't thought this all through when she agreed to it. But the other option had been to stay and maybe not be alive to even have this conversation.

"I know and I'm sorry about that," Jack said. "But there are a lot of people in Witness Protection that have met and married someone. They lead normal lives."

"Living a lie," she pointed out.

"It's not a lie," he said. "This is your life now. It's not like someone is asking you if you're in Witness Protection. You've got a background story and it all lines up. We kept it as simple as we could."

Just changed her nameandwhere she grew up and all the names of her family.

Nothing simple about that.

"I'm tired, Jack. I just want to eat and then get some sleep. The spare bed is made up and you should be fine."

She was renting this house on the island. Two bedrooms, one bath. She was lucky that when she contacted Amanda about the position and flew in,that herhusband, Drew, was able to connect Andi with one of his realtors and gave her some places that were for rent.

Amanda didn't question the fact that she could afford to rent a house instead of looking for a cheaper apartment. Andi wouldn't lie about the money if she had to be honest, but she hadn't been asked.

Her credit check came back clean, like she knew it would, and she signed the lease after checking the few houses out on a quick trip with Jack to scope out the area.

They liked this house the best even though it was the smallest, but it afforded privacy from neighbors yet wasn't isolated. She had clear views through all the windows into the front and backyards. Plus, a security system was already installed and she paid the service to make Jack happy.

"Go lie down," he said. "I know it's been a long day."

"I need to eat. I want to shower."

"Can you wait?" Jack asked. "They said not to get your wound wet and I'm not sure I want to worry about you going down in the shower."

She laughed and wished she hadn't since it hurt too much. "I get it." She sat and started to eat her soup. She was exhausted and just the thought of knowing she was home now made her want to climb in bed.

She took a few scoopfuls of the soup but found her eyes were barely staying open.

"Go to bed," he said. "You're tired."

"I can take some more pain pills in an hour. I want to get food in my stomach and get them in me so I can sleep."

"No arguing with you, right?" Jack asked. "Got any chips? I forgot to get some."

"In the pantry," she said, pointing to the doors next to the fridge. At least this place was somewhat modern even if it was small for a house. Still bigger than an apartment and she'd never lived in a house by herself before.

She wasn't sure how she'd feel about it, but it was working out. She liked thepeace and quietmore than hearing noises from the apartments next to her.

She didn't feel jumpy here like she did in other places.

Maybe this was just where she was meant to be.

Jack got up and found the chips, but the crunching was making her head ache.

No reason to tell him that.

She had some more soup and stood up, but he stopped her. "What do you want?"

"I was going to make a cup of tea," she said.

"I've got it. I saw the bags in the pantry."

"Just put the cup under the Keurig and hit the button. The water comes out hot enough. I don't care what flavor."

He grabbed one at random, found her cupsandmade it while she ate as much soup as she could and didn't have to listen to him crunching on the chips.

He brought it over. "Do you want milk or anything?"

"No," she said. "How long are you staying?"

"I'm not sure yet," he said. "At least until Sunday, maybe Monday. It's going to depend on how you are feeling."

She was going to damn well make sure she felt fine so he could leave, even if she did miss having someone around that she could talk to and not worry about being too guarded or slipping up.

"That's fine," she said.

He laughed quietly. "I wasn't asking you," he said.

"I know. Maybe it will be nice to visit and have someone to talk to."

Jack was back to eating his sandwich. "You know you can call me whenever you want."

"We aren't supposed to have too much contact," she said. "Other than email or texts."

They both had an email account no one else knew about under false names and they would email back and forth without worries.

It was her idea and he had no problem with it. They did text but not as often.

The emails were there for her to vent about things or talk about her past. Jack didn't like that at first. Not having it in writing. But he finally gave in.

She hated to think that some tears were what worked for him, but it did help her feel better to send those emails once a month when life was getting overwhelming for her.

"Things are good otherwise?" he asked.

"You mean other than today?" She was just sipping her tea now and not that hungry. "Yes. It's a great place to live. Ireallylike it. I'm meeting people."

"But not getting close to anyone. I know."

"I'll try to get in and get my teeth fixed next week. Jarrett told me that Amanda's brother-in-law is a dentist. Maybe that will help me get in sooner. He's on the island."

"Jarrett?" Jack asked. "First names now? What else did he say to you while I wasn't in the room?"

"Nothing important," she said. "He was being nice. He knows what is going on. Are you going to tell me what was said?"

"He doesn't know anything other than you're my cousin and I hope you didn't say anything else."

She knew that look in Jack's eyes. "OfcourseI didn't. But he's not stupid. I could see he knew why you werereallyhere."

"You're not going to tell him anything," Jack said. "Do you hear me?"

"I know the rules," she said. "He was just being nice. Nothing else."

"I doubt it," Jack said. "If you have any other contact with him or his brother, I want to know."

"Which brother is that?" she asked, trying to smile.

"You must be feeling better that you're trying to joke. Why don't you finish your tea and get ready for bed? I'm sure you can take your pills a few minutes early. It'd be like thirty minutes by the time you're ready."

"I was thinking the same thing," she said.

Andi stood up and walked slowly to her bathroom. Her head hurt but not more than the rest of her body that felt like she'd fallen down a flight of stairs. Which she had before and knew that feeling well.

At least she didn't walk away with anything broken this time.

Slowly she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Her hair was pulled away from her head loosely and there was no reason to try to do anything with it. She'd wash it tomorrow. There were stitches above her right eye and into her hairline but not enough that she needed too much shaved away. Just on the side and she could deal with it easily. Only one stitch was that high.

She'd have a scar on her face, but it wouldn't be the end of the world and it's not as if the scar would be that long. Her face was more bruised than anything and the shiner would be there longer than she'd want.

She walked to her bedroom and slowly changed out of her jeans that were now cut up the sides and sweatshirt and put on pajama pants and a T-shirt, then returned to the kitchen to take her pills.

"Get some sleep," Jack said. "I'll check in on you in a bit."

"I'm sure you will," she said. "Just make sure you sleep some too."

"Don't worry about me," Jack said.

Andi climbed in bed and shut the light and the last thing she thought of was the handsome investigator who witnessed her fall and then came to her rescue.

How nice it would have been if she met him under other circumstances and wished that Jack had never flown in.