Honesty Read Free

back where I started, running from the cops.”
    Alder frowned. “It sounds like you’ve given this some thought.”
    “No, no, I just wanted to reassure you, honestly.”
    Honestly . The word had her cringing with annoyance. She’d never noticed that she had the tendency to say it when she lied and neither had anyone else, until Hale. In only a few minutes he’d had her all figured out.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, brushing his thumb across her cheek.
    Taylor greedily leaned into his touch, ignoring the twinge of shame. That morning, she had given a great deal of consideration to how she could escape the valley. Between her disconcerting experience with Hale and Alder’s sudden assertion that they were going to leave his home behind and start a new life together, she had been overwhelmed. But in the end, she’d sucked it up and gone to sleep.
    “I brought your bag,” he said.
    He held up her orange backpack. Taylor reached for it, surprised she’d forgotten about it. When she tried to take it from Alder’s hand, he didn’t let go.
    “You left it open,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to go through your things, but—”
    “None of that stuff is true,” she blurted, remembering the newspapers she’d been collecting. “I mean, some of it is, but most of it isn’t.”
    Alder’s brow furrowed. “I was referring to the empty bottles.”
    Her mouth suddenly felt dry. “Do you know what those are?”
    “I have a… family member who’s taken medication in the past. I don’t recognize the names, but I imagine it’s important that you take them.”
    Taylor shrugged and pulled the bag from his grip. “ They’re not as important as they seem. Just precautions, really.”
    That was something she sort of believed. In the months after her transplant, she’d been on a whole slew of medications, but as the months and then years passed, her doses had been lowered and most of the meds had been dropped entirely.
    The re were still a handful of immunosuppressants that she was still prescribed, along with medications to counteract the side effects, but given how smooth her recovery had been, she’d often slacked off on taking her meds. There was always the risk that she could reject her transplant, but she’d be lying if she said it was something she actively worried about as an adult.
    Alder said, “If you need anything, you’ll let me know.”
    He didn’t phrase it as a question, but she nodded anyway. “Of course I will.”
    Seeming satisfied, Alder led her around to the front porch. “I want you to relax tonight and rest your foot. I need to help my brother sort things out with Whiteriver, but we should be able to leave within the next week.”
    H er brows rose. “So soon? I mean, I was just getting used to things here.”
    Alder’s smile returned. “I don’t want to wait any longer than we have to.”
    Taylor pivoted on the front step, staring at him. Even with the leverage, he was still a few inches taller than her. Reaching a hand out, she placed it on the back of his neck where she knew he loved to be touched.
    “I feel like you’re leaving everything behind for me and I don’t think that’s a good idea. We can stay here, take a few months to get to know one another—”
    “I already know you,” Alder said firmly. While he didn’t seem angry, his expression was otherwise inscrutable. She hated it when he looked like that.
    Dropping her hand, she said, “No, Alder, that’s the thing. You don’t know me at all. You don’t even know my real name.”
    That seemed to get his attention. His forehead creased.
    “It’s Devin,” she said. Her hands tightened around her bag. “And that’s the least of what you don’t know about me. You’ve barely known me for a week . You can’t just go throwing your life away to be with me.”
    “What is this really about?” he asked, frowning.
    Taylor took another step up, giving herself an inch over him. “It’s about you making major life decisions