“No, no. Absolutely, I’ll be there.” I pushed the button for the elevator and impatiently watched as the numbers got larger. It was going to be a while before it came back down. Holding the phone to my ear, I looked around until I spotted the stairs. “Look, Noah, I was there for the wedding. I promise I’ll be there for the baby shower. I don’t know why you want me there, but I’ll come.”

I opened the door and started climbing the stairs, grateful I had kept up with my cardio while protecting Maggie. It was easy to get complacent in the states. Life there didn’t seem as hard. I rubbed my thigh as I climbed. My leg felt tight in the socket, and I had a wrinkle in my stump cover. With a sigh, I kept climbing, refusing to limp.

“I’ll email you my flight details tonight. I’ve got a meeting here in a few minutes, but I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Barely winded, I exited the stairwell on the eighth floor and wandered down the gray hallway until I found the right door. On a shiny gold plaque to the left of the door, engraved letters read, “Special Agent in Charge, Ryder Scott.”

“Special Agent in Charge? Did they promote your ass again?” I laughed as I swung through the door to Ryder’s office.

“Liam! So good to see you!” He came around the desk and pounded me on the back. “Come in and have a seat. Take a load off.”

“I figured I’d swing by. Your team has been calling me non-stop since we busted that human trafficking ring.” I took a seat, leaning back in his fancy leather chair, happy to take the weight off my leg.

“You just happened to be in DC?” He raised an eyebrow at me in speculation.

“Well, I am getting ready to leave the states again, so I thought I’d come in and wrap things up.” I pulled a quarter from my pocket and rolled it through my fingers.

“Sure you are. Still running from your old flame?” He smiled with one side of his mouth.

“No, I think I finally put that to rest, but there isn’t anything left here for me.” In and out, I flipped the quarter, back and forth.

“Really? Nothing?” Nope, he didn’t believe me. “That’s not what Mason tells me.”

“Well, I don’t think that is going to work out.” I wasn’t ready to talk about Maggie with anyone, not even someone I thought of as a brother. I missed her more than I’d thought I would.

“You sure?” God, he knew me way too well.

“She’s a shooting star on her way up. She has her whole life ahead of her. I don’t want to get in her way.” Maybe if I could convince Ryder, I could convince myself too. What I really wanted to do was fly back to whatever city she was in and beg her to never leave me.

“Or you are scared.” He stared at me like he could see straight to my soul. Shit. He remembered everything that happened with Jeannie. “Once bitten, twice shy, Liam.”

“What?” I met his gaze.

“The last time you got serious, you got burned. Makes a guy gun shy.”

“You're one to talk.” Ryder knew every bit of my sordid history, and I knew every bit of his.

“But we aren’t talking about me now, are we?” And we wouldn’t. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. It was time to change the subject.

“Ryder, I have a chance to make a difference in this world. The face of that boy in the shipping container… It haunts me.” I trailed off.

“But you saved him.” His tone serious, he opened his bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of whisky and two crystal glasses.

“That one, yes.” I reached for the bottle, pulling it towards me. “But there are so many more lost ones out there, and I can save them.”

“Just don’t lose yourself in the process.” He set the glasses between us for me to pour.

I didn’t say anything else. Instead, I dribbled an inch into each glass. Picking mine up, I sat back silently and stared out the window behind him. Am I making the right decision? Am I running away? Do I really have a chance with Maggie?

“Here.” Ryder pushed a folder across his desk. “Read the report I wrote up. Sign it if it’s right.”

I pulled the folder toward me and flipped open the file. Taking my readers from my pocket, I slipped them on and started to skim Ryder’s report. He and Luke had always been full of hot air, and that report read like he was testifying. He did hit all the facts, though, so as I reached the end, I picked up his fancy gold pen and signed my name at the bottom of the last page. Pulling my glasses off, I looked up at him, flipped the folder closed, and tossed it in the center of his desk. “I think you got it all.”

“Good.” He reached into the interior pocket of his suitcoat and pulled out a check. “As always, the FBI appreciates your discretion and service.”

“Good working with you too, Ryder.” I tucked the check away in my wallet and leaned back with a laugh. “Would you have thought twenty years ago that we would end up here, together like this?”

“You mean when we were egging the neighbor’s house and putting cherry bombs in mailboxes? No, never.”

“Good thing Noah found us.”

“Yes it is. We’d be in jail or dead by now at the rate we were going.”

I flopped on the bed in my hotel room. My last minute booking netted me a queen sized bed instead of the king I usually requested. If I lay diagonally my feet didn’t hang off the end.

Ryder had invited me out to the bar, but I didn’t feel like going. I missed Maggie. I missed snuggling up with her in bed, the half-empty coffee cups scattered throughout the room, the bits of paper and notebooks with half-scribbled lyrics and music notes.

All this mental wailing and gnashing of teeth wasn’t getting me anywhere. My flight was in 13 hours. I should take a shower and get some sleep. I rolled off the bed and padded into the bathroom. Might as well get going. Five a.m. comes early.

With a crank of the handle, the water spit out and hit the back wall of the shower. I dropped my kit to the left of the sink and it fell open. A tube of Maggie’s lipstick rolled out.

Deep red. The color of passion. It was the color she was wearing the first time I saw her. I missed her so much. What am I doing leaving her?

Forget the shower. I wanted to see Maggie. I switched the water back off and dialed the airline. I needed to go home.