I first saw her walking a small, shaggy brown dog on Broadway and Fifty Second Street as the matinee of a musical ended and theater goers flooded the sidewalk around us. She dipped her head and dodged through the crowd, bumping into me and then steadying herself with a torn glove covered hand on my forearm.
I looked down at a petite curly haired girl wearing a worn red varsity jacket with the name Kip sewn onto the shoulder with black thread. Where a circular white snap should have been on the front, a piece of rusted wire pierced the frayed wool. It was woven through the hole left by the missing snap and tied into an uneven, loose knot to keep the mid-section closed. The jacket was at least four sizes too big for her, but it sheltered her from the bitter bite of the cold that winter.
To Kip, I was Rigs. It was the name she heard my grandfather calling out to me when the light turned to cross Broadway. He was in a rush to get home after our lunch in mid-town on that Sunday afternoon in December. I stood in place as she mumbled an apology after touching me. She looked up into my lean adolescent face with the sparse growth of beard dotting my jaw and the rebellious long hair that fell into my eyes. Then she smiled and with a pull of the leash, she sprinted toward Eighth Avenue with the barking dog on her heel. They disappeared into the rush of people heading back to the warmth of their homes or hotels.
It was one of the few times she ever smiled at me.
A week later I was back in the same spot with a brand new pair of red gloves in my hand for her.
"We can kill two birds with one stone, pal." Crew finishes the last of the water in the bottle. "I'll get Kristof to check out Liam Wolf and I'll tell him what we know about Kip. The trail on her is cold, but he's a fucking genius. He'll Sherlock Holmes the shit out of it and you can finally put this to rest."
If Kristof starts poking around in the past he's going to uncover what happened the last time I saw Kip. That will jeopardize my future. As much as I want to know how she is after making it through the hell storm of that night and finding her way out the other side, I can't risk exposing my part in it.
"Don't call Kristof," I say evenly. "We both know that finding Kip is impossible. We know nothing about her. You're right. It's time to drop it."
He shoots me a look that I've seen before. He knows I'll drop it until I see another redhead with blue eyes. Once that happens, the questions will start all over again. It's a never-ending Ferris Wheel of my own misery that I finally need to step off of for good.
She survived that night. That's all that matters. I have to let it go.
"What about Wolf?"
I respond almost immediately. "Don't waste Kristof's time. I'll find out everything I need to know about him from Ellie tomorrow."
Then I'll do everything I can to make her forget him.
Chapter 13
Ellie
"What's the deal with you and Wolf?" Crew asks as he picks up a tube of pale pink lip balm.
I look at him first before I lock eyes with Nolan. "You don't strike me as the type of man who gossips."
He chuckles deeply with a faint shake of his head. "I assure you I'm not. Crew and I went to high school with Liam's brother. I mentioned seeing him last night to Crew."
Embarrassment wages war with disappointment in the pit of my stomach. I feel my cheeks heat. Of course, that would be it. Why would Nolan care if I was hooking up with another man? He had every chance to stay at Cremza to yank my attention his way. It wouldn't have even taken a yank. A faint tug and I would have been focused solely on him.
He walked away, though. He introduced himself to Liam and then he took off.
"From what I remember, he's a good guy." Crew glances at the line of customers waiting to pay for their purchases. "A big guy too. If he needs a job, you have the go-ahead to hire him to join our security team."
"I'm sure Liam has a job," Nolan comments under his breath.
"I can ask him when I have dinner with him tomorrow," I say, leaving out the important detail that Adley, and all her good intentions, invited both Liam and Randy to our apartment for one of her home cooked meals. It's an ill-thought-out effort on her part to impress Randy. He mentioned not having a decent meal in weeks, and she was quick to offer up her spaghetti and what, I think, are meatballs.
It's my chance to get to know them both better since I left Cremza ten minutes after Nolan did. Wolf didn't seem to mind. Two other women had already stopped to talk to him before I finished explaining that I was too tired to hang out.
"You're having dinner with him?" Nolan asks coolly, his eyes buried in his phone.
"That's the plan. He's coming over to my place."
That's enough to not only grab his full attention; it also perks his left brow. "You just met him, Ellie. Do you think it's wise to invite him into your home?"
"I'll frisk him before I let him in."