Day Two
July 22, 1952
Tuesday Morning
Alexa Blank was a blue-eyed princess with strawberry pigtails and a spring in her step. Looking into her eyes, River was glad the contract was rescinded. She’d be a hard one to kill. She pulled a pencil and pad out of her apron and said, “What’ll it be, cowboy?”
“Coffee.” A beat, then he added, “But not here.”
She wrinkled her forehead.
“Not here?”
“No, not here,” he said. “Down the street.”
“Down the street?”
He nodded.
“At a different restaurant. With you.”
She shifted into a sexier position, edging in ever so slightly.
“With me, huh?”
“Right. With you.”
“You’re hitting on me.”
“I am.”
She studied his eyes and found no lies. A smile worked its way onto her mouth.
“Be careful,” she said. “I might call your bluff.”
“Start calling because I’m dead serious.”
She stood there deciding, then slipped out of her apron, tossed it across the counter next to the donuts and said, “Mary, I got to run a quick errand. Be a peach and take my tables for ten minutes, will you?”
Outside she locked her arm through River’s as they headed down the street.
“I don’t do this with just anybody,” she said.
“Me either.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She moved her hand up and felt his muscles. “You remind me of Tarzan.”
“You mean I’m someone who belongs in a jungle?”
She punched his arm.
“No, I mean it in a good way. What’s your name?”
He hesitated.
“River,” he said. “Dayton River.”
She shook his hand.
“I’m Alexa Blank.”
“I know.”
She furrowed her eyes.
“You know? How do you know?”
“I know because someone hired me to abduct you,” he said.