It hadn't, but he'd caught a lucky break. Actually, the bumper stickers were one of the reasons my dad had bought the Wrangler. He felt a kinship to fishermen, and illogically trusted them over other men.
"What made you so sure I didn't drive the BMW?" I pressed, not sure if I should feel insulted or proud.
"Your sunglasses came from Target. Your ex had on Fendi. Most people who go flashy do it across the board."
I tried to think of the last time I'd been that observant about anything. "Do you always match people with their cars at the gas station?" I joked.
He shrugged. "It's a riddle. I like solving problems.”
”Interesting. You're a riddle to me,” I said quietly. Jude's gaze cut to mine, then quickly away.
To break the strange feeling buzzing in the air between us, I cocked my head speculatively. "So. Are you one of those genius types?"
His countenance automatically closed off, as if he had trained himself not to reveal anything in the face of personal inquiry. After a moment, his expression softened, and a faint smile played around his mouth. "would it impress you to know my thirdgrade teacher had me tested for photographic memory?"
I waved an arm nonchalantly through the air. "Nah, not at all." He scratched his head, smiling wider. "I failed. But was close enough to be considered."
I counted his strengths off on my fingers. "So you practically have photographic memory. And you have excellent survival skills. Anything else I should know? Like maybe where you go to school-you are in college, aren't you?"
"I dropped out last year."
I hadn't seen that coming. Jude struck me as a serious, studious person, not a dropout. "why?"
"I had to take care of something,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders uncomfortably.
"Gee, that makes everything clear."
His mouth hardened at the edges, leading me to believe I'd hit a nerve. "Everyone needs secrets. They keep us vulnerable."
"Why would anyone want to be vulnerable?"
"To keep their guard up, so they don't get sloppy.”
”I don't understand."
"If you have a weakness, you have to work hard to defend it. You can't be lazy about it."
"What's your weakness?"
He laughed, but not with amusement. "You really think I'll tell?"
"Worth a shot."
"My sister. I love her more than anything."
His answer took me by complete surprise. Somehow, with that single answer, it was like a layer had been lifted and I could see a softer side of Jude. On the outside, he was a rugged and skilled man, a force to be reckoned with. But on the inside, there was a tender goodness about him. "I wasn't expecting that,” I said after a moment. "It sounds like she means a lot to you."
"My dad died when I was a baby, and my mother remarried. My sister was born a few months before my third birthday, and I remember thinking she was the worst thing that would ever happen to me." He smiled. "I got over myself pretty fast and figured out how wrong I was."
"Is she in California?"
"Haven't seen her since I left home.”
”You must miss her."
Jude laughed again, and this time it was thick with emotion. "I took my role as her brother and protector seriously. I swore nothing bad would ever happen to her."
I exhaled slowly. A certain sadness and longing fluttered inside me. Jude would not know it, but I believed I understood how his sister felt. My dad and Ian had always protected me. I counted on them for everything. I felt like I was the center of their world, and I took no shame in it. They weren't here now, but Jude was. And in a strange, unexplicable way, I found myself jealous of his sister. Jealous that he was thinking of her, when I wanted him to be thinking of me.
"What about you?" Jude said. "What secrets are you keeping?" "I don't have secrets." But I did. I was keeping one very big secret from Jude, and I wouldn't even allow myself to think it, because it was wrong. So very wrong. Suddenly I couldn't look him in the eye, afraid I'd blush if I did.
"How did you and Shaun become friends?" I asked.
"Not friends,” Jude corrected. "You were right about that. We worked together, that's it."
"So you didn't like him-you never liked him?" I pressed. "We had nothing in common."
"Where did you work?"
"Odd jobs, here and there,” he answered vaguely. "What kind of odd jobs?"
"Nothing to be particularly proud of,” he said in a way that made it clear he wasn't going to divulge more on the matter. "Shaun had things I needed. And vice versa."
"What happened at the Subway store? Was that a job-a job gone wrong?"
Jude snorted. "That was a robbery. Plain and simple. After I saw you at the 7-Eleven, I met up with Shaun at our motel,” replied Jude, startling me with his response. I hadn't expected him to be so forthcoming. Maybe he too was tired of building walls. "We had some business to take care of in Blackfoot, and we went together in his truck. On the way, Shaun wanted to stop for a late lunch-or so he told me. He went inside the Subway, held the cashier at gunpoint, then panicked when an officer arrived on the scene."
"Where were you when this happened?"
"In the truck,” Jude said with thinly veiled rancor. "I heard the shot and started to climb out. I didn't know what was going on. Shaun came running and yelled at me to get back in the truck. If I hadn't gotten back in, Shaun would have taken off without me, and I would have been arrested. plus, the gun Shaun used to shoot the officer was mine. So I got in the truck and we fled. We went through the mountains, hoping to evade the police, but then the snow hit. We were forced to wait out the storm, and that's when we met you."
"Why did Shaun have your gun?"
He uttered a loathsome, unamused laugh. "Last week, before we came to the mountains, Shaun had me go with him to collect money from a guy who owed him. It was my job to lean on the guy. We didn't give him the heads-up we were coming, but he must have gotten tipped off. We'd only been there a couple minutes when we heard sirens. We bolted for the alley, and the police followed on foot. I had to dump my gun, and Shaun saw me throw it in a garbage bin right before we split up. We lost the cops, but by the time I circled back to the garbage bin, my gun was gone. Shaun got to it first, and he wouldn't return it. I came up with a few ideas to get it back, but they all would take time. If I'd known a few days later he was going to shoot a cop, I would have worked faster."