I decided to sit on the chair in front of her. She looked me over and tried to bite back a smile.
“Are you?”
“What makes you think I’m studying? I already said I went to Yale.”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “You look young. I figured you could be a grad student at Yale.”
She laughed and the sound did something to me. It reached into me, and I almost wanted to make some kind of joke so I could hear the sound again. The only problem was I’d been so wound up lately I’d forgotten how to joke around. I also hadn’t been that version of myself in years.
“Oh my gosh.” She brought her hand to her cheek and stared at me. “Young? Like how young, detective?”
Was it wrong that I loved how she saiddetective?
“Forgive me if I get this wrong. Please don’t bite my head off or get more pissed at me.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense. I want to hear what you think.”
“Okay. I think you could be twenty-four.”
More laughter escaped her lips, and I thought I’d gotten it wrong.
“Twenty-two…or three?” I offered.
“I wish you’d just asked me how old I was. You should be going higher, not lower.” Her smile was as beautiful as she was.
“Higher? Twenty-five?” When she shook her head, I looked her over.
“I’m thirty.”
“There’s no way you’re thirty.” She just looked so much younger. I wouldn’t have guessed thirty.
“I am, and I’ll be thirty-one in a few months. And you? You don’t look old enough to have a sixteen-year-old.”
“I’m thirty-four. I had her when I was eighteen.” This sort of conversation usually verged into talking about Olivia, and I didn’t really want to talk about her right now.
“You don’t look thirty-four. You look younger too.”
“Thank you.” It was a nice compliment since I felt about a hundred years old. “So, you’re not in grad school?”
“I never went to grad school. I went straight out into the field after Yale for my internship.”
“Which was where?” I was starting to see there was much more to this woman than met the eye, much as what met my eyes was pleasing enough.
“The Times, in New York. I’m a features editor withPeople Magazine. I’m here for eight months doing an exclusive on Sally Weinstein.”
Jesus.Just when I was beginning to climb down from the shock she’d already served me.
“Wow. That’s amazing, very impressive.”
A mischievous little look washed over her face. “The walking Barbie could almost forgive you for being an ass.”
I pulled in a breath and tried to think of the best thing to say. “I’m really sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”
She seemed to consider what I’d said and narrowed her eyes.
“What?” I asked, because I really wasn’t sure what she was thinking.
“I hope you don’t expect an apology from me because you deserved the bitch slap, and if you try to take me down for assaulting a police officer, I’ll say I was provoked.”
