“Okay, it kind of was. I don’t want you to fall in love with me because nothing’s going to stop me from going on my world tour, but for me, sex with a man has to mean something.”
And here I was, planning to give her the don’t-fall-in-love-with-me lecture. “You’re a constant surprise, Jenny Girl. Let’s make a promise now. No falling in love for either of us.” I held out my hand, and we shook on the deal.
“But we can definitely like each other, right?” She bit down on her bottom lip as if worried about my answer.
“We sure can.” She had no worries about that on my side, and when she smiled, I smiled back.
“Does this mean we’ve gone past the pretend stage?” She tilted her head, studying me. “I mean, that’s part of my hesitation. You know, it’s not real if it’s make-believe.”
“We left pretend behind at the restaurant when we decided we wanted to get to know each other better, don’t you think?” I regretted I’d even used that word with her, since she seemed to be hung up on it. “Are you okay with that?”Please be okay with it, Jenny Girl.
“As long as we both agree to the rules. We can’t go past the like-each-other stage. No messy love business.”
I tapped her nose. “By the rules. Got it.” Why did that make me a little sad? It was what I wanted, too. “Since you’re working the rest of the week, would you like to do something on Saturday?”
“Have you seen one of our waterfalls yet?”
“Nope. You want to be my waterfall tour guide?” I’d thought when I first met her and realized she was interested in me that we would have a few tumbles between the sheets, then both move on. Instead I was dating her, romancing her, and I was enjoying it. Yeah, there’d be a long shower for me tonight that included a little hand relief, but when Jenny and I did have sex, I was pretty sure she would be worth waiting for.
“Want to watch a movie? I’ll make us some popcorn.”
“Yay!” She hopped off my lap.
“I take it that’s a yes?” She was grinning like a kid. A few times when she’d do or say something that reminded me how full of life she was, I’d start to compare her to Christine, especially at the end. But every time I shut that thought down. She wasn’t Christine, and I wasn’t going to start comparing them.
I let her pick the movie, expecting something romantic. She surprised me again when she foundArsenic and Old Laceon a cable channel.
She squealed. “This one is so funny. Have you seen it?”
I hadn’t, and that was all it took for her to insist that I had to watch it. She was right. It was hilarious. We made out a little more during the commercials, and too soon the movie ended and it was time to take her home. I didn’t want to and almost asked if she wanted to spend the night, just sleep, nothing more. But my reason was selfish, and it wouldn’t be right to use Jenny to try to keep Christine’s ghost at bay, so I didn’t.
I was pulling out of my parking lot when my phone rang, which reminded me that I needed to get Jenny’s number.
“Talk to me,” I said when Tommy’s name came up on the screen. He wouldn’t be calling this late at night if there weren’t a problem.
“Chief, I think you better come over to Jansen’s house.”
“He causing trouble?”
“Not anymore. He’s dead. His wife shot him. Now she’s threatening to shoot herself.”
An image of Christine on that gurney flashed in my mind, making my stomach take a sickening roll. “Location?” I memorized the address, then told him I was on my way. “You know where Crooked Creek Road is?” I asked Jenny.
“Yeah, why?”
“We’ve got a situation. You mind riding along? When we get there, you can take my car and go on home. I’ll hitch a ride back with Tommy.”
17
~ Jenny ~
“No problem,” I said, wondering what the situation was, but Dylan didn’t offer any more information. He’d gone real quiet, in fact. “Go through town, take the first left after the post office.”
He flipped a switch, and a flashing blue light on the dash came on. We sped through town, and speed demon that I am, I thought it was cool. It only took ten minutes to get to the address, but my excitement at racing through town died at seeing two other police cars and an ambulance parked out front.
“What’s going on here?”
Dylan parked on the grass in front of the house. “Don’t know yet.”
