“Your wedding? The weather?”
“Why Paul Waugh blew his brains out when he saw you?” Jimmy accused sullenly.
Charlie was surprised, laughing, “Wow! Just going right for the meaty bits, aren’t you?”
“So, why?” Jimmy crossed his arms, glaring up at him as the bloody images flashed before his eyes. “I was blaming myself for a while, but you know, I’m starting to think it was because of you.”
Charlie sat down on the other end of the sofa, replying carefully, “He knew that I was working for Cold in a roundabout way. When Geemaw, my Grams, introduced us? It was at Mr. Waugh’s flower shop.”
“And when he saw you with me, what? He assumed you were one of Rod’s employees?”
“Well, he did point a gun at me and then at himself,” Charlie said dryly. “Hard to say exactly what went through his mind other than that bullet.”
“Wow,” Jimmy scoffed, shaking his head in disgust. “You really are a bastard, you know that?”
“I couldn’t very well blow my cover or reveal my indiscretions with Cold to my handlers,” Charlie said with a short scoff. “I’m sorry that Mr. Waugh died, truly, but there was nothing I could do.”
“Whatever,” Jimmy muttered, opening his book and making up his mind to ignore Charlie.
“Sometimes we make decisions that have horrible consequences,” Charlie said sternly, “but the ends justify the means. You don’t want Cold to go to prison, and I want to make Mr. Carville suffer. We can’t do either of those things without breaking a few eggs.”
“But we’re not talking about eggs!” Jimmy protested, slamming his book shut again despite all intentions to keep it open. “We’re talking about people! People with families and kids and—”
“And I would gladly avoid losing lives if it was possible,” Charlie soothed.
“It is possible!” Jimmy countered. “There has to be a better way!”
“But that’s not the kind of world I live in,” Charlie said with a cool smile. “It’s not the kind that you married into. That’s not the man your husband is.”
“I know exactly what kind of man Rod is,” Jimmy argued fiercely. “I don’t need you to tell me.”
“You sure about that, mate?” Charlie raised a skeptical brow.
Before Jimmy could bark back, Jerry was at the doorway and waving at Charlie. “Come along,monsieur. He is ready for you.”
“Always a pleasure, Mr. Poe,” Charlie chirped, rising from the couch to follow Jerry. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder at Jimmy. “Oh, thoughts about singing for the wedding? I’ve been told you have the most wonderful voice—”
“Drop dead, Charlie,” Jimmy growled furiously.
“Duly noted! We’ll put a pin in that for later, shall we?”
Jimmy watched them leave and tried to go back to reading his book, but he wasn’t able to get through a single sentence. Frustrated, he tossed it over on the coffee table. It slid further than he’d expected and knocked his sandwich on the floor.
“Well, fuck.”
He sighed, kneeling down to pick up the mess.
“Whatcha doin’, Twigs?” Jules’ deep voice greeted him, a curious look on his face as he peered down at the sandwich bits scattered everywhere.
“Trying to clean up,” Jimmy said, grabbing the last of the breadcrumbs that he could get by hand and setting the plate back on the table. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m your babysitter for the rest of the day,” Jules said. “Boss’ orders.”
“No Jerry?”
“Jerry’s gonna be busy,” Jules replied with a smirk. “Him and Boss got errands to run in a little bit.”
“Errands? But what about his ankle monitor?” Jimmy frowned suspiciously. “He can’t go anywhere unless it’s for court.”
