“Do you love her?”
My breath catches at her question. “Love?”
“Yeah. Do you love her? You must. You were taken off the case. You weren’t willing to give her up. You must love her.”
I can’t say that. Not yet. “We’ve only just met.”
Kat’s breathing has become labored, but she keeps right on talking. “So you couldn’t wait to date until after the investigation was over?”
I’m quiet for a block or two. Her question is a good one.Why didn’t I wait?“I told her I wanted to wait, but I guess I… I don’t know. I should have waited.” It would have been best for Daisy in the long run. I could be helping her get out of jail right now rather than running away from my problems—literally.
“Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe talk to your boss about it. Tell him you were smitten and you didn’t think it through.”
That’s not going to work.
“Oh, I know.” Kat reaches out and takes hold of my arm. I slow down to a walk. “Just tell him you’ll wait. That your job is your priority right now. I mean, if it’s meant to be with this girl, it will be.”
Stopping again, I look at Kat. “Do you really feel that way?” It sounds like a rather fanciful notion, if you ask me.
“Of course.” She shrugs. “I believe in fate. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Fate?”
“Yeah. Like us running into each other.” She slaps my arm and giggles. “Get it. Run into each other?”
I smile at her. She’s always been so quiet whenever I’ve been around the ladies from Beedle Drive, but I guess I’m usually investigating something when I see them. I’d be quiet too. “I get it.”
“Hey, let’s grab a beer.” I look up and see we’ve stopped on the corner of Welch and Lincolnway.
I glance to my right and wonder if Daisy’s home yet. Even if she is, do I want to see her?
That’s not the right question. No, the question is willshewant to seeme?
“Sure,” I reply after a moment.
“We could eat too,” Kat says, starting up the hill toward the bar. “Fried pickles, here I come.”
“Do you think that’s the way to go if you’re training for a 5k?”
“Sure. Why not?” She smirks at me. “I’ll burn off about five pickles on the way back.”
“Sounds about right.” I laugh as I catch up and walk next to her. “What about a burger and fries? Think I can burn those off in a few miles?”
“Sure.” Kat grasps the handle to Cy’s and opens the door. “My guess, you’d burn off eight fries and one bite of cheeseburger in three miles.”
Reaching up, I grasp the edge of the door and hold it open for her to enter. “Bet you’re right.”
“Of course I’m always right.” Kat releases a little snort, and it makes me smile again. “As long as you remember that, we’ll be fine.”
I chuckle. “Have you had issues with this in the past? You know, people not knowing you’re right all the time?”
Finding a table in the back, Kat slides into a booth and nods. “It’s why my two-year relationship ended.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
She shrugs. “Well, that and he cheated on me.”
“Shit.”
