“Sure.” The woman pushed her sunglasses on top of her head, revealing eyes like gold coins, hard and bright, in her honey-toned face. Her smile curved, shiny and sharp as a knife. “I’m Renee. His wife.”
***
JACK LEFT HISoffice to pour himself another cup of coffee from Marta’s pot, Lauren’s words replaying in his head like a summer song on the radio.
I love you, she’d said.
Which was the sort of thing men said before sex and women said after. Even when they were sincere, you couldn’t always trust words said in the heat of the moment.
They were still damn good to hear.
“You are in a good mood this morning,” Marta said.
Probably because he couldn’t stop smiling.
“Nothing makes my day like filling out grant applications,” he joked.
“He’s in a good mood every morning,” Hank said. “Now that he’s getting some.”
Jack gave him a bland stare. He’d figured that once he hired a dispatcher, Hank would spend less time in the office. Especially since he and Marta couldn’t be in the same room without sniping at each other. But it seemed the retired sheriff’s deputy was around more than ever before.
“Then you should try it,” Marta said. “Maybe sex would improve your attitude.”
Hank grinned. “How do you know I’m not getting any?”
“Please.” Marta snapped a file drawer shut. “I know everything.”
“How are you coming with that monthly report?” Jack asked, changing the subject.
“Finished,” Marta said. “I e-mailed it to you for your review. I read her book, you know.”
“Thanks. I’ll take a look at it,” Jack said, preparing to escape into his office.
Marta arched her brows. “You haven’t read her book yet? But you are together.”
Hank snorted. “He doesn’t have to read her book to sleep with her.”
“Okay, we’re done here,” Jack said.
“You should show more respect,” Marta said to Hank. She smiled at Jack. “She seems like a very interesting young woman. I’m sorry she is leaving so soon.”
“Janey said she was staying through the summer,” Hank said.
Marta raised her brows. “Which is how long, another week? Two weeks before the kids go back to school. I talked to Tess Fletcher this morning. Meg is already scheduling Miss Patterson’s next book tour.”
Two weeks?
Jack forced himself to ignore the jolt to his system, the tiny clutch at his gut.
With Renee, he’d been so damn sure he knew where they were going all the time. It wasn’t until she had betrayed him with his partner that he’d finally admitted he didn’t have a clue. He’d been wrong about her, wrong about them, wrong about everything all along.
He didn’t know—he couldn’t know—where this thing with Lauren was heading. But everything suddenly felt all right.
I love you, she’d said.
Whatever the hell she’d meant by that, wherever they were going, they were together now. At the end of the day, she would be waiting for him on his boat.
It was enough for him. For now. He had a grant application to write. The town council had found the funds for the dispatcher’s position, but they’d balked at buying the dashboard security cams he’d requested for the patrol vehicles. So he was stuck begging for money from the feds.
