“You work with our Nellie?”
Our Nellie?That was church-speak, a way to cut offothers that were interested in a churchwoman. It was also a claiming. I wasn’t ready to be claimed, not by anyone.
“I work with Special Agent Nell Ingram.”
That!That was better.
“Hmmm.” There was a load of possible meanings in that one syllable. I feared that Ben was about to do something awful. Instead he said mildly, “Well. You have a good day, you hear. Weather’s treacherous.”
I heard Ben’s farm boots tapping down the stairs. Heard his truck door close and the engine turn over. Heard the truck putter smoothly into the distance.
“Nell, you going to stand there all day or you going to open the door?” Occam asked.
I looked around the house. Thinking. The house would be fine unless I was gone more than a couple of days or unless the temperature dropped into the low twenties and stayed there a while. I took a fortifying breath and opened the door. Closed it behind me and locked up. I stuck my chin up and turned to Occam, who looked me over, much as Ben had, from toes to red and purple wig. My chin went up even higher. I threw the tails of the velvet shawl over me and adjusted my winter coat over my arm. “You wanted to talk. We can talk on the way to work.”
“So I’m driving you in?”
“Might as well.” I took the stairs to the ground, my strange heels making it hard to keep my balance on the sleet-slick steps. Over my shoulder I said, “If I’m not spending my off time sleeping on an inflatable mattress, someone can bring me home. Or I can take an Uber. Or maybe my Unit Eighteen vehicle will arrive. Miracles, anyone?”
“Or your boyfriend can drive you back?”
I ignored Occam and got in his car. The inside of the two-door Ford Mustang was still warm. I closed the door. And waited. Because Occam was still on the porch. Sniffing around? Taking in Ben’s scent? Getting catty-possessive? Eventually he followed me and stowed my gear in the small trunk. And got inside. His long legs moved with a grace no human would ever achieve. The door closed, too softly, too controlled.He started the engine and backed around, to pull down the dirt road, down the hill, his long fingers clasping the steering wheel gently, the way he might hold one of my cats.
The sleet had stopped but it had left a thick slick coating on the road. He nursed the pedals. As we dropped elevations, the sleet disappeared into a slush and then into water draining down the culverts and away.
“You seeing Ben Aden?” Occam asked long after we had entered the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Knoxville’s afternoon rush hour.
“That mighta been resolved if you hadn’t arrived so precipitously.”
“So this ismy fault?”
“Ain’t nothing nobody’s fault, Occam,” I said, sliding into church-speak despite myself.
“So are you seeing Ben Aden?”
“I’m meeting him for coffee tomorrow.”
“Did he bring you flowers?”
“No. He brought me eggs.”
Occam slid his eyes from the traffic to me. “Eggs.”
“Eggs. Sent by my meddling mama.”
Occam relaxed suddenly. “Eggs.” He shook his head. “Coffee. Not dinner?”
“Not dinner.”
“Then we’ll have dinner tonight.”
It was another way of claiming. I knew that. It shoulda made me mad. Instead I laughed softly but shook my head. “I got not one single idea how to take coffee or dinner with a man, you stupid cat. Not one! It makes my stomach go all sick just thinking about it.”
“Food goes to your mouth, usually via fork or spoon, you chew and swallow. Eatin’ ain’t that hard, Nell, sugar.”
I blew out a laugh, feeling the unexpected tears gather again. “Dating is more than just eating.” I stared out at the traffic and the fog that hung a few dozen feet above the road. “At least Ben would know what I can and can’t do for conversation and for fun and such like. He wouldn’t ask me todance or play loud music or buy me a martini. I don’t know how to be what you want me to be.”
“Martini?” he said, sounding incredulous. “Who the hell said anything about a martini? I don’t want you to be anything other than what you want to be, Nell. Question is, do you want to go back to what’s old and safe or try what’s new and adventurous? You want the easy way or the hard way? The easy way is to keep being a churchwoman. I’m new. I’m different. I’ll be hard to date. And I’m not your church.”
