“Don’t stop,” I plead, curving my hand around the back of her head.
My last coherent thought is,I hope Phil doesn’t decide to drop in, before I lose myself to Bess’s mouth.
Chapter28
Hugo
“We meet again.”
I look up from my computer to find Tessa Androtti standing in front of my desk.
Getting to my feet, I reach over to shake her hand.
“So it seems.”I grin at her.“Good to have you on board.”
“Glad to be here, although if you believed my children, you’d think I dragged them into the bowels of hell.”
I remember she’d mentioned having a couple of teenage boys when she helped out on an investigation last year.
“They’ll adjust.Lots to do here for them with summer right around the corner,” I inform her.“Lots of outdoor stuff.”
She snorts.“Right now, their main concern is how slow the internet is out here.I’ll be lucky to be able to get them out of the house at all.”
“How old are they again?”
“Remi just turned fifteen and Linc is seventeen.”
“Yeah, I have a seventeen-year-old kid too.He loves his gaming as well but, luckily, he also has an interest in the outdoors.He’s even taken up fishing recently, I bet he could motivate them.”
“Well, they’re a little old to set up a playdate, but maybe we could get together for a burger or something at some point.I’ve found food is an excellent motivator for my boys.”
Shoot.I hope we’re just talking about introducing our kids, but there is something about the way she looks at me that makes me wonder.
“You know what?Let me talk to Bess.We have a wedding to attend this weekend, but maybe we can do a cookout at our place the weekend after.We could invite a few more people and properly welcome you and your boys to Silence.The house is up in the mountains and we have a creek, brimming with fish, right in our backyard.I’m sure the boys will get a kick out of it.”
“Oh, I don’t think I met your wife last time I was in town,” she returns, a little taken aback.
“Are you sure?I think you may have met Bess, she owns the coffee shop, Strange Brew.But she’s not my wife.At least not yet.”
Technically, the house isn’t ours yet either, but just last night Phil agreed to sell it to us, provided she can keep her music equipment stored over the garage.At least until the old barn on the farm she has had her eye on has been transformed into her new art and music studio, with added guest suite.A project that, apparently, she’d been toying with for a while already, wanting her studio closer to home.
It was funny to see how easily Brant acquiesced, since I’ve always known him to be allergic to change.But marrying Phil has really mellowed him out.Where before Phil he had to be forced into retirement kicking and screaming, now he seems to have settled into a different routine with his new wife.
It’s a good example for me to draw from, because my story is not that different from Brant’s.We’re both workaholics, we both lost our wives to cancer, and we both thought marriage was something of the past and not part of our future.
I haven’t asked Bess yet.I decided to wait until after Savvy and Nate tie the knot this coming weekend.I’m sure when I do, Bess will come up with a litany of imagined roadblocks—top of the list will, undoubtedly, be it’s too soon for us to take that step—but I’ll patiently knock each of her objections out of the way, one by one.
“I do remember her, actually.Nice woman, and the best lemon blueberry scones I’ve ever tasted,” Tessa returns with a smile.“Anyway, I should get back to the files the sheriff gave me to look at, but I’m game for a meet and greet any time.”
“We’ll set something up.”
My desk phone rings just as I sit back down.I just started back last Thursday and am already so bored with desk work, a phone call is a welcome change of pace.
“Alexander.”
“Chief Deputy Alexander, it’s Connie Dixon.I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, but I find myself in a bit of a pickle.I ordered some flowers for the reopening party at Strange Brew this afternoon, since I won’t be able to attend.Unfortunately, I accidentally had them delivered here, instead of the coffee shop.Now, I assume you plan to be in attendance, and was wondering if you would mind swinging by to pick them up.”
I glance at my watch and notice it’s creeping up on 2 p.m.already.
