“I thought you were a cop.” Mitch was confused.
“I am a cop. And a psychologist. I wanted to go into police psychology and decided that to have any credibility, I needed to experience being an officer first. Turns out I really like it. I’m only licensed in Massachusetts right now, but I’m working on getting licensed here, too.”
“God, you’re full of surprises.”
“Am I right?”
Mitch looked away. “Maybe.”
Adam waited.
“It started as just sex. She was fully on board. It was basically her idea,” he blurted defensively before Adam could give him a hard time. When he didn’t jump in to complain, Mitch continued. “But in just those couple of days we were together, I had all sorts of thoughts and feelings I’ve never had for a woman. When she was in the kitchen cooking, it was like I caught a glimpse into the future. I could picture her standing there every day, forever, and the thought didn’t scare the shit out of me. It was like a premonition, except that I don’t believe in premonitions, so I don’t know what it was.
“Then, the feeling I had when I found that note on the counter saying she’d gone to the store. It was like my heart weighed two hundred pounds. And the anger when I heard Manuel slap her? It’s like normal feelings but magnified a hundred times. Have you ever felt like that?”
When Adam didn’t answer, Mitch glanced over to look at him. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“What? I pour out my soul, and you’re going to laugh at me?”
“I’m not laughing at you. I’m happy for you.”
“Why? What does all that mean?”
“Well, from a medical standpoint, I’d say you’reincurable. It’s not life-threatening, but definitely life-changing. You have all the classic symptoms of a manin caritate.That’s the Latin term anyway.”
“Well, what the hell does it mean in English?”
“In layman’s terms? You’re in love, dumbass.”
“Shit. That’s exactly, word for word, what Mr. B. said. He also muttered something about youth being wasted on the young.”
“So, you’re in love. Now what?”
“Hell if I know. I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“What’d Mr. B. say?”
Mitch laughed. “He said I should woo her.”
Adam laughed, too. “He’s right. Youshouldwoo her. The world needs more wooing.”
***
Maggie was swamped catching up on work at the store, trying to see as many patients as possible, and wondering what went wrong with Mitch.
Keeping busy during the day was never a problem, but at night, her thoughts had time to run wild. No matter how many ways she looked at it or analyzed it, she always came to the same conclusion. She’d fallen in love.
At the start, all she’d wanted was an exciting affair and some fantastic sex, and that’s precisely what she’d gotten. The problem was, somewhere in the middle of the mind-blowing sex and the death threats and bullets, her feelings had changed. The few days they were together was all it took for her to see the real Mitch, and for better or worse, flaws and all, she’d fallen hard.
Yes, he was troubled and sometimes abrasive, but in their short time together, she’d caught several glimpses of his sensitive side. He felt deeply and was fiercely loyal. He was funny and sarcastic, tender and charming. And don’t get her started on his good looks and smoking hot body.
It’d been a week since the shooting, and he still hadn’t called. She had replaced her cell phone the very next day and had the same phone number, which could only mean one thing. He didn’thaveto be around her anymore, so their friends-with-benefits relationship was over. Apparently, that also included a friends-only relationship.
She wasn’t sure which she missed most, the benefits or being friends. At least she thought they’d become friends. Maybe it was all in her head, and she’d imagined the connection she felt they had.
At least there had been one last benefit—another sign of how sweet he could be. The night of the shooting, after hours at the police station, she arrived home to discover her entire apartment set to rights. He’d paid someone to come and take care of everything. Anything broken was fixed or replaced, anything dirty was clean. Oliver was sleeping peacefully on a brand-new couch. It was a welcome surprise. She heard through the family grapevine that he’d also taken care of the cleanup and repairs at the beach house.
When she called to say thank you, she’d gotten voicemail. She texted a couple of days later only to receive a short, curt reply stating he’d gone to his cabin for a while and would call when he got back.
