“We’ve gotten a lead we’d like you to take a look at. Can you come in tomorrow to review somefilm?”
“I have a workout in the morning. Can I come afterlunch?”
“That would be fine.” He said he’d send the address to the precinct in a text and hungup.
London went back to work. He wasn’t kidding about chasing Maia across the country on tour, and he wanted the flower shop to be up and running before heleft.
Chapter Eighteen
“Wasit hard when your parents divorced?” asked Maia. She was lying in the middle of a king-size bed with her leg elevated by two fluffy pillows. The compression sleeve had kept the swelling down, but it did nothing for the throbbing pain. Most of the time it was manageable, but she’d pushed it running through theairport.
In her defense, there was a crowd of fifty hot on her heels. She hated traveling in the middle of the day. April apologized profusely for the poor timing. Maia didn’t hold her accountable. They were all at the mercy of the promotions schedule, which she resented a little more each day it kept her away from Dallas, even though, at the same time, she was thankful for a distraction to kept her from falling into London’s life and settling in. She didn’t want to settle for life, and worry kept her fromsettling.
Man, she was messedup.
She turned her head to the side and eyed the two dozen red roses on her nightstand. London had worked with April to have fresh flowers in her room at every stop over the last four days. Everything from daisies to sunflowers to roses. She wished she could take them with her when she left tomorrow. Maybe she could, since they’d be traveling bycar…
Because her thoughts had run away with her, it took her a moment to realize London hadn’t answered her question. “Hello?” She pulled the phone away to make sure they were still connected. “London?”
“It was a difficult separation, but probably not in the ways you’rethinking.”
“And what am Ithinking?”
“That I wished my parents were still together. Idon’t.”
Maia threw her arm over her face to block out the light and some of the caustic vibrations in London’s tone. “I’m shocked. Your dad was your biggestfan.”
An icy silence chilled her phone before London replied, “Iguess.”
Maia wasn’t sure what to say. It was obvious London was holding back. She swallowed a hefty sigh. The last time she’d pushed him against London’s self-imposed brick walls, things had gone horribly wrong. She felt like they were going horribly wrong rightnow.
What was the saying? Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Having overanalyzed their past relationship for ten years, Maia identified the warning signals she should have picked up on back then. One of those signals was the way London clammed up. He’d never been one to share his deepest feelings, but she’d passed it off as a symptom of being a teenage boy. Most teenage boys had trouble expressing themselves and shied away fromemotions.
It appeared London hadn’t matured as much as she’d hoped. But they were taking it slow, so she wouldn’t push him tonight. “Did you see the Redrocks game?” She threw him an easy interception by tossing out a question about a neutral subject: baseball. “Birks was onfire.”
“They’ll never be able to compete. They don’t have the talent pool of Boston or theRangers.”
They bounced from subject to subject until Maia could barely keep her eyes open. They said a sleepy goodbye, and Maia dragged the throw from the end of the bed over the top of her. Even though she could hardly keep her eyes open, her brain wouldn’t let go of the idea that London Wilder had a deep, dark secret. The trouble was, she didn’t know if she wanted to know what it was or not. Secrets buried deep could do a lot of damage in the light of day and at the beginning of a newlove.
Chapter Nineteen
“Officer Bullon,there’s an important call for you on linethree.”
“I’ll be rightthere.”
London nodded for the officer to go ahead. There was no point in him staring at London while London stared at surveillance video from a gas station robbery in Fort Worth. He wished he could say for sure that the man brandishing a knife at the sales clerk was his father—and therefore have him locked away for a few years—but the image was grainy at best and impossible at worst. The robber had the same build as his dad, but height and weight weren’t a concrete identifier in the eyes of the law. If he had a clear view of hisface…
He rubbed his thumbs into his bloodshot eye. Staying up till all hours talking to Maia last night did nothing for his brainpower. Nevertheless, he’d do it all over again for the chance to hear her lovely voice. She didn’t talk like other women. There was a breathless quality and a deepness in her tone as if she’d smoked, although she hadn’t. Her mom had, though; maybe the second-hand smoke damaged her vocal cords. It didn’t sound like damage to him—she sounded perfect,unique.
She’d left town with her entourage as soon as the doctor signed the release papers, leaving Dallas empty and joyless in her wake. Okay, so maybe the whole city wasn’t affected by her departure quite like he was, but the bright sunlight was confirmation he’d done the right thing by kissing the stubbornness right out of her in thehospital.
Last night she’d sung with Sloane Kent, the country music sensation, at a concert in Boston. He’d watched the YouTube video a dozen times, amazed at her ability to walk and even perform a few dance moves with stitches in her leg. Her dress covered her knees, so he couldn’t ascertain how they’d bandaged her. He prayed they used compression to keep it from swelling. So far the accident hadn’t made headlines. He wondered who, if anyone, at the studio knew she was patchedtogether.
The least impressive part of the video was Sloane Kent putting his arm around Maia like they were the best of friends—or more. Wondering about the two of them had London pulling his phone out of his back pocket to text her. He wasn’t making any progress on the stupid video anyway. His thumbs worked like rapid-fire machines, punching theletters.
How long have you knownKent?
About twelve hours, give or take. Why? Do you want hisautograph? ;)
