I don’t want to use this as some kind of way to get respect because my work ethic and performance should do that. After we’re all done most of the guys go into the lounge to watch TV or gather in the kitchen to play cards at the table. I head out into the driveway to call Aspen. It’s more private to be outside than it would be calling her anywhere in the station itself.
She answers on the first ring. “Barlowe Investigations.”
“You know it’s me, Aspy. You don’t have to answer like that.” I say.
“Sorry, Jake. Force of habit.” She says with a giggle, but both her voice and laugh are muffled and low. “Can I call you later? This is not a good time.”
“I’m at work,” I explain. “Until seven tomorrow night.”
“So am I,” Aspen whispers. “In Ogunquit until late tomorrow night.”
“What are you doing?” I ask as I pace the huge driveway.
“Surveillance on a dude who claims his back is so messed up from a fender bender he can’t possibly work,” Aspen explains. “I’m in my van outside his brother’s house. I got a tip the two of them do CrossFit in the garage late at night when they think everyone is asleep. On warmer nights they even open the garage door. Tonight is seventy-one, Jake. My camera is poised and ready.”
I worry about her line of work now. As if she’s sensing that, she says. “Everything is fine. I’m good. Baby is good. I’ve been eating balanced meals, even when I’m hiding in the van all day and taking vitamins. Doc says I can continue to work until at least the last trimester if I’m smart about it.”
“You went to the doctor?”
She laughs again. “Yes, Jake. I went to the doctor. Even got my first sonogram. That thing with the jelly on your belly and the wand that shows you the blob that will turn into a kid.”
“Alone?”
“Well yeah, I forgot to plan a viewing party,” she retorts with level ten sarcasm. “FYI I haven’t told Abbott yet and he’s the only one who would be at appointments with me.”
“If it’s my kid I’d like to be there. I mean, if you need someone to be there,” I tell her. “And I want to be at the birth.”
“No one - I repeat no one - is going to be in the room with me, looking at my hoo hoo being torn apart, Jake. Sorry,” she replies bluntly and I wince at the description. “I mean if it’s yours and you want to be at the hospital, fine. In the waiting room with Abbott if he isn’t in the playoffs. This kid is due right around then.”
“So … can we find out if it’s mine so I can pencil you into my day planner?” I ask lightly, but I’m dead fucking serious. I don’t just want to know now, I need to know.
“I’m not ready,” Aspen replies flatly. “Soon. I’m almost there. I mean, before I start showing I guess I should know who the dad is because lord knows everyone in the damn town will want to know.”
“Here’s the thing Aspen…” I pause and figure out how to word this delicately but bluntly. “I need to know. There’s some stuff going on in my life that would be impacted by this. So … can we go next week? Please? It’s a simple blood test.”
“I have to go! There’s a light on in the garage,” she says suddenly.
“Can we meet when you’re back?” I beg. “Talk in person.”
“Yeah, fine. Text me later.” She hangs up.
That did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I head back into the house and I’m wandering around the kitchen, trying to figure out what I want to eat, when my phone buzzes. It’s a text from Terra.I’m at the fire station. Can you meet me in the parking lot?
What the hell? I head straight down the hall, down the stairs and out the front doors. I’m worried something may be wrong but she’s standing there grinning, so I sigh in relief. She holds up a Hawkins Lobster Shack bag and a milkshake container from Patti’s Parlor. “You never came back for your free food, so I thought I would bring it to you.”
“Oh my God you are a saint,” I say and walk over, taking the bag and the shake from her tiny hands. She stares up at me grinning happily at my reaction. “You’re also fucking gorgeous, you know that?”
The skin under the freckles that decorate her cheeks turns pink. “I’ve waited my whole damn life for you to say something like that to me.”
“I’ve waited my whole damn life to find the guts to say it,” I tell her and she steps closer puts a hand on my chest, over my heart.
“I sent a lantern up at the beach tonight. Want to know what I wished for?”
I put a hand on her shoulder and let it slide slowly toward her delicate, long neck. “World peace?”
“That you kiss me again,” she whispers.
“That’s not something you have to wish for.” I slip my hand behind her neck and tip her head back, dip my head down and give her a kiss that gets interrupted by the flash of headlights cutting across our bodies. I pull away and step back, way back. My head snaps around and I watch Logan’s ambulance drive right past us into the bay. “Shit. That was your brother.”
