He sighed and nodded.
“When I became a SEAL, my father reminded me that none of us know when our last day on this earth might be.”
Adam frowned. “That’s cryptic.”
I put my finger over his mouth to shut him up.
“He told me he never let a day go by without telling us how much he loved us. He advised me to do the same. So I’m telling you right now, Rockstar, as we stand in your new apartment overlooking the river, that I—”
He covered my mouth with his hand, and the scared little boy was back. We stared at each other a moment, and when he was ready to tell me why he didn’t want me to finish my declaration, I wasn’t surprised. “I’m afraid if you say it, something will happen, and this won’t work. So, don’t say it.”
I nodded and looked at him. Completely enamored with Adam, I came up with a temporary alternative. “Can I say I like you?”
He thought it over and nodded. “Yeah, you can say that. And I like you, too.”
The grin that split my face that afternoon had found a permanent home there since that afternoon.
“Hey,” Jesse called, breaking me away from the memory.
I looked up and nodded. “Hey, what’s up?”
“The police got the video from the street cam. It was a man, not a woman.”
I sat up straighter. “Did they get a face on camera? Anything I can use to go by?”
“No. The only thing they could ascertain from the video was the guy had a limp. But at least we can tell him it wasn’t his mother who broke in and destroyed his guitar.”
“True,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t involved.”
“That’s also true. They’re going to do some canvasing in the complex to see if anyone saw anything.”
I nodded and thought about whether this was a good time to tell Adam. “Yeah, okay. Think I’ll grab that video and take a look myself. See if I can detect anything they might have missed.”
GQ shot me a familiar look that gave me the go ahead to do whatever I needed to do.
“Any word on a DNA match?”
“Not yet. I’m still waiting. Should be any day now.”
“Okay,” he said, holding onto the door frame. “I’ll leave it to you to tell him. Let me know if you hear anything.”
“I will,” I replied as he nodded and walked away.
I got to work in my secured browser doing what I did best.
* * *
Adam closedon his new apartment a few days before Halloween. He paid cash, so it hadn’t taken long. The plan was to move on Saturday, so he hired a moving company to pack and deliver his things to the new apartment.
“You think I’ll ever run into Cooper?” he asked as we wandered through the home goods section for the things he needed for the new place.
“I don’t know. I guess it’s possible,” I said, looking at the variety of sheets one could buy. “I still think you guys need to talk and get past this awkwardness, just like Aidan advised.”
Adam looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Why would I want to do that? His husband hates me.”
I chuckled. “Maybe, but it might surprise you. Want me to ask Jesse for you?”
He scoffed as he pushed the cart behind me. “No. I don’t need you to ask him anything. “
