Disappointment hit Donna. “Oh, how long do you think it will be until you’ll be back?”
“I’m not sure. Hopefully, only a couple of days. As I said, the more hours we put in each day, the faster we’ll be back. My teammates are on the same page and also want to get home sooner rather than later. We’ll see how fast we can wrap it up.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t come so soon,” Donna said. “I’m sure I’ll be fine here.”
Burke didn’t want to tell her that he had a really bad feeling regarding the cop’s attention to her. It was concerning. He wasn’t sure if she was in actual danger or not, but he didn’t want to find out. He wanted her out of there and safe. “Or you could come the day after tomorrow, like we planned. Because I don’t know exactly when we’ll finish up, I’d like you to fly in so that you’re there when I get back. I’ve missed you and the kids,” he said.
His statement made her smile. “Okay, I’ll book it as planned.”
“Good,” Burke said. “Have you started packing yet?”
“Yes, I’ve gotten a few things together. I know I can do laundry there if I need to, so I’m bringing the bare minimum in clothing for everyone. And the kids will wear their backpacks with some books and toys and their bedtime cuddle buddies.” She paused and laughed. “I already told Jeriah she can only bring three of her lovies and only one of her blankets.”
Burke laughed too. “If your suitcases don’t roll easily, go buy a couple of new ones. Make it easy on yourself.”
“My mom has a few I can borrow. I won’t bring that duffel bag like I did when we went to Florida last year. That was so heavy. Had you not been there, I wouldn’t have been able to manage it and the kids too.”
“Have the driver drop you at the skycaps and check your bags outside. And I’ll have Dupont meet you at baggage claim to help you.”
“It’s so nice that Laura Lee has arranged our ride to the airport,” Donna said. And paid for it, as she knew it wouldn’t be cheap. “I wouldn’t even know how to go about booking a van with car seats for the kids.”
“And your ride from O’Hare will have a car seat for Jeriah and booster seats for the boys. We already have that arranged for you, too. A friend of ours has a car seat and boosters we can borrow while you’re in.”
“You and Laura Lee have thought of everything,” Donna said.
“Just trying to make it easier on you and your mom. I know traveling with three young children isn’t easy.”
Donna laughed. “Yeah, you lived through it last year. Though with you there, it was so much easier.”
“I wish I could be there with you now too, though last year wasn’t bad,” Burke said. Fond memories of the kids’ wide eye wonderment flooded him. Seeing their excitement during the trip to Florida had ignited something in him he’d never felt.
She laughed again. “It wasn’t bad? Compared to what?”
“They were excited, which is to be expected. I’m sure they’ll be excited about this trip too. And they’re all a year older. Hopefully, that makes it easier for you.”
“Yes, I’m hoping,” Donna said. Emotions washed through her hearing his words. “Rich, what you bring to their lives because of your presence in it is incredible. I can never thank you enough.”
“There’re no thanks needed,” he said. “I get a lot from it too and can’t imagine not being a part of their lives,” he admitted. His role with the kids was important to him.
His conversation with Wilson and his teammates had made Burke realize that it was time for an honest conversation with Donna. Their relationship had lasted more than a year, and he understood that the demands of his job could not be ignored forever. If things were to move forward, he would need to be clear with her about the realities of his work and the sacrifices it required. He owed it to her—and to himself—to discuss openly what would be necessary for their future together. She would then have to decide if she could really be okay with it.
“Well, I can’t imagine you not being in our lives either,” she said, feeling hopeful.
“I need to let you go so I can get to sleep. I may need to be up in the middle of the night to take over surveillance, and you need to book your flight.”
Her thoughts immediately turned to what that could mean: take over surveillance? “Oh, okay,” she said.
Burke read off his credit card info to her. She wrote it down and then repeated it back to him. “I’ll log in and book the flight right away.”
“Okay, shoot me a screenshot of the completed transaction so I’ll have the total and the flight info. I’ll talk to you when I can. Sleep well,” he said.
“You too,” she said.
After disconnecting the call, she logged in to her laptop and booked the flight she’d identified as the best flight for them when she’d looked earlier that day. There was a one-ten flight out of Dulles that was a nonstop and got them into Chicago O’Hare at about two-thirty in the afternoon.
There were four seats available: three in the same row, with a fourth on the other side of the aisle in economy plus. In the regular economy, there were only two seats available near each other, and those groupings were nowhere near each other. Even though it was more expensive by well over one hundred fifty per ticket than regular economy, by booking economy plus, they each got a free checked bag and were each allowed a carryon item and personal item, so in the long run, it would cost about the same amount. Plus, it would be more comfortable for her and the kids to be able to have her three kids sit across two seats during the flight.
She booked the flight and took a picture of the screen as Rich had asked, and then texted it to him. She felt bad about the amount of money spent on the flight until she pulled the curtain aside and glanced out of her living room window. Parked towards the back of the parking lot was the familiar black Camaro SS. She couldn’t see if anyone sat inside, but Davis was not in sight out of the car.
