“Not at all.” His phone dinged, and he read a text from Micha. “Micha will be here in five minutes.”
His phone chimed again. “Russ is on his way too. Same time frame. For once I have to say it’s nice to live so close to them.”
“I can’t imagine having siblings or teammates who come running when I need them.”
“It’s good.”
She tilted her head. “Do you want Jessie to have a sibling someday?”
Did he? Another thing he hadn’t considered. Before Diane died, they’d talked about having a second child. But now? “Jess would like that. Me too. If things were normal in our lives. But they aren’t, and I’m not sure anymore.”
She didn’t seem surprised by his answer. “I’m the same when it comes to Ella. She really took to Jessie quickly. She doesn’t have a lot of friends. I homeschool her to prevent germ exposure while she’s so immunocompromised. She wants to go to school and have that normal life you mentioned.”
The sacrifices both of them had made and were making was beyond Reid’s emotional comprehension. Sure, he’d given up being an agent due to Diane’s death, but that was just a job. He was thriving in Shadow Lake and loved his life with his family and teammates. So in many ways he was thriving, and their life was approaching normal again. If you didn’t count the big gaping hole Diane’s death left behind.
Jack joined them, ending the personal talk, and he tapped his jacket pocket. “Warrant is printed, and I’m good to serve it.”
“You’re sure it’s okay if I tag along?” Reid asked. “You know protocols and all.”
“Yeah.” Jack grinned. “I doubt the bar staff will complain about a tagalong to recover a video.”
Footfalls pounded up the exterior steps to the porch, and Reid shot to his feet. Hand on weapon, he marched to the door. He confirmed Russ’s and Micha’s arrival before opening the door for them.
They shed their jackets, and he quickly gave them the lay of the land.
Russ eyed Reid and moved closer to whisper, “I see what Syd was saying about you and Megan.”
Megan sat forward. “What’s going on?”
Russ waved a hand. “Just family stuff.”
She wrinkled her brow at him. Okay, so she didn’t buy his evasiveness, but he wouldn’t say more. His brothers were gossips when it came to trying to get Reid into the dating game. They figured it was time. He didn’t. Or maybe he did now if the woman he dated was Megan.
Jack grabbed his jacket. “Let’s get moving.”
Reid made strong eye contact with Megan. “Stay inside—away from windows. Listen to Russ and Micha. If you get a call make sure I’m informed when you have a chance.”
She nodded, but her focus lingered on him, pulling at him. He took a step in her direction. Paused.
“Come on, man,” Jack said. “Time’s wasting.”
“Go. We’ll be fine.” Megan shooed him away.
And yet, he struggled to get his feet moving. Jack grabbed his arm and propelled him toward the door.
Outside where snow was falling softly, he stopped. “You’ve got it bad, man.”
Reid couldn’t argue. He did have it bad for Megan. Question was, what was he going to do about it?
Jack clicked the key fob for his Bureau-issued SUV. “Go ahead and put the bar’s address in GPS while I get out to the road.”
Jack cranked the engine, the sound cutting the quiet. Reid took the passenger seat and tapped PJ’s address into the GPS program, and the female voice directed them toward the city.
Jack pulled down the driveway, and Reid prepared himself for his buddy to fire off additional questions about Megan that Reid was completely unprepared to answer. Thankfully, text messages coming over the infotainment system kept Jack busy most of the drive.
When he finished, he stared out the window. “Think we’ll get much accumulation.”
“They’re predicting several inches later tonight. Let’s hope it hasn’t closed down PJ’s.”
