He had, at least, been engaged in police work all today.
Very specific police work. Even if he wasn’t officially on duty. And Leigh was a music fan. So maybe he had some leverage there.
The only thing that mattered at the moment was that Eli had accomplished his mission, and he’d returned home only a little while ago. He’d thrown his body down onto the sofa and tipped his head back, and the relief and triumph of accomplishing what he’d set out to do today went a long way to offseting the idea of Leigh’s censure.
No sign or word from Glory, though. No message on either phone.
He suppose there was a possibility that Wyatt Congdon had installed her in a limo and efficiently, immediately whisked her off to Los Angeles or to wherever stars were incubated and that would be that.
He just didn’t know. And as day was fading to twilight, he dozed off right where he was sitting, feet up on the coffee table, phone on his lap, thinking of her smile today, and he began to dream of a woodpecker, of all things, outside his window.
Tap tap. Tap Tap tap.
“Damn woodpecker,” Eli murmured, grumpily, in his sleep.
Then his eyes flew open. And then he shot to his feet. His phone clunked to the floor.
He was upright before he was fully awake.
He could feel the nip of the evening breeze in the house. He’d left the front door ajar; the screen door was filtering in fresh air.
And Glory was standing outside in the little golden pool of his porch light.
She’d been tapping on his door frame.
He moved toward her slowly, hesitantly, unconvinced he wasn’t still dreaming. It never occurred to him to turn on the light first.
She seemed to belong in that spotlight.
He didn’t think he could speak just yet. He was far too full of emotion to get a word out.
“It started raining on my way here,” she said, by way of greeting. “First rain of the season.”
He pulled the screen door open silently and held it open for her.
She hesitated.
And then she stepped inside.
As if on cue, the sky opened up and the rain came down in noisy buckets, casting that wonderful dirt smell on the air, banging a variety of notes on his roof and windows and gutters.
“I saw your truck out front. I hope it’s okay that I just stopped by. ”
He smiled at the absurdity of that.
She seemed almost shy. Radiant as the moon standing there in his shadowy living room with news he was certain he already knew. Whatever happened, he was just unutterably grateful he was here to witness this moment. And that she had come to him with it.
Finally she got the words out.
“They loved me, Eli.”
She sounded not so much disbelieving, as dazed and enchanted.
A torrent of love and pride flooded his circuits. For a moment he simply couldn’t speak.
She knew.
She waited.
