Again.
“Whatever.” Vaughn dragged out the word.
“I’m serious. She’s smarter than all of us combined.”
Oh, of that, I have no doubt.
The entire time, Dr.Ivy Reeves had been playing chess while they were all engaged in a simple game of checkers.
?Chapter 80
“You look nice,”Vaughn said.
“Better than last time you saw me, that’s for sure.”
Ivy hugged him.
“Neither of us were at our best,” Vaughn admitted.
They entered the small restaurant. A sushi joint, Ivy’s choice. Dark. Intimate.
They ordered drinks. Vaughn was quiet.
“So they promoted me to interim department head.”
“Really? That was fast.”
“No kidding. I think they just want to keep me happy. Squashed that bullshit breach of code of conduct case. It’s only temporary, but the higher-ups said that it would likely become permanent at the start of next year, if...” Ivy trailed off.
“If?”
“If I keep my mouth shut.”
“And will you?”
“Never liked to gossip.”
“Congrats, then.”
Vaughn raised his glass of beer. Ivy clinked hers against his. No Guinness this time. A lager.
They didn’t talk much. And when their trays of sushi arrived, they talked even less.
Ivy was beginning to think that this was a mistake. She knew the odds. Relationships born during times of high stress had a low probability of success. Nothing ever lived up to the intensity of the initial interactions.
This seemed different, though. Ivy didn’t know all that much about the handsome detective, but she was good at reading people.
There was something on the man’s mind.
“Vaughn?”
He swallowed a piece of tuna sashimi.
“Yeah?”
“You wanna ask me something?”
Vaughn screwed up his face. Opened his mouth, closed it again.
