“Is something on your mind?” I queried.
“Just a week, Luna?” he pressed.
“Actually, I’d prefer we solve this case, then you, Jacques and I disappear to a cabin in some snowy mountains, trucking in a huge-ass amount of food, none of it good for us, and we snuggle by the fire, eat, read, fuck, and then come back and tell everyone we’re a thing, when by then, they’ll already know because we disappeared together. But since Christmas is fast approaching, and I’m way behind on buying gifts, I can’t do that so…yeah. Just a week, if that’s good with you.”
Though, I’d already bought his gift, but I didn’t tell him that.
His whole affect changed, even his voice, which had been wary with an edge of accusatory, and now was soft and sweet when he said, “It’s good with me.”
I didn’t like this.
There was something missing.
And we had hours of this boring-as-all-get-out stakeout gig.
So I went after it.
“Am I missing something?”
“Nope,” he said, and returned to watching the camp, so I was again addressing his back.
“You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”
He glanced over his shoulder at me, and I could see his white grin through the dark. “Not about anything important.”
The life of the woman whose man was a private investigator.
I relaxed and rolled my eyes.
“Ten more minutes, and you’re up,” he warned about our lookout exchange.
“Gotcha,” I replied, settling back into the familiar that was us.
Doing that not having any idea my man had just lied to me.
And he’d done it about something really freaking important.
I had a dog who had needs, so I popped by Oasis Square to let him roam the courtyard while I followed with one of my puppy poo bags.
While doing that, since Linda was hanging out on one of the chairs outside her front door, I had a brief chat with her about Alexis and Jacob’s fast approaching wedding (all three of them were longtime residents, especially Linda, who’d been there since the place was built, and Jacob having been recruited by NI&S, so part of the family in two ways).
I did this before heading to Lucky Boy, because Knox might want my ass right there, but I was hungry.
I got him his regular: a BBQ burger, onion rings and a strawberry shake.
I liked their menu, and as such, I enjoyed experiencing the whole of it, so I didn’t have a regular. But this time I got a corn dog, fried mushrooms and a vanilla malt.
After this, I headed to his pad.
I’d barely shut down the car before I saw him standing in his open door.
His gaze was aimed at me, and his face had a look of thunder.
What the fuck?
Ugh.
I wasn’t going to find out until I walked into the eye of that storm.
