Page 73 of Floodgates

“Yeah, you do, all the time. You always answer me like I’m so fuckin’ annoying.”

He was scowling.

“Why can’t you just speak to me nicely?”

“You could do the same.”

I turned in my seat to face him. “See? That’s what I mean. You always justify how you treat me. How come you being nice to me is dependent on me being nice to you?”

“That question makes no sense.”

“Sure it does,” I pressed. “You should just be nice to me because it’s what you should do and not for any other reason.”

He thought about it a moment. “Be nice to you on general principle, you mean.”

“Yes.”

He shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Fine, I’ll be fuckin’ nicer to ya.”

“Don’t strain yourself.”

He pointed at me. “Now, was that necessary?”

I studied his face.

“Well?”

“No.”

“Okay,” he sighed, crowding me a bit more even as he noticed my regard. “What?”

“It would be nice if you pretended to like me just a little.”

“I like you more than you know.”

The man made no sense.

I stared out the window as we took off, and after that I was quiet, watching the flight attendants bustle around the cabin. Trying to figure out Cord Nolan was futile, so I pulled out my laptop and prepared to work once we were given permission.

Cord interrupted me getting started. “I wanna talk about Dimah.”

“What?”

“You said he’s such a great partner, but he doesn’t seem worried about you.”

“No, he’s plenty worried.”

“How so?”

Dimah didn’t at all like the idea of me traveling to Vermont alone. He wanted to send someone with me, but when I explained about being, technically, in protective custody, he stopped worrying.

“So what was Dimah gonna do, send some goons with you?”

“I can assure you we have no goons on our payroll.”