He had come home late, Toni had already been asleep, and he'd stewed
about this particular problem until he conked out. And he woke up
thinking about it.
That it?
Yeah, I think that just about covers it. My life is just swell.
He sipped at the coffee. It was cold. He considered getting up to
warm it, but it wasn't worth the effort. Sitting and staring at the
wall was ever so much more important.
Sure, sitting and whining about how hard your life is, that's the way
to go, all right.
'Up yours!'
'Hey. What did I do?'
Michaels looked up. He hadn't realized he'd said it aloud until he
heard Toni. She stood there, wearing one of his dress shirts and
nothing else, and she looked 3
absolutely gorgeous, even though her face was sleep-wrinkled and her
hair was a tangled rat's nest. That didn't help, that she was
beautiful and he loved her. He'd thought things were okay when she
came back, he'd thought all was right with the world.
Well, think again, pal.
'Nothing, I was just talking to myself.'
She took a mug from the dishwasher and poured coffee into it. She
inhaled the vapor, blew it out, then drank. She turned and leaned
against the counter, looked at him.
'You want to talk about it?'
Did he want to talk about it? Goddamned right he wanted to talk about
it. They could start with How come you didn't tell me you'd been to
see the director to discuss going to work for her? Slip your mind? Not
important enough to even mention? Don't want to let me in on little
details in your life, like where you are going to work?
But he didn't say that. Instead, he said, 'Not really.'
She took another sip of the brew.
'Okay.'
Fine. Fine. If she wasn't going to bring it up, he would rot in hell
for all eternity before he brought it up!
He said, 'I need to go in early. I'm having a meeting with the
mainline SAC to coordinate our investigation to find Morrison.'
'Want me to ride along?'
'Suit yourself.' That came out a little snippier than he wanted, but
what the hell, it was how he felt.
She blew out a sigh, then put the coffee mug down on the counter and
crossed her arms.
'All right. What's eating you? You're so pissed off you're about to
spit. Did I do something wrong?'
'Wrong? No, you didn't do anything wrong.' He could feel the acid
drip from his voice, feel the rage just barely buried under his
words.
'So why are you taking my head off?'
He was not going to say it, he was not going to say it!
