“What about me, Mandy?”
“Are you getting plenty of it?”
“No,” he said.
“Any?”
“I’m not very good at this.”
“I doubt that,” she said. “I think you’re a man who doesn’t do anything unless you’re certain that you’re good at it.”
“What I mean is that I was married for a long time.”
“But you aren’t anymore,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure I know how to be with someone else anymore.”
“Do you want to be?”
“I didn’t until now,” he said.
She took another bite of his pancakes. “Maybe you should be less chivalrous.”
He pushed aside his plate and she slid the pie in front of him.
“Want some apple pie? It’s my momma’s recipe.”
“I’m told it’s better than sex.”
“I think we ought to do a comparison,” she said. “While the taste is still fresh in our mouths.”
She stuck a fork into the pie, carved out a bite, and ate it.
They made love with tender urgency on the bare mattress amid all of his unpacked boxes in the center of his apartment.
When it was over, she lay naked on top of him, her head on his chest.
“Was it Camelot?” he asked.
“I think you’re mispronouncing it,” she said.
“Just following your lead,” he said.
“You followed it well,” she said.
He stroked her back and sniffed her hair. He wanted to remember her smell, to always have that intimate recognition of her no matter what happened next.
“Why me?” he asked.
“You mean, why did I pick you to end my celibacy?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Because I know I can trust you. I didn’t think I would be able to trust a man again,” she said. “I also like the way you move, especially on top of me.”
“You didn’t know that before tonight.”
“I had a strong inkling,” she said. “Why did you accept my invitation to bed?”
“I’m a man,” he said.
“You really are, maybe more than any man I’ve known,” she said. “But not in that way. You wouldn’t fuck a woman just because she asked you to.”
“I might,” he said. “Just to be chivalrous.”
“I want a straight answer.”
“You’re smart and you’re direct. You are who you are. You don’t make excuses for it and you don’t try to be anything else. I like that.”
“It’s what you like in yourself.”
“You’re also a very attractive woman. You mentioned that you’ve been away for a while. Where were you?”
“It wasn’t prison, a mental institution, or a convent.”
“That’s a relief.” Wade looked over her shoulder at the watch on his wrist. It was nearly 8:00 p.m. He hated to say what he had to say next. “Officer Greene will be here in a few minutes to start her shift. I need to go. I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t have to.”
“Me too.” She kissed his chin and rolled off him onto her back. “But we’ll have other opportunities.”
He looked at her. “That would be nice.”
“Nicer than my momma’s apple pie?”
“Much,” he said.
Chapter twelve
Wade let Charlotte drive the squad car to give her a chance to feel in control of her situation and to discover the neighborhood on her own. But mostly, he did it because he was feeling pleasantly, postcoitally languid and wanted to enjoy it. She kept stealing suspicious glances at him and he pretended not to notice.
“You didn’t seem surprised to see me,” she said.
“I shot Billy, not you. It’s not bothering him any.”
“Because he’s an idiot.”
“He’s smarter now than he was yesterday,” Wade said.
“I came back because I realized all that bullshit you said about this being the one place I could make a difference actually wasn’t bullshit.”
“Good to know. What did forensics say when you dropped off the guns?”
She gave him a long look, clearly disappointed that he wasn’t treating her admission with the gravity she felt it deserved. He looked out the window at the dark, abandoned factories.
“They asked if it was related to a specific case.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them that the weapons were recovered on the street outside of our station,” she said.
“Did they give you an idea when we might get the fingerprint and ballistic results on the guns?”
“I got the impression it would be after hell froze over,” she said. “But before dogs have evolved to the point where they can walk upright and speak English.”
His cell phone vibrated on his gun belt. He’d forgotten that it was there and that it was on.
“Excuse me,” he said and answered the call. “Wade.”
“It’s me, Dad,” Brooke said.
The instant he heard her voice he felt a deep, painful stab of guilt. It must have shown on his face, because Charlotte immediately looked away and concentrated intensely on her driving.
“Where have you been?” Brooke continued.
“I am so sorry,” Wade said. “I’ve been totally distracted by work.”
“You’re working?” She sounded like a young, innocent version of Ally. They shared the same vocal patterns, even the same laugh.
“Yeah,” he said.
“What are you doing?”
“What I’ve always done. I’m a cop.”
“I thought you weren’t anymore,” she said.
“I never stopped being one,” he said. “But now I’m back on the job.”
“Mom said that would never happen.”
“I guess she was mistaken,” Wade said.
“Will I still see you this weekend?”
“Every weekend,” Wade said. “I’ll come by on Saturday morning and take you to the movies. But it will have to be an early show. I’m working nights.”
But even in daylight, he would still hesitate to leave Charlie and Billy alone even for a few hours. He’d take her to one of the downtown multiplexes so he wouldn’t be too far from the station if his rookies got into trouble.
“What do you want to see?” Brooke asked.
