“Everything alright?” Jared asked.
“Yeah, I just need some air.” I walked outside and stood taking in the morning air. It was warm and the promise of summer’s heat was coming off the bay riding the breeze.
“Ethan?” Logan stepped out the door to stand next to me.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Did I say you did?”
“No,” I shook my head.” Sorry, no you didn’t.”
“Just the same, you seem like something is really bothering you and I know it isn’t this case.”
“Yeah, no. hell I don’t know.” I shuffled my feet and look off in the distance.
“Only one thing can get a man tied up in knots like this.”
I knew where he was going with this, so I let him say it.
“What’s her name?” Logan asked.
“Why do you think it is a woman?” I glanced over at him.
“If it’s not a woman then I am going to have to assume you’re terminally ill or something and you better start talking.”
I chuckled. Leave it to Logan to take to the next level.
“Yeah, alright fine. I’m not talking about this at work.”
“Fair enough.” He turned and walked back inside.
I didn’t want to talk about it. I knew it would sound crazy and I didn’t need that right now. I also didn’t need pity stares from my agents.
We worked until about nine o’clock and then we called it quits. Logan hung back.
“Wanna go grab some roasted oysters and beer?”
I thought about saying no but what good was it going to do to go home and stare at the wall. “Sure, why not?”
“I’ll drive.”
I climbed into Logan’s truck and didn’t ask where we were going. I just let my mind wonder for a while. We stopped at a little house near the water back off the road. I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were, and I was surprised when we stopped.
“What’s this place? I asked getting out of the truck.
“My place.”
“I’ve been to your place and it is bigger than this.”
“This is my weekend place.”
I surveyed the area. It was well screened by trees. There were lights on all corners of the house that I could see and very discreet cameras. I suspected for every security measure I would see there were five more I couldn’t. Logan was very cautious.
I followed Logan inside. It was surprisingly light and airy. I expected something darker from his man cave.
It was masculine and took advantage of the southern exposure and allowed the windows to pick up the breeze off the water.
“This is a nice place.”
“Thanks.” He said with his head in the fridge.
“You come here every weekend?”
“Most weekends if we’re not working.” He handed me a beer.
“Thanks.” I said accepting the icy beer. I held it up and gave him a salute and took a swig.
He took two pulls from his bottle. “Okay, oysters.” He announced pulling a jar from the fridge.
“Looks good. Anything I can do to help?” I offered.
“Stay out of the way.”
“Copy that.”
We walked outside. Logan had an impressive outdoor kitchen setup. I stared off across the water at the lights on the far shore while he did his thing.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.” I sat down at a wooden table. Logan put a shallow pan of roasted oysters between us. There was a large bottle of hot sauce and a fresh beer.
“You’re a good host.” I said. Logan shrugged.
We ate and drank way too much. It was getting late and the bottles were filling up the trash can on his deck.
“So, what’s her name?” Logan finally asked.
“Kay.”
“Kay, what?”
“I don’t know her last name.”
“What?” Logan laughed. “I didn’t have you pegged for the love ‘em and leave type, Ethan.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I went to the Ironclad one night. I was still married then and I had gone to listen to Charlie Pickens.”
Logan nodded. He was a music lover as well.
“And I saw her sitting there alone. So, I went over and started talking to her. We sat listening to Charlie and drinking. Then we went for a walk along the river and talked for hours.”
“Just talked?”
“Yeah we just talked.”
“Okay.” Logan raised an eyebrow in my direction. I wasn’t sure if Logan believed me, but it didn’t matter, though.
“I went back to the Ironclad the next night and she was there again. So, we sat and listened to music and drank bourbon. This time we walked to the place she was staying in the Garden District. We were talking and I told her I was married. She said she wouldn’t be the cause of a marriage breakup or anything and that if we were meant to be together, we would meet again.” I shrugged. “And I left.”
“That’s it?” Logan looked disappointed.
“Yeah.”
“How long ago was this?” He asked holding a beer to his lips.
“Almost six years.”
Logan almost spit out his beer.
“You’ve been holding onto this for six years and you never tried to find her?”
“No.”
“You care about her?”
“More than any other living creature on this planet,” I paused, “it’s hard to explain as I was leaving that night she reached up and kissed me. As soon as her lips touched mine. I knew in that moment why I had been put on this planet.”
“That’s pretty serious. I’m confused why you didn’t try to find her.”
“Well, okay, I did try after Diane and I split up. I didn’t have much to go on, but I did have her cell number. When I called it was no longer in service. She said she was from here but didn’t live here at the time. She was just home visiting, and she was staying in a guest house. And I never got her last name.”
“Well Kay isn’t that common of a name so how hard could it be to find her?”
I shrugged. “Harder than you think.”
“Okay, that was six years ago, and databases have improved so what else do you know about her?”
“She was working with the military, a journalist, I believe she said and was just home
