“On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you? Fifteen? One hundred?”
Her nose twitched and she rested her chin on top of her knees. “You know, I don’t think I’m mad. I’m confused. Heck, I’m confused. But I don’t think I’m actually mad.”
I didn’t know what to say. That was not the response I would have expected from someone who had been tricked. But then again, Saidy was everything that was good in a person.
“The night you stood me up at the Italian restaurant?”
“I’d been up for forty-eight hours straight on this case.”
“When you missed Grandmother’s birthday? The night my car broke down?”
“I was doing surveillance of a warehouse. I didn’t see your missed calls until the next morning.”
She shook her head. “The clothes that smelled like muddy pond water?”
“Had actually been in a muddy pond,” I replied with a snort. “I’m still sorry I dropped them off here. I’d had them in the van and had to go right back to work. I didn’t want to risk someone seeing them and asking me what they were from.”
“You still like me?”
“No, I still love you. I never stopped. I just wish that I could have been a better boyfriend. Because I know from what you’ve had to deal with from me, that I’ve been preoccupied.”
Saidy untucked her legs and scooted down the bed until she rested her head on her pillow, staring across at me.
“Is it strange that I feel relieved?” she asked.
I chuckled, “And why is that?”
“You had a reason. You had reasons for why you were gone. You’re a freaking police officer on an undercover job. You’ve probably had an enormous amount of stress. But none of what we’ve been through was because you don’t love me.”
I cleared my throat and wondered what I was supposed to say.
“I thought you didn’t love me. So I tried to get over you, Fletcher. It was my heart’s defense mechanisms kicking in.”
I stopped breathing while I waited for her to continue.
“But that’s the thing…I couldn’t,” she whispered.
My lungs expanded as I smiled. “Will you give me a chance to be completely transparent with you? Explain everything that’s been happening?”
She nodded. “That’s not to say I’m still not confused. Maybe shocked would be the better word, I don’t know. But I feel as though things make sense in a way they didn’t before.”
“Can you forgive me for lying to you?”
“It’s so strange to think you’ve been undercover this whole time. Were you new to the job?” she asked.
“Yes, but that doesn’t excuse me from not telling you the truth.”
“But I saw you with your tech van. It would have been awkward for you to tell a complete stranger that you weren’t actually an IT guy. Right?”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. Ever pragmatic. “I guess so.”
“For all you knew, I could have been some type of criminal.”
“I would never mistake you for that,” I paused. “Well, maybe if the mailman ever ends up disappearing…and you were sort of on a rampage that day, so maybe an escaped mental patient?”
She snickered at that.
“I hate pretending to be something I’m not, and this is my last undercover job. I’m hoping to make detective after this, and never do undercover work again. The stress of it all is just not for me.”
“You know I can’t lie either. There’s a reason I don’t play poker with Dad anymore.” Her hand reached across the bed to caress my face. “I think that makes me like you even more. You’re painfully honest.”
I leaned into her touch and sighed as her gentle fingers caressed my cheek. I whispered, “I don’t want any more secrets between us.”
“Who are you investigating?”
My eyes popped open. “Who do you think?”
I watched her eyes widen and her fingers stopped moving. “No…Sullivan?”
I nodded. “Your feeling about him was right.”
“So when I texted you that, you’d already been investigating him for months?”
“Yes,” I replied with a smile.
“Ha, I was a little slow on the uptake then.”
“But still accurate. You knew something wasn’t right, and I think that’s what’s saved me. I know he’s been asking around about me. He’s getting nervous.”
“He must have followed you here tonight. He knows.” She sat up abruptly. “You have to call your boss, or whoever it is who organizes these things and tell him you’re done! He knows it’s you!”
“I can’t be done. I have almost everything I need. But I need to go back to make sure all the security feeds are in place.”
“No. Absolutely not. Someone shot at you tonight!”
“And missed,” I reminded her.
“You thought you’d been shot in the butt. That’s close enough.”
“Instead, it was just the wood splinter,” I reminded her.
“This isn’t funny, Fletcher. I came home to find you lying on my floor bleeding, telling me you’re an undercover cop, and the very same guy you’re investigating has been showing up everywhere that I’m at!”
“Saidy.” I grabbed her hand and tugged her down to lie next to me. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
The telltale moisture in her eyes caught my attention.
“Hey. Come here.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she whispered as she snuggled closer to my side.
Kissing her forehead, I brushed her hair behind her ears. “It’s going to be fine. Do you know any other guys who get shot at but end up with a splinter instead of a bullet? I’ve got some crazy good luck. I mean, I met you, after all.”
“That’s not how I see it,” she snapped.
“Hush up and eat a croissant.”
“It’s going to take more than that to stop me from lecturing you.”
“Have a sandwich.”
She laughed and snuggled closer to my side and I thought, maybe, just maybe we weren’t beyond repairing.
The next morning my butt was still sore where West had sewn me up.
There would not be much sitting today.
On the other hand, I’d never slept so well. Of course, that might have been due to the painkillers, but
