Hold On

“You’re the awesomest kid in the universe,” I declared.

His eyes narrowed. “Are you gonna get gooey?”

“No. Except tellin’ you you’re the awesomest kid in the universe.”

He shoved his spoon into his bowl and scooped up more mush, muttering, “Already knew that.”

I grinned.

Then I grabbed my phone.

I texted, Ethan’s good with the extended sleepover as long as we can bring the Xbox with our skillet, and hit send.

Considering my man was embroiled in a fresh murder investigation that involved a woman I’d seen once, in her nightie, having an argument with my dickhead neighbor, I was not surprised his reply took an hour and a half.

When I got it, it was, Xbox affirmative. He get to school okay?

Seriously.

Totally.

If we went the distance, I so was going to be able to talk him into more kids.

Yes, boss. FYI, we’ve been accomplishing that difficult maneuver since the third day of kindergarten when he quit pitching a fit because his momma was dropping him off with bitches who made him take naps, I returned.

Whatever. Come by the station. Need to give you keys. Leave the Xbox by the TV. No one touches my TV but me. I’ll deal with it when I get home. Be home before you go to work so I can see to Ethan.

I stared at the text, wanting to take a screen shot of its awesomeness, print it out, frame it, and put it by my bedside so I could read it every day.

Since I didn’t want to be a whackjob who would do something like that, I just experienced another boon Merry gave me.

That being, me, now a woman who had a man in her life who was a man who was in her life. Being there. Taking care of her. Being a partner. Being a part of her kid’s life. Taking care of her kid. Liking that. Wanting it. Going for it.

After I let that goodness sift through me, I called my mom and explained the situation.

Needless to say, Grace Sheckle was pretty fucking happy my kid and I were moving in with Merry. So much, she didn’t care there was a possible homicidal boyfriend living two doors down from my house.

Not even a little bit.

I packed my bags. I packed Ethan’s. I disconnected the Xbox. I packed some groceries. I grabbed a skillet. I loaded this all in my car. I went to the station, got the keys, and stole a quick, distracted kiss from my man who was on the phone the entire time I was there.

While there, I also got a lot of greetings from a lot of friends, all of whom were busy, so I didn’t dally.

I took our shit to Merry’s and put things away as best I could.

His extra room was a junk room, not a guest room.

I’d deal with that tomorrow.

I went out to go to the grocery store to add to the seriously meager supplies Merry had in his kitchen, something I needed to do before I went to go get my kid from school.

And I left the Xbox on the floor in front of the TV.

*

Garrett

“Nothin’ here but girl shit,” Jake muttered.

Garrett and Mike stood across the table in the basement were Jake did some of his work. Scattered on it were Wendy Derian’s purse, the contents of the same, and the contents of her car.

“Yeah, except there’s no cell,” Garrett replied.

Jake looked up to him. “Nope.”

“We went through the room she was stayin’ in at her sister’s. Not one there either,” Mike noted.

Garrett looked to Mike. “Twenty-eight-year-old woman’s gonna have a cell phone.”

Mike looked to the table. “Shit.”

Woman in a hurry to get where she’s going.

Cell gone.

Not good.

“Got stuff to process, guys. You need anything else?” Jake asked.

“No, man, thanks,” Garrett answered.

They moved out of the room, but they didn’t move to the stairs to go back to their desks. They moved to the stairs to exit the building in order to do legwork. They had a list of friends and family to hit.

But Garrett knew where they were gonna start.

“Cutler’s?” he asked as he pushed the door out to the back parking lot.

Mike nodded.