“Ali—”
“Oh, no. I’m not done.” She poked him in the chest. “The fact is, Luke, you don’t do love. You don’t because that would mean feeling, and you don’t like to do that either. I get it though. I really do. You think you let other people down, and now you’ve got it all mixed up in your head somehow, and you think you’re unworthy of love. And that’s just bullshit.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Ali—”
“You’ve closed yourself off to receiving love, which sucks, especially because that means you can’t give it either. I get that too. You’re a detective because you’re good at it and because it allows you to stand back and observe. And the biggie—you get to stay distant. Which, by the way? You’re freaking fantastic at.”
He wished like hell he wasn’t holding onto the chains of the swing so he could touch her. But if he let go, she’d spin.
And then she would walk.
He’d faced bullets and bad guys in his work, and yet he was still a coward. Ali Winters, floral designer and pottery artist, was the brave one. She was so brave that she was going to walk right out of his life because she knew she deserved better.
And indeed, she rose to her feet, bumped him back, and walked away.
Chapter 25
Ali was still in White Center with her mom and sister at ten that night when she got a phone call from Aubrey.
“She’s gone off the deep end,” Aubrey said.
“Who?” Ali asked.
“You Know Who,” Aubrey said cryptically. Like it was She Who Shall Not Be Named. “I was working late, and she tried to sneak into Ted’s office. We scared the crap out of each other. She got irritated at me and left. I don’t know why I’m calling you with this.”
“Because even though you have perfect hair—which is annoying—you’re a good person.” Ali chewed on her lower lip, trying to imagine what Bree had wanted to do in Teddy’s office. Except she didn’t have to imagine. She knew.
Bree was going to put the money back. “Did she say where she was going next?” she asked Aubrey.
“No.”
“Is Teddy still at his team-building fishing trip?”
“Yes. You think I should call him?”
“What would you say?”
There was a pause. “Good point,” Aubrey said. “I’m going home now. I put in my resignation today. I realize it’s a Sunday night, but the powers that be will get it in the morning.”
“Wait— what?”
“Yeah. I’m switching gears. I don’t know what gear yet, but I’ll get there.”
“Wow,” Ali said. “Well, thanks for the call.”
“Yeah, and by the way, we’re even now.”
“Oh, not hardly,” Ali said.
“Really? How’s your hair?”
Ali looked in the mirror over her mom’s faux antique table. Smooth. Shiny. “Good,” she admitted.
“We’re completely even,” Aubrey said, and hung up.
Ali kissed her mom and sister goodbye and headed back to Lucky Harbor.
Bree was on the move with the money.
Ali was going on the move too, to catch her.
The highway was narrow and windy and took a lot of concentration to drive at night. This was good because it gave her no time to think about Luke. Or that he’d come to see her.
Or dropped the L-bomb.
Except he hadn’t.
She had. She wanted to thunk her head onto the steering wheel, but the road was badly rutted, and she was upset, not suicidal.
So she occupied herself by replaying the conversation with Aubrey in her head. She’d have liked to call Luke, but he was long gone by now. And because that gave her a quick stab to the chest, she called Leah.
“Hey,” Leah said, sounding worried. “It’s late, you okay?”
“To be determined later.”
“Uh-oh,” Leah said.
“Yeah. Listen, are you up for a little…” Ali grimaced. “B and E?”
“Always.” Leah laughed, then she got serious. “Wait. I thought you were kidding, but…are you? Kidding?”
“No.” Ali filled her in on Aubrey’s call and how she intended to go search Teddy’s place for the money.
“Aren’t you dating a certain hot detective?” Leah asked.
“No.”
“No?”
“Long story,” Ali said. “You in or not?”
Leah blew out a breath. “What the hell. There’s nothing on TV. You don’t think Bree will go back to the office now that Aubrey left?”
“No, I don’t think she’ll risk it again. I think she’s going to go to Teddy’s to dump the money. It’s just a feeling.”
They arranged to meet at eleven thirty. Ali turned her phone over so she didn’t have to look at the lit-up screen that revealed no missed texts or phone calls.
Her own doing, of course. But though she’d managed to get her heart broken, she refused to have her spirit broken too. Hell no. She was on a mission to fix her crazy life.
She’d worry about her heart later.
She parked, turning to look as Leah slipped into her truck and handed her a brown bag.
Ali peeked in the bag. “What are these?”
“B and E clothes. All black.”
Ali pulled out black jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt and then eyed the taller, leaner Leah doubtfully. “I hope these are your fat jeans.”
“Just strip. I’ve got an hour before I have to get back to give grandma her meds.”
Ali pulled off her clothes and shimmied into the ones Leah had brought, which wasn’t so easy behind the steering wheel.
“Cute undies,” Leah said.
“Stop looking.”
“Hard to miss the neon-pink boy shorts and demi bra. Victoria’s Secret?”
“Fifty-percent-off sale.”
“Nice,” Leah said. “The bra makes your boobs look perky.”
Yeah, well, that was a complete waste given how her day had gone.
Or how her love life was going.
“So what’s the plan here?” Leah asked.
“We wait for Bree,” Ali said. “I think she’s going to come here to his house.” And hopefully not in black leather. “It’ll feel safer to her than risking the office again.”
Leah eyed Teddy’s dark house. “Maybe she’s already been, or she’s there right now. We should call her, except I don’t know her number.”
Ali had an “aha” moment and tore through her purse for the book from Russell.
“You’re going to read?” Leah asked. “Now?”
“No, I think I have her number.” Come on, Russell, come through for me… Ali flipped through the pages, hoping and praying.
As an interior designer, Bree had ordered lots of flowers from Lucky Harbor Flowers, and indeed, she had her own page with preferences and contact information. Ali pulled out her cell phone and punched in Bree’s cell number.
“What are you going to do if she answers?” Leah asked.
Ali wasn’t quite sure until indeed, Bree answered.
“Hello? Who’s this?”
“Ali Winters. I was just calling to see if you really wanted this delivery at midnight.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, Russell left me directions to make a delivery for you.” At the lie, Ali looked at Leah.
Leah covered her mouth with her hand to hold back her horrified laughter.
“I don’t have a delivery on order right now,” Bree said, sounding like she was on the move.
Ali strained her ear to the phone. Had that been a horn she’d heard? “Are you sure?” she asked. “Where are you right now, because I can bring it by and—”
“It’s late,” Bree said.
Definitely in a car, Ali thought. There was a radio playing softly and an engine running. “Oh. Right,” she said. “Well, okay, then. So…how about a drink? Or a late-night brownie at Eat Me?”
Click.
Ali winced and slid her phone away. “She didn’t want to talk. Nor did she mention where she was. But I’d bet my last dollar she was in her car.”
“Maybe she’s on her way.”
“Or she’s on her way back to the office,” Ali said. “Hey…” she peered out the window, looking down the street to the Lexus parked in front of Teddy’s place. “That’s Teddy’s car. He must have gotten a ride with the other guys to their fishing thing.” She turned to Leah. “Let’s peek inside.”
“You have his keys?”
“I know his code.” They got out into the dark night in their black B&E gear and sneaked up on the car. Ali punched in the code. “I’m getting into the back,” she said, eyeing the gym bag on the seat. She opened the back passenger door and quickly turned off the dome light to avoid highlighting her activities to any neighbors who might still be up.
Leah got into the front seat and shut her door. Ali didn’t shut hers, because she wanted to be able to hear someone coming up on them. “I’ve got his gym bag,” she said. “I bet my iPod’s in here. He stole it.”
“Seriously?”
“I had better music, and he was always borrowing it for workouts. I want it back.”
Leah flicked on a penlight and twisted to shine it so that Ali could see.
“Nice,” Ali said.
“I like to be prepared.”
“You have any candy in there? You know, in the name of preparation?”
Leah handed her a lollipop.
“I love you,” Ali said. She popped the lollipop in her mouth and unzipped the gym bag. In unison, they both wrinkled their noses and jerked back from the odor of stinky guy emitting from the bag.
“Ew,” Leah said. “Guys are disgusting.”
Ali pulled the lollipop out of her mouth and stared into the bag. How badly did she want her iPod? Enough to move the stinky clothes around?
“Just do it,” Leah said.
“You sound like a Nike commercial. I need more light.”
Leah leaned closer with the light. “Hey,” she said.
“What?” Ali instinctively checked out the windows to see if anyone was coming. “What’s wrong?”
“You tell me. You’ve been crying.”
Ali sighed. “Forget it.”
“Oh, crap,” Leah said. “What did he do?”
“Who?”
“Luke.”
That Leah assumed Luke had blown it brought a warm fuzzy to Ali’s heart, even as she laughed without much mirth. “It was me,” she admitted. “He’s got this way of making me feel like the prettiest, smartest, most wonderful woman on earth,” she said.
“That bastard.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Ali hesitated. “I fell for him. And it’d never work between us.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” Ali stared at her. “Have you seen him? He’s totally out of my league.”
“Bullshit,” Leah said.
“And he’s law enforcement.”
“So, hot guy with a gun.” Leah shrugged. “Still not seeing the problem here.”
“My people don’t go out with law enforcement,” Ali said, “it just isn’t done.”
Leah laughed. “Your people? You mean women? Because, honey, women in general melt over guys like Luke Hanover.”
“Yes,” Ali said, diving into the unpleasant task at hand to search Teddy’s bag. “But you can’t make him melt back, now can you?”
Leah paused. “He doesn’t feel the same as you?” she asked, sounding quite up in arms over this possibility.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure he does,” Ali said, “but he told me right up front, he wasn’t going to get involved. I wasn’t going to get involved either, so there’s no one to blame here but my inability to follow my own decree.”
“Men suck.”
“I am in complete agreement. And look.” Ali pulled her iPod from a side pocket of Teddy’s gym bag.
“Wow. He’s perfect for politics. He’s got that lying, cheating, stealing thing down.”
“Are you keeping a lookout?”
“Yeah— oh shit.”
This was immediately followed by the back door opening, and a big body sliding in next to Ali. “Yeah, oh shit,” said a low male voice. A low, unbearably familiar voice, and both Ali and Leah squeaked.
“Luke,” Ali breathed, a hand to her chest.
“I need the both of you to go back to your vehicles and drive away,” he said in his cop voice.
Ali blinked. “What’s going on?”
Luke slid a look at Leah. “Give us a second?”
“No,” Leah said.
“Excuse me?” he asked, voice still low and authoritative but with a hint of disbelief.
Women probably didn’t tell him “no” very often.
“No,” Leah said again, “I’m not deserting Ali.”
He softened slightly. “You aren’t deserting her,” he said. “You wouldn’t. But I need a moment with her, alone.”
Leah looked at Ali questioningly. Ali nodded, and Leah started to get out of the Lexus, but then whirled back and put a finger right in Luke’s face. “I’m watching you,” she said.
Luke didn’t laugh. He didn’t get pissed off. Instead he nodded seriously and touched the tip of his finger to Leah’s. “I’m watching me too. It’s okay, Leah. It’s going to be okay.”