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“I get it. I just never saw a musical, and I had no idea it was so cutthroat.” He smiled. “Alexander Hamilton, huh? Didn’t he cheat on his wife? And wasn’t he kind of a prick?”
“Maybe. But I want to see it anyway. I want to be in the room where it happens.” She bit her tongue, considering him. “What would you want to do?”
“Disney with Ginny,” he answered immediately. “Me and Tina talked about it right before she left. She was a huge Disney and Harry Potter girl, so all she could talk about was taking Ginny to Disney and Universal, to see the princesses…and Hogwarts, of course.”
She smiled. “I was wondering if that was the inspiration for her name. I love that series. Read them all at least five times. Maybe ten.”
“Wait. They’re books? I thought they were just movies.”
She dropped her hand, standing, ready to march out that door right frigging now. “Serious—?”
He burst into laughter, holding his hand back out. “I’m kidding. Just kidding. I read them all six times. Swear to God.”
“Who’s your favorite character?” she shot back, not believing him.
“Hermione. I wanted to name Ginny that, but Tina wouldn’t let me.” He cocked his head. “Yours?”
“Same. Also, Neville. I think he should have been with Hermione. They were both so brave. And the actor who played him grew up to be hot.”
Mark rolled his eyes, but he ruined the effect by grinning. “Hermione ain’t so bad, either.”
“True.”
They laughed, and she broke off first, rubbing her face and watching him. It was after midnight, and she had to be at work at six, so she really should get going. “Which was your favorite?”
“Book? Deathly Hallows. Movie? Deathly Hallows part two. You?”
“Book, The Sorcerer’s Stone. There’s something about the first book in a series that can’t be beat. And movie…Deathly Hallows part one.” She smiled and reached forward, picking up the sock that had ended up on his spare pillow. “Do you actually like pink?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “I mean, it’s fine, but whatever.”
“So the pink socks…?”
“Ginny picked them out at the store. I didn’t have the heart to say no. She also wanted me to wear them to the wedding.” He grinned, his face lighting up almost as much as in the picture with his wife. “Her room is pink, and so are her comforter and sheets. She’s obsessed with the color.”
“I bet she is,” she said, smiling.
She’d probably never see that room. Meeting his kid would be crossing a line. Maybe once they were done with the benefits part of this situation and were just friends…maybe then she’d meet her. And she’d be Auntie Daisy. And from a distance, she’d watch Mark fall in love with someone more appropriate for him. Maybe she’d even be invited to the wedding, if his next wife wasn’t the jealous sort, and she’d maybe be a detective by then, if she played her cards right.
Funny.
That didn’t sound like fun.
“Why don’t you want to be in a relationship with anyone?” she asked abruptly.
“Uh…” Laughing, he sat up and leaned against the headboard, the sheet falling to reveal dark curls and a hint of penis, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I guess I just got really hurt when I lost Tina, and I almost lost myself, too. Her death? It almost killed me. The only thing that kept me sane was Ginny, and knowing I had to take care of her. But to open myself up to that kind of loss again? To give myself over like that to someone, knowing they had the power to destroy me? I don’t know that I could do it again. I don’t think I want to.”
Daisy nodded. She understood that all too well. Losing William had done the same thing to her. She’d fallen into an abyss, and only her work had kept her going. It was all she had anymore. Guess they had that in common, too. Their unwillingness to be vulnerable like that again. In a way, she thought the reason she and Mark were drawn to each other was because they had each suffered the same loss, and pain attracted pain.
“Would you want another relationship someday?” he asked, watching her too closely for her liking.
It was like he saw right through her, straight to her center, and uncovered all her deepest desires. She wasn’t so sure she wanted him to see all that. She didn’t even want to examine it too closely.
“I don’t know. Yeah, I guess so, maybe someday.” She shrugged. “I like love, and I like the way it makes you feel, but right now, I’m just focusing on being me. On being a good cop, without anything or anyone tying me down. On getting this stupid cast off so I can be back out there, taking down bad guys. So it’s not like I’m not sitting at home alone, wishing I had a man by my side. I’m fine like I am, where I am.”
He nodded, staring at her cast. “When does it come off?”
“Friday. I can’t wait.”
