The sound of Cade's husky voice whispering aboveher in the dark was the last thing she heard that night. "Good night,Sunshine."
"All right then," Valerie's voice brokeinto her thoughts. "Just tell me if you want this. And I ask this becauseI want you to consider the years you spent with Victor and how, if you reallythink about it clearly, it was not what you truly wanted."
Smiling at the attendant who sat down in front ofher feet, Maritzia turned to Valerie and gave her a solemn look. "I'venever wanted anything more."
Valerie nodded in satisfaction and Maritzia couldsee the relief and happiness in her cousin's eyes at her confession. "So,have you seen Victor at the precinct since you've been back?"
Tilting her head up, Maritzia thought about that.It has been about three weeks since they got back. "No, actually. Ithought I saw a glimpse of him at the parking lot, but it was dark out and I'mnot sure. Also, Uncle hasadvisedme there is no need for me to go downto that part of the building where he works and that I shouldn’t, for obviousreasons. And Cade hasdemandedthat I don't go down there for obviousreasons," she said, exasperation for the two men clear in her tone.
Valerie laughed at that. "Do you think heknows that Cade came to Jamaica after he left you there?"
"I don’t know," she admitted."Cade told me he made Carlos swear he wouldn’t tell Victor when you guysmet him back at my apartment."
"Yeah, and he so very much wanted to,"Valerie shook her head with a rueful grin at the memory, "but Carlos kepthis mouth shut."
"And I made sure to keep all my photos of mytrip off Instagram," Maritzia added, "and post them only on Facebookso that I could filter it not to go to any of his family members or him."
Handing the manicurist her own bottle of deep rednail polish from her purse, Valerie gave Maritzia a disbelieving look. "Itall just feels like something you would see in a Lifetime movie."
"Tell me about it," she groaned."Uncle also has Cade and me working with different detectivesoccasionally, so I also have to deal with the silent angry war that Cade hasfor Uncle now."
"He isn’t going to permanently change youtwo to different partners, right?!" Valerie asked, shocked.
"No, and that was what Uncle told Cade. ButCade is so surly about the change. I think Uncle is only doing it to try andsave face if anyone questions why Cade and I work together, live together, andwere promoted together so early. So, every now and then on certain cases I workwith Scanlon, you know Morris Scanlon—I think you met him at our last precinctChristmas party."
"Oh yes, he was super sweet and kind ofshort? The one that wore that deep purple suit?"
"Yeah, that's him," Maritzia nodded andlooked down at the fresh coat of white paint that was painted over hertoenails. "He's really cool. And Cade works with Edwards. Which hesecretly doesn’t mind because Edwards was in the army, too, and all they do issit there and shoot-the-shit about the glory days of the army while subtlytrying to see who is more badass than the other. They even go work out in thegym during some lunch breaks, completely overdoing it. Both of them end upgroaning like old men all the next day."
Valerie laughed. "That sounds amazing."
Maritzia smiled as she thought of Cade laying outface down on her sofa earlier that week as he lamented on his gym mistakes. Shehad no doubt that Edwards was somewhere in the city doing the same at thatmoment.
"So, what are you all's plans for theweekend?" Valerie asked after a few minutes.
Looking up thoughtfully, Maritzia reflected onher empty master bedroom. Last weekend they had the carpet ripped out and newhardwood floors installed. Now the room just sat empty. With all the furnituresold to one of her cousins, all that was left was to furnish it how she wantedit this time.
"Well, I need to get some groceries,and Cade and I are going to go shopping for a new bed," she thought aloud.
Valerie's little squeal of delight nearly madeMaritzia jump. Seeing her cousin's delighted expression, she thought of herwords and felt herself flush at the double meaning.
She turned away to hide her smile. "You knowwhat I mean."
~*~
Maritzia suppressed a laugh as she tried tomaintain a straight face with the helpful attendant. The young man was listingthe qualities of a white bedroom set she was interested in.
"We call this one a French country design,although a lot of our customers consider it classical modern…" heexplained, his voice fading into the background of her mind.
On the other end of the furniture store directlyin the line of sight of the attendant stood Cade—holding up a giant canvasphoto of a beaver. Raising an eyebrow, he wiggled the canvas in his hand as ifasking "want to buy this beaver painting?"
Firmly looking away from him, she gladly turnedher back on his antics as the attendant showed her the matching chest ofdrawers and nightstands.
Looking at the stark white option versus thecreamy off-white she imagined it set against her shining new oak floors andsmiled.
"I think I will take this one," shesaid, pointing to the off-white set.
More than happy about the prospect of the sale,the attendant quickly brought up his tablet that hung at his hip from acrossbody belt across his chest. Tapping onto the screen he paused. "Willyou need a king-size or queen-size?"
