“Yeah?” Jaxon gives me a shy smile.
“Totally.”
Jaxon nods, turns and picks up the bag and slings it over his shoulder. Then he asks, “Am I free to go?”
“Of course,” Jesse says. “Stay safe.”
Jesse rolls the window up and looks over at me. “We make a good pair.”
Not a team—a pair.
“Agreed,” I say, feeling the heat crawl up my neck.
“And I don’t think the boys stole the baby Jesus,” he says. “I haven’t suspected them for a while, but this confirms my hunch. I’ll be shocked if it turns out to be them.”
“Do you think it’s Kate?” I ask.
“Not really. But you can’t be sure. She’s got motive, and so far she’s the only one who seems to.”
Jesse pulls away from the curb. We’re driving down State Street when he turns to me and asks, “What about you? Why Bordeaux? Out of all the towns you could have chosen, why here?”
The streets roll past in a quiet rhythm; it feels safe enough to let him in a little more.
“Well, I knew about Bordeaux because of Lexi and Memaw. But I never in a million years imagined living here—or anywhere in Ohio or the midwest for that matter. Where I’m from, we call these the fly-over states.”
“Wow.”
“I know,” I admit. “Nice.” I shake my head. “I wanted to join the NYPD. When I thought of policework it was chasing criminals down alleys, investigating murders, breaking up trafficking rings.”
“Heavy duty.” He pauses, turns to look at me and then fixes his attention back on the road. “But you could do all that. I have no doubt.”
I scoff, not at him, but at the contrast between his reaction and Marco’s. I’m not still hung up on my ex, but the damage he did to my self-confidence is still under repair.
“Well, I had a boyfriend at the time I was considering entering the academy.”
“Okay.”
“We broke up.” I don’t know why I feel the need to make that so abundantly clear. I just want Jesse to know for certain there’s no other man in the picture.
“What happened?—If you don’t mind my asking.”
“I don’t mind. He had a certain life plan in mind—one he failed to share with me until I announced that I wanted to go intothe police force. That was when he basically told me where I fit into his picture. In the house, cleaning, cooking, serving him.”
“Wow.”
“I have nothing against those traditional roles. I’d love to cook for a man, care for our home. Hopefully as a team, not an unpaid laborer, but still. I don’t have anything against a life where I’m all domestic.”
He chuckles at my phrasing.
“I just want to matter as a whole individual—one with goals and input. And I had this dream of pursuing policework. If he had been concerned for my safety, or even wanted to talk about how all the pieces would fit together, I would have been open to a conversation. But he dismissed my dream in a few sentences. It wasn’t up for discussion.”
“I’m sorry,” Jesse says.
“Yeah. I am too. But not that my relationship with Marco ended. I’m just sorry that anyone would feel that way about another person’s dreams.”
Jesse nods. We drive past Bud’s Liquors. Cooter stumbles out, waving at us. Jesse waves back. Then we pull around past the Community Center and park near the high school.
“He got under my skin,” I tell Jesse.
