“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said my experience in relationships is limited, but I am very confident when I say that relationships between colleagues rarely work out.”
A knife twisted in Kate’s chest.“No.I guess they don’t.”
“I’m not saying your relationship with Marcus won’t work,” Gabe said, “but you guys will need to approach it differently.Dating is for getting to know people.It’s awkward, exhilarating, sometimes intense, and often wonderful—and I mean that in the strict etymological sense.Full of wonder.
“You two won’t have the luxury of enjoying that stage.You two know each other very well already.There’s no need for you to arrange social interactions designed specifically to help you get to know each other.”
“That’s not why we were doing it, though.We were just taking it slow because he was in the middle of—isin the middle of divorcing his wife.”She flushed.“God, that sounds horrible, doesn’t it?”
“It sounds like avoidance,” Gabe replied, still gentle but also unyielding.“You both want each other, but you both realize that now’s not the right time.If he’s in the middle of a divorce, he’s hurting, and you see an opportunity.So, you went for it.Now the other shoe has dropped, and you’re both confronting the reality that the timing isn’t where it should be.”
He stopped there, and his words hung in the air, thick and weighty like smoke.“Yeah,” she finally said softly.She sniffed, scratched the tip of her nose, then dropped her hand onto the steering wheel.“So, he’s right.We should take a step back until he figures Cheryl out.”
“Don’t lose hope, Kate,” he said, and now his voice was just gentle.“The worst thing you can do right now is push when he needs time to close the door on his last marriage.Let him finish that chapter of his life.Then he will beentirelyyours.”
Or he’ll decide that he’s entirely hers.He’ll go back, and they’ll make it work this time, and I’ll get to spend the rest of my career making myself look happy for my partner when really, I just wish his ring was on my finger, not hers.
But she knew that thought was selfish, and since she decided to think about a wedding ring, utterly ridiculous and about three years too soon.So, she had no response to make but, “All right.Thank you.I guess I just needed to hear it from someone else.”
“Take heart, Kate.The road to happiness is convoluted and full of ruts.You two will make your way there.Don’t be dismayed if you occasionally have to pull over and change a tire.”
Kate chuckled.“Yeah.I’ll do that.Thanks again.”
“Of course.Call me when it’s all said and done so I can say I told you so.”
She laughed again.“I will.”
He hung up, and Kate sighed and looked through the windshield for a moment.She tried to hold onto optimism, but it was hard to do that when the man she wanted was still hung up on another woman.Maybe he wasn’t in love with Cheryl anymore, but he was still chained to her.
She was running out of other options, though.Or rather, she was running out of reasons to act like she’d ever had other options.
She started the engine and called Rivera.She had a job to do.For once and all, her personal life had to wait.It wasn’t fair to the victims for her to fixate on Marcus.
Their killer, after all, wasn’t having trouble focusing.Their eyes were focused entirely on the task at hand.If Kate couldn’t do the same, then she was consigning others to the same bloody fate that the Carltons and Dr.Hammond had suffered.
