Page 38 of The Guilty Trial

“And Jason is getting a home office. A real one, with a door that closes and everything. No more working at the dining table with paperwork spread across the placemats.”

Allie smiled. She could picture it, Jason hunched over at the kitchen table, Victoria stepping around him to get to the stove. In this apartment, the boundaries between work and home had always been thin. A house would finally give them room to breathe.

“What about you?” Allie asked. “What are you most looking forward to?”

Victoria's expression softened, and she looked down at Joey, who was blinking slower now, her legs beginning to still. “The space. She’ll have room to crawl around when she's ready. And the yard, especially. And I've been thinking about giving piano lessons again.”

“Really?” Before the cancer, piano lessons had been a major rhythm in Victoria’s life.

“Nothing major. Probably just a few students. There's a room in the new house that would be perfect for it. It’s got good light and enough space for my piano.” Victoria's eyes lit up as she talked about something so close to her heart. “I miss it. I used to love watching a child’s face when something finally clicked, you know? When they'd been struggling with a piece for weeks and then one day their hands just knew what to do. It’s such a good feeling.”

“I think it's wonderful,” Allie smiled.

Joey's eyes had grown heavy. Her blinks were now long and languid. Allie reached down and gently rocked the bouncer with her foot, a slow, steady rhythm that matched the baby's breathing. Joey's gaze drifted to Allie's face, and then her lids finally closed.

Allie kept rocking, watching the baby's chest rise and fall in the even cadence of sleep. Something stirred in her she couldn't quite name. It wasn't envy. Victoria and Jason had earned every good thing coming their way, and Allie felt nothing but happiness for them. But there was a subtle longing underneath it, perhaps her own desire for a life like the one they were building.

Victoria and Jason had weathered things that would have broken most couples, and they had come out the other side stronger for it. They built something solid, something real, and now they were expanding it, making room for another life.

Allie wondered if she would ever have that. If her work would always come first and the wounds she carried would always keep her at arm's length.

“So,” Victoria said in a sing-song voice, and Allie braced herself. “When's the last time you saw Ethan?”

Allie kept her eyes on Joey. “A couple of weeks ago.”

“And?”

“And what?”

Victoria tilted her head, waiting. She had a gift for silence that rivaled any interrogator Allie had ever worked with.

“We're having dinner at his place next weekend,” Allie said, aiming for casual and landing somewhere closer to transparent.

“Dinner,” Victoria repeated, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “Just the two of you?”

“Shep will probably be there.”

“Mm-hmm.” Victoria took another bite of pizza and chewed with exaggerated patience. “And how are things going between you two?”

Allie felt the heat rise up her neck before she could stop it. She busied herself with her own slice, but Victoria had already spotted it.

“Allie Bishop, are you blushing?”

“I am not.”

“You absolutely are. Your ears are turning pink.” Victoria leaned forward, delighted. “What happened? What aren't you telling me?”

Allie set her pizza down and pressed her palms flat against the table. She could deflect, even change the subject and steer them back to anything else. But Victoria was looking at her with that open, expectant warmth that made lying feel pointless.

“He kissed me,” Allie said simply.

Victoria's mouth fell open. “I'm sorry, he kissed you and you're just now telling me? How long have you been sitting on this?”

“It just happened.”

“Define ‘just.’ Because you said you saw him a couple of weeks ago.”

Allie couldn't help the small smile that escaped. “Okay, fine. I've been holding out on you.”