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She halts her stride. “No! No, that’s not what I—”
“Because that’s a huge commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
“I didn’t mean that,” she sputters out. “I don’t want you to move in. I’ve never lived with a man before. I wouldn’t know the first thing about—”
“You know,” I smile, “I’ve already been shot in the gut. You don’t have to kick a man while he’s down.”
She squints. “You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”
“Always. But I will absolutely take your offer to hang out with you and Charlotte for a while. The sounds like fun.”
“Okay,” she says with a nod. “We’ll be happy to have you.”
I squeeze her hand. “And then…” I sigh. “Once I’m better, I’m gonna need to find a job. A real one without crime and mobsters.”
“Got anything in mind?”
“Not really…” We start down the hall again. “My truck is gone. So, bye-bye, Hot Sauce.”
She gasps. “No more secret Mayan sauce recipe for the great people of Boston?” she asks.
“Mayan?” I scoff. “I swiped that thing off some old lady’s blog.”
She rolls her eyes. “I knew it.”
“Hey—” I nudge her arm. “Maybe I can join the police academy.”
Her smile drops fast. “God, no.”
“Why not?” I chuckle. “In a few months, I could patrol the streets with you. It’d be fun!”
“Absolutely not.”
“Okay, then. What do you suggest I do?” I ask.
Anna pauses, pressing her lips together as she thinks for a moment. Her brows arch suddenly and she smiles. “You have experience owning and operating a small business, right?”
“I guess you could say that, yeah.”
“You can follow a recipe,” she muses. “And you know your way around a kitchen. I’ve seen it myself…”
I furrow my brow. “Anna?”
“Fast learner? Punctual?”
“Yeah…” I study her sinister eyes. “What is it?”
“I think I might know just the thing.”
“Well, you can tell me about it on the way. I’m covered in jail again and I’m in desperate need of a bubble bath.”
“Okay, but before we go…” she smiles, “there’s someone here who's been asking about you.”
I grunt. “Who?”
She tilts her head and I follow the gesture through the crowd of detectives and desks to the little girl sitting in a chair beneath a sunny window. She looks down at a picture book in her lap and she’s still got that pink stethoscope hanging around her neck.
Charlotte.
