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“Uh-huh. I get it, too. From both of them. I think they have a thing.”
“Really?”
He grumbled a swear word. “That would serve me right, I guess.” He waited a beat before continuing. “Sarah’s school orchestra performed in the city park on St. Patrick’s Day. I went out for the concert.”
“I’m sure she was thrilled.”
“Seemed to be. I stayed a week. Ate a lot of fish.”
“You don’t like fish.”
“Even less now. I got enough omega-3 that week to last me the rest of my life.”
She wasn’t ready to smile yet. Keeping her voice curt, she asked, “So you and Connell stay in touch?”
“I think he wants to adopt me.”
“He adopted you a long time ago.”
“Only good thing about his hovering was that he kept me informed on how it all went down when you came back from North Carolina.”
That snapped the rein she’d been keeping on her temper. “Then he’s a glorified gossip.”
“Practically an old woman.”
“If you wanted to know how it was going down, why weren’t you here to see for yourself?”
“Look, I know you’re pissed. You have every right to kick me in the ass and tell me to get lost.”
“If my foot didn’t hurt—”
“I couldn’t come to you until all that crap—yours and mine—was done with. You can understand that, Doc. I know you can.”
Their gazes battled. Hers was the first to fall away. “It took me a while, but I did come to understand it. You would have been an additional complication, something requiring an explanation, when I already had much to explain and deal with.”
“Exactly.”
“But that also gave you a very convenient excuse to disappear again and stay gone.”
“I had shit to work through, too. My reentry wasn’t going to be easy, and I didn’t want you subjected to the heat.”
“I could have helped you.”
“No, you couldn’t. I had to work things out on my own. First, I had to figure out what I was going to do.”
“Return to the FBI?”
“No. Jack asked me, but I turned him down flat.”
“So then…?”
“I’m, uh, building stuff. More than bookshelves and sheds. I’ve affiliated with a group of contractors. We go in after natural disasters. Tornadoes, earthquakes. Like that. We get shelters up fast. Repair homes, schools, hospitals, whatever.”
“Build stuff.”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t embellish. The inflection in his voice didn’t change much either, but it didn’t have to for her to discern that he was excited and gratified. The work was perfectly suited to him. However, she knew better than to make too much of it.
