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He tucked the phone into the door pocket and pulled the seatbelt across his body.
“How’d it go?” he asked Kevin.
“Fine. They might cut me loose from probation early.”
“That’s great news. How’d you swing that?”
“You don’t think I’m capable of good behavior?” Kevin groused.
Tim groaned. He didn’t know what he could do to get Kevin to stop assuming the worst of him, except to be patient. All he could do was try. “I know you’ve been good. Frank said so.” Tim backed out of the diagonal space and headed toward Heidi’s. “I know that it’s in the best interest of the county to keep you hooked as long as possible so they get their probation fees, so the fact they’re going to let you off means you’re doing great.”
“Yeah.” Kevin put his head against the window and closed his eyes.
“Not gonna elaborate?”
Kevin said nothing.
Tim didn’t either.
They rode in silence to Heidi’s, and said nothing more, even when Kevin hopped out.
Heidi walked to the driver’s side and Tim let down his window.
“See if you can get some words out of him,” Tim said. “Maybe we can compare notes when I get back. Between the two of us, we might get an entire story.”
“What specifically am I fishing for?”
“I know Valerie is supposed to be writing some kind of letter for him, and that he might be released from probation early.”
“Could those two things be connected?”
“I don’t know but I’m going to see Valerie tonight. I’ll see what I can find out from her.”
Heidi pushed up an eyebrow. “And not just about Kevin, I bet.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Right, Tim. If you think it’ll help your cause any, I’ll hogtie her the next time I see her and not free her until she sees reason.”
“I regret ever teaching you to tie knots.”
“Well, you got a good lesson in trade, didn’t you?” She wriggled her tongue at him, clasped her hands behind her back, and backed away.
“Yeah, it was a good lesson.” He smirked. He didn’t regret that getting that lesson one little bit.
___
Parked at the waterfront at 9:05, Valerie sat in her car, gripping the steering wheel, staring contemplatively through the windshield.
She was having serious second thoughts. Tim hadn’t seemed all that enthusiastic about seeing her, and she could hardly blame him. No one wanted to be strung along and he’d been clear about what he wanted. But it hurt that he could go cold so quickly.
She was about to lock her car doors, put her seatbelt back on and leave, but she forced herself to grip the steering wheel tighter and stay put. Leaving would have been cowardly, and she knew she was just looking for one excuse to run away and not confront Tim in the way she needed to.
He’d been honest with her, so she’d do the same with him. She didn’t know what she expected to come of the conversation, but she hoped he’d at least be gentle with her.Patientwith her. She’d never been in a situation before where she’d even considered making room in her regimented life for someone else, but men like Tim weren’t exactly a dime a dozen. Letting him off the hook would be reckless, even if she wasn’t completely ready for the same things he wanted.
Concentrating so intently on the situation at hand, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the knock against the window beside her. She clutched her heart as her vision focused on Tim leaning down and staring into the dark car. Memories flashed of the first time he’d leaned down to see into a car she was in. He didn’t look so curious now. Just impatient.
She pulled her trunk lever and got out, meeting Tim at the back of the car.
