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I consider a moment before answering. I don’t want to offend Stone and I really do want him to know he can trust me. Finally, I decide the truth can’t hurt any more than a lie could. “I run into a lot of crooks in my business,” I say. “And a lot of these crooks are very good at manipulating the narrative to support the result they want even when the truth is far different. When I’m here, I can be here to tell when people are lying. I know it seems like overkill but it’s kept us from paying millions of dollars on a fraudulent claim and having to raise premiums for all of our clients and it’s kept us from denying claims to unsuspecting victims of crime who would otherwise lose everything.”
“So who don’t you trust?”
“Goddammit, Stone!” I say in frustration. “It’s not that simple! It doesn’t matter whom I do or don’t trust, it matters that I find out what the truth is.”
“How can you know the truth without trust?”
I could tell him my life story and by the end of it, he will know exactly why I don’t associate trust and truth with each other. Instead, I keep it simple and only reply, “Honest people make mistakes sometimes. Quite often, in fact. In my line of work, those mistakes have consequences. I don’t want a multimillion-dollar judgment—which this will absolutely be—to hinge on hearsay.”
“It’s not hearsay,” he protests. “We’re professionals doing the job we’re trained to do.”
There’s no point in arguing further, so I let the subject drop.
After a few minutes, Stone joins the other firefighters investigating the blaze. They look around for a few hours and every so often bring back a charred piece of wood or a melted clump of wiring in large plastic evidence bags. I talk to a few of them and snap pictures of the evidence bags, but it eventually becomes clear that Stone is right. I will learn nothing by being here and will only succeed in getting in the way.
I sigh in exasperation and decide there’s nothing for it but to head home and wait to hear back from them. I’m surprised at how distasteful the idea is to me and it takes me a moment to realize the reason for that is it means there will be no more nights with Stone like last night.
I don’t know why that would affect me so much. I mean, sure, he’s hot and sure the sex was easily the best I’ve ever had in my life, and sure, he’s pretty much the embodiment of the strong, confident fantasy man who sees me not as a bitch or a fire-breathing monster but as a woman equally as strong, confident and sexy as he is.
I guess it makes a lot of sense that I would be disappointed after all.
I head over to say goodbye but before I get a chance, Stone gets a phone call. He answers and a moment later, his eyes widen. “Okay, thank you. I’ll be right there.”
He hangs up and looks at Rory. “I’m going to the hospital,” he says. “Reggie’s awake.”
“I’m coming with you!” I say before I can stop myself.
He hesitates only a moment before nodding and saying, “All right.”
I follow him to his car and find myself hoping against my will that we’ll find an excuse to sneak away somewhere private when the day’s work is done.
CHAPTER SIX
Stone
The drive to the hospital is silent. Kellie keeps to herself, respecting the emotional rollercoaster I must be riding going to visit my friend in the hospital.
I’m definitely riding an emotional rollercoaster, but it has nothing to do with Reggie and everything to do with Kellie. I glance at her from time to time as we ride. When she’s not busy trying to ride roughshod over everything and everyone in her way, she seems surprisingly soft and feminine. Her features are delicate and looking at her sitting next to me, she seems particularly petite. She’s probably closer to thirty than twenty but with the right haircut, she could pass for a college freshman.
Against my will, I start to understand a little of why she is the way she is on the job. A lot of people probably treat her like a naïve little girl just based on her appearance. As much as we might like to think we’ve progressed in the world, it’s an unfortunate truth that many men still treat women like the more fragile and less intelligent of the sexes.
I know a thing or two about being judged because of my nature.
“When we reach the hospital, let me do the talking,” I say. “At least at first. You’ll have a chance to speak but Reggie’s brother, Jason, can be a little jumpy. It will take a little convincing for him to let someone he doesn’t know talk to Reggie.”
“But I’m with the insurance company,” she protests. “He was the one who called us.”
“And you didn’t immediately approve his claim at face value and wire the money directly to Reggie’s account,” I explain. “So, he’s going to assume that you’re here to find a reason to deny it and he’s not going to be shy about telling you how much of a problem that is.”
She sighs in exasperation. “Wonderful. Another man who assumes the insurance girl is a bitch.”
I give a sigh of my own and say, “I’m trying to help, Kellie.”
“Why?” she asks.
I pause a moment before finally saying, “I guess because I trust you and that makes me believe you’re telling the truth when you say you’re on Reggie’s side.”
“I’m not on anyone’s side,” she corrects. “I’m after the truth.”
