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“I’m starting to regret not going to a hospital.”
He chuckled. “I’m gonna let you off the hook this time, but one of these days, we’re going to have us a talk.”
“We are?” I asked, trying to keep the smile from my voice.
“We are.”
“About what?”
“Our mutual feelings for each other.”
“Hmm, you sure are just as cocky as you were twenty-three years ago.”
He chuckled at that. “Deal?”
I shook my head and smiled at him. “Deal.”
“Okay, so what are we going to talk about now?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” A flash of an idea came to mind, and I bit my lip, drumming my fingers anxiously on the table again. “Why don’t you tell me a story?”
“A story?” Dean repeated, like it was the last thing he was expecting. “A story as in… a case I was a part of?”
“No, more like… what you did when you moved away from here.” I was quiet as I waited for an answer. Dean’s activities after he’d moved from Windy Ridge all those years ago had been a subject of secrecy it seemed. For some reason, he was shy about the details of his life after he’d left Windy Ridge, and his reluctance to talk about it only piqued my curiosity all the more.
“Uh, I could tell you about Mason’s first few days in Branson, I guess,” he said after a moment, and I frowned into my hand, brows furrowing as I stared at the refrigerator.
“I was thinking more along the lines of somethingyoudid.”
“I was the one who waswithhim, so it’s more like somethingwe bothdid.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant like… where did you live after you left Branson?”
Another bout of silence. I wanted to look at him to gauge his expression as I waited for an answer, and would have if I hadn’t been doubled over the table.
“Well, um… for a while, Mason and I lived in Michigan while he was finishing up high school. He wanted to attend college there, so we figured it would be a good move.”
“Huh.” I screwed up my mouth. “What did you do in Michigan? For work, I mean.”
“I was already a part of the force by then.”
“So, you just transferred offices?”
“Yep.” Dean’s reply was frustratingly short, so I decided to push a little.
“Did you like Michigan? All you used to do back in high school was get into trouble, I seem to remember. Can’t imagine you did that once you got a badge.”
“No, no.” There was a little laugh, but it was pretty weak. “I… Well, Mason liked to fish, so we went out to the lakes sometimes and—”
“Dean, I’m nottalkingaboutMason.”
My words came out far more exasperated than I’d intended, but I couldn’t help it. Every time I asked Dean about details of his past, the only thing he brought up were things pertaining to Mason: Mason’s childhood, how he’d helped Mason grow up, Mason’s college. Sure, they werenicestories, but none of them gave me any insight into Dean.
It seemed like he wanted to avoid talking about anything that had happened after the fight with his grandfather that had driven him from Windy Ridge. Well, anything aside from the adoption of his nephew, that is.
“Dean, I’m trying to talkto you,” I continued, figuring I probably should explain myself. “I mean… my friend comes back into my life after twenty-three years and I can honestly say I don’t know much about him.”
“I don’t know that there’s all that much to know.”
