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“Oh, she’s not taking my name,” he said. “We agreed that that’s an unnecessary construct that doesn’t add anything to a relationship.”
Faith turned to him in shock. “So, you’ve already talked about getting married?”
“Of course,” Michael said. “I’m in love with her, and you and I both know that in our line of work, waiting isn’t something we can afford.”
“I don’t know that I agree with that,” Faith said. “I mean, when David asked me if I wanted a future with him, I almost broke up with him.”
“Yeah, well maybe that’s another difference between us,” Michael said. “I’m not scared of an emotional connection.”
Faith looked at him again. “Is there something you want to say, Michael?” she said brittlely. “Because if you have any lingering resentment toward me over the way our relationship ended, then I’d love to get those feelings out of the way now, so they aren’t a problem moving forward.”
“I’m not talking about us, Faith. You and I both agreed we weren’t right for each other, and we still aren’t. I’m only saying that I don’t appreciate the constant negativity from you about Ellie.”
“I haven’t said anything, Michael!” Faith shouted. “You can’t accuse me of saying something I didn’t say!”
“But it’s how you feel,” he said, “whether you admit it or not.”
“No, it isn’t!” Faith insisted. “I’m happy for you!”
“Do you like Ellie?” he asked. “Don’t lie to me, Faith.”
Faith sighed. Once more, she chose her words carefully. “Michael, she seems nice. She seems sweet. She seems like she truly … I’m sure she likes you. But she’s still married to the husband she told you she would leave months ago, and there’s no sign of that marriage ending. I know it doesn’t mean anything that she doesn’t want your last name, but why is she keeping his?”
His eyes darkened, and Faith said, “but like I said, it doesn’t matter. I never liked my uncle’s new wife, but they’ve been together for twenty years, and they’re happy as hell. You’re your own person, Michael, and you’re going to have to accept that sometimes you and I are going to have different opinions on things.”
“She’s not a thing, Faith.”
“I know that,” she snapped. “I just …”
She let her voice trail off. She didn’t want to fight with him over this, but she couldn’t promise that she could just ignore the situation. Michael was her friend, and Turk had sensed something in Ellie that concerned him. If it concerned Turk, then it concerned Faith too.
“Forget about it,” Michael said. “Let’s just drop it. We’re on a case. We’ll focus on that.”
Before Faith could respond, Michael leaned his chair back and pulled his hat down over his eyes. Faith kept her eyes on the road, but despite Michael’s exhortation, she couldn’t pull her focus away from Ellie.
CHAPTER FOUR
Try as he might, Michael couldn’t sleep on the car ride. Part of it was the caffeine from the multiple cups of coffee he’d had. He decided he’d have to try to quit that addiction or at least cut back. Ellie had been bugging him about it for a while now anyway.
Most of the reason, of course, was Faith’s attitude toward Ellie and her refusal to talk about it. Michael wasn’t stupid. He could tell Faith didn’t like her. Faith was excellent at spotting a liar, but that didn’t make her any good at lying herself, and Michael could see the tension in Faith’s body language and tone of voice at dinner.
He wasn’t worried about Turk. Even if Turk hated Ellie, Michael knew that a single word from either of them would stop him from doing anything to her. His behavior at dinner might have frightened Ellie, but she didn’t know him. He knew that Turk would never attack anyone without Faith’s say-so.
But Faith didn’t trust her. He could see that as clearly as he could see Faith didn’t like her. It had nothing to do with jealousy. If Faith ever had any true romantic feelings for Michael, those had died a long time ago, and anyway, she was clearly happy with David.
If only Faith would just tell him what bothered her! Then they could talk, and he could convince her that she had nothing to worry about. If she just gave Ellie a chance, she would see that Ellie was a wonderful, sweet human being who was everything Michael had ever needed.
The worst part was that in his deepest heart, Michael shared the same suspicions he believed Faith had. Ellie wouldn’t give him a straight answer about the state of her marriage. She would only say things are complicated or that it’s difficult right now.
Those were her two favorite words. Complicated and difficult. Those were the answers she gave when she didn’t want to answer a question. “Things are complicated right now, Michael.” “It’s difficult at the moment, Michael.” Then, on the rare occasions he did push her for a more specific answer, he would get the famous, “I’m trying Michael, but it’s not as simple as it seems.”
He accepted those answers because he wanted to. He invited Faith over because he hoped Faith would bond with her, and that by seeing Faith bond with her, he could let go of his doubts. Instead, Faith had become immediately suspicious of her, or rather even more suspicious than she already was.
And dammit, even Turk didn’t trust her.
He could no longer hide his own lack of trust. He was grateful for the phone call from the Boss, not only because it allowed him to end the awkward interaction between Faith and Ellie but because it kept him from having to admit his own suspicions.
He wouldn’t allow those suspicions to solidify in his mind. In his heart, he still believed Ellie was the one for him. If he told her what he suspected, and he was wrong, then he would lose her, and if he lost her, he couldn’t believe he would ever love again.
