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Jordan busied himself by shuffling papers and jerking his shoulder as if any of that explained our meeting's strange detour. He tapped a file on his desk several times before meeting mygaze.
"I'd rather pull Shaw than risk this baby storming the beaches early." He shrugged. "I'm scheduled to talk to Shaw soon," he said. "I'll run it by him. He doesn't have a personal life, so I'm sure it'sfine."
I yanked off my ball cap and ran my fingers through my hair before glancing back at Jordan. "Just for saying that, this kid will take her sweet time getting here. I told you about all the times we went in for scans and she wouldn'tcooperate."
"Yeah, and I still don't understand how it's possible," he replied. "It's not like Shannon is the wardrobe toNarnia."
"Trust me." I rolled the sleeves of my all-weather running shirt to my elbows. "It means my house is going to be filled with strong-willedwomen."
"Better you than me," Jordan muttered. "Listen, dude. I have a feeling. I have a sense about this. Shaw needs to cover the controls because that baby of yours is comingearly."
"You have a feeling. Isn't that pleasant." I rolled my eyes. "We went in for Shannon's thirty-seven week check yesterday. The doc said she looked great and the baby was as snug as a bug inthere."
"That's another thing I don't understand," he said, exasperated. "Why is everything in weeks? One of April's clients has a ten-week-old baby. What is that? Why isn't it 'baby' and then one-year-old, two-year-old, like normallife?"
"Because having a baby isn't normal life," I replied with more rueful laughter than Jordan couldunderstand.
"All right. I have a packed schedule, and I need to do some shopping for April this afternoon without her noticing. Let's get back ontrack."
"You're planning to evade a covert agent trained by the world's top spy units?" I asked. Jordan met his girlfriend April after she was hired to track him. That operation went sideways when they fell into bed together, but they were on the same team now. "Better you thanme."
"I'm going to try," hescoffed.
"When are you going to marry thatwoman?"
"You sound like my mother," Jordangrumbled.
"Mama Trish is a smart lady," Ireplied.
"Yeah, and she's hammering me about locking things down with April, too," he said. "Y'all seem to forget I've known her for only four fucking months. Y'all arecrazy."
"What, like that's not enough time to know when you've found the right girl?" I asked, incredulous. "She's stabbed you, stole intelligence for you, and bested every one of our operatives in hand-to-hand combat. By my count, Cupcake vonRebound is damn nearperfect."
Jordan blew out a breath. "Why is this yourconcern?"
"Good women get away. They don't like waiting around. They find douchey guys who wear pleated trousers and striped shirts with printed ties. They let those douchelords take them for seafood when they don't even like seafood." I nodded repeatedly. "When you find a good woman, you get a ring on her finger and you marry her as fast as she'll letyou."
"Pleated trousers," Jordan said slowly. "And striped shirts and seafood." He blinked at me. "Is that the Asshole Hipster Ghost of Christmas Future? Or am I missing your convoluted pointaltogether?"
"The details don't matter." I pointed at him. "Come on, man. You're not getting anyyounger."
He flipped me off. "Thank you for thatreminder."
"Anytime," I replied. I glanced down at my notes and then back up at him. "Did you ever decide which team you're taking to Jamaica withyou?"
He nodded as he took a sip from his water bottle. "Just my mother's usual security detail," he answered. "She tolerates them well enough, but she hasn't told her boyfriend Marco about them. I haven't decided what I think about thatyet."
"Is it a problem?" I asked. "Based on what you've told me, the guy's decent but dumber than a bag ofsand."
Jordan shook his head, his eyes wide. "I don't know what my mother sees in him. I can't figure itout."
I chuckled. "I can think of anexplanation."
He shot me a thunderous glare. "Don't," hewarned.
"Maybe Marco's packing some heat," I said. "Maybe he's gotmoves."
"If you're going to continue down this path, you should know I've had obscene dreams about your mother. Dreams, plural. They were frequent and detailed, and I'll be honest with you, Halsted, your mom's afreak."
