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“What time is it?”
“Almost ten. We slept late.” Josie ran her fingers through my chest hair. “Noah shaved his chest.”
I had opinions on men who did that, but that’s not what had me clenching my jaw. “Don’t know if I like being compared to your ex.”
She caught my eyes. “Your dick is twice the size.”
A cocky smile inched up my cheeks. “Maybe I like comparisons after all.”
She giggled, then sighed.
“It’s Sunday. Everything alright at work? Why was your boss texting you?”
“Yeah. He wants to know when I’m coming back. When I left, I put in for twelve weeks—the max you can take under the Family Medical Leave Act. But I told him I might return sooner, if I felt up to it.”
I studied her. “You’re leaving?”
She shook her head. “Not right away. I’m going to tell him I’m not coming back early.”
I felt relief, for a couple of seconds anyway. “When is your twelve weeks up?”
“Four weeks from tomorrow. But I should probably go back earlier to settle in. I’m sure whatever I left in the refrigerator looks like a science experiment by now.”
I’d always known Laurel Lake wasn’t Josie’s home. But it was starting to feel like she was mine... I cleared the morning grog from my throat. “I’ll help you finish up the house so you can take off whenever you’re ready. Maybe you can make me a list of what else needs to be done.”
She frowned. “What will happen when I leave?”
Realistically? She’d go back to New York and forget all about me. Get busy with her job, probably meet another doctor, or maybe a professor or lawyer. And I’d go back to burying myself in work and eventually to mindless fucking with no strings attached. Though I couldn’t imagine jumping right back into that after this.
I skirted the question I knew she was asking. “You’ll get another renter, and I’ll try to keep my eye out to make sure newspapers and VHS tapes show up in the garbage from time to time.”
“I meant between us.”
“It’s kind of hard to date from fourteen-hundred miles away.” As soon as I said it, I felt like a shit. But what was I supposed to say? That we’d take turns visiting and spend countless hours texting? My fingers were too damn big for the little keypad on a cell phone. A long text from me was a sentence, and I wasn’t even good at local relationships. Plus, she just got out of an engagement where the guy had let her down. I wasn’t about to do the same.
Josie looked away. “Yeah, of course.” She pulled the covers off and climbed out of bed. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“You want company?”
She smiled sadly. “Maybe another time.”
I nodded. She obviously wasn’t happy with my response to what would happen between us when she left. But Josie deserved better than me, even if part of me didn’t want to let her go.
CHAPTER 25
A Lifetime Ago
Fox
Four years ago
“Fox?”
I didn’t recognize the number, but I knew it was a local one.
“Who’s this?”
“It’s Lieutenant Druker.”
