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“Baby, I need you more than I need my next breath. You know that.”
“Then talk to me,” she prods softly. “It’s the whole death thing that messes with your head, right?”
“It’s a lot of things.” I release her and turn to the island, and the minute my hands go down on it, I laugh and turn to her. “Maybe we do need a contractor.”
She laughs, but she gives me a pleading look. “Grayson. Talk to me.”
“We’ll talk over lunch. How do you feel about Ed’s Diner?”
“I love Ed’s Diner. I really love it with you.”
And just that easily, she brings me back to the simple things in life. The important things like family, like her. The way my mother did for my father. This woman needs to be my wife. It’s long past due, and that’s why lunch isn’t our only stop this afternoon. I’m going to give us both a whole lot more than Ri and the FBI to think about when we go home.
CHAPTER SIX
Grayson
I load up the Porsche with our luggage and then help Mia into the car. Once we’re on the road, on this clear October day, I update her on my call with Walker Security. “Blake’s going to swing by the apartment tonight with his wife and talk about security and the press this week.”
“Oh. Well, that sounds much less daunting than a formal meeting at his place. What changed?”
“I think he thought he’d have more to tell us than he does.”
She casts me a concerned look. “Is this not over, Grayson?”
“Ri infiltrated my operation. We haven’t named all of those names. They’re still present inside our world, capable of using our operation to do bad things. This week is going to be about flushing them out. For me, that is. You have a case to handle. I asked Blake about the ADA handling your case.”
She shifts in her seat toward me. “And?”
I pull us to a halt at a stoplight. “He’s dating another ADA who was working with RI to take me down.”
“I still can’t believe Ri convinced them you were dirty. And apparently, me with you. If I can’t get that ADA off my client’s case, I need to hand this case to someone else. But I don’t want to do that. I’m going to raise hell until I do.”
“That’s my feisty woman,” I say, sliding my hand down her hair. “Yes. You will.”
A few minutes later, we’re on the road, when Mia’s father calls me, not her. After assuring him she’s well, the call is short and over. Mia pretends indignance that he went around her, but I know his worry touches her. A few blocks later, we pull into one of our favorite places on the island, and I can feel my mood shift and lighten, but my determination to end this hell we’re living sets firmly in my gut. We’ve walked through flames to be back to each other. No one is taking it from us.
Soon, Mia and I are sitting on the waterfront patio of the restaurant in an enclosed area, with heaters blasting around us, the ocean the canvas to our conversation. “It’s almost the holidays,” she says, once we have bubbling champagne glasses in our hands. “It’s Halloween next weekend and then November.”
“And you’ll be home. It will be a much better year this year. Last year, Eric and I drank whiskey and ate the meal Leslie made for us before she left and went upstate to be with her family.”
“I’m sure she was quite worried. That woman has done your mom proud looking after you.”
“She has,” I say solemnly, thinking of how damn much I missed my parents and Mia that day.
“I’m sure you watched football,” she says. “In your dad’s honor.”
“Yes. He’d have it no other way.” Emotion is about to choke me out right now and I shift the topic to what’s important right here and now: her. “What about you? Were you with your father?”
“No. He had some special work project. He’s been weird this past year.”
Before then, I think, but I leave that alone right now. “What did you do if you weren’t with him?”
“I went to a movie alone.”
That news punches me so damn hard that my chin drops to my chest. “Damn it.”
She catches my hand. “I’m with you this year and every year from now on. That’s what matters.”
“I almost called you on Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, baby, but I knew I’d upset you. I didn’t want to do that do you.” I set my glass down. “What do you want to do for Thanksgiving this year?”
Her eyes light. “Put our tree up. And see two movies.”
I laugh, and we spend the rest of our lunch talking about the holidays, but the situation with her father is bothering me. He just called me to check on her and yet he left Mia alone for the holiday. I know that hurt her and that’s not like him, not the man I’ve come to know. He’s had gambling issues in the past. I get the feeling they aren’t as past as I’d hoped. And that’s a dangerous path that can get you killed. That’s not how I’m letting Mia lose her father. I’ve invested in his business but he might need to go to rehab, too, and the holidays are a volatile time that allow addictions to take hold. We need to keep him close.
