Living with the Dead - By Kelley Armstrong Page 0,98
the door handle, though, it took only a minute before he started drumming again. His fingers made no sound, and the unnaturalness of it made Finn turn the radio up another notch. It didn’t help. He could still feel the weight of Damon’s mood.
“How’d you two meet?” he asked finally.
He had to say it twice before Damon responded, “Huh?”
“You and Robyn. How did you meet?”
Damon’s eyes lit up, but the smile was hesitant as he studied Finn, judging whether he was just being polite.
“Did you go to college together?” Finn asked.
Damon shook his head. “She was a friend of my younger sister.”
“So your sister introduced . . .”
“Not exactly.” Damon’s hand moved to his lap, fingers still now. “We met at her wedding—my sister’s, that is. Her fiancé was this hotshot stockbroker, liked to throw his money around, so he insisted on a huge wedding. Robyn was more of an acquaintance than a friend, but she made the guest list. They had this wedding planner who was big on forced mingling. You know, putting guests at a table where they don’t know anyone? Bobby got the seat next to me. Everyone else was from the groom’s side—coworkers and friends.”
“So you talked to her, made her feel welcome.”
“Bobby didn’t need help mingling. She’s quiet—compared to me—but she’s great at making small talk. Gotta be, in her job. These girls we were sitting with, though? They only knew two kinds of small talk. Gossip and snark. Now, if you want to engage in a serious conversation about the propriety of the groom’s stepmother wearing a leather miniskirt to the wedding, Bobby’s your girl. But sniping and backbiting? No. That was the first thing that got my attention—the way she handled it. Most people would have joined in just to be included. Bobby tried, very politely, to steer the conversation in more constructive directions. When that failed, she backed out.”
“And talked to you.”
Damon’s smile burst into a grin. “By that point, I was the one doing the initiating. I asked about her job, she asked about mine. Few things kill a girl’s interest faster than ‘I’m a junior high math teacher,’ and I came this close to mentioning my band gig instead. But I could tell that wouldn’t fly with Bobby. So I told the truth, and she was cool with it. Interested even. We got talking so much, I didn’t notice when dessert was served, which, for me, is a miracle.”
He paused, as if watching the movie in his head, one he’d replayed so many times he could mouth along with the words.
“And that was it then,” Finn said. “You asked her out.”
“Wasn’t quite that easy. We were both seeing other people. For me, that other relationship was over before the meal was. Robyn had to be convinced, and that wasn’t easy when she wouldn’t even have coffee with me while she was involved with another guy.”
Finn liked that. It supported the picture he was forming of Robyn Peltier as someone principled and honest, someone he could work with and help . . . if only he got the chance.
“You ever read The Godfather?” Damon asked.
It took a moment for Finn to slide back from his thoughts. “Seen the movie.”
Damon’s eyes rolled up in thought. “Not sure if it’s in the movie. I read the book when I was young. There’s this part where Michael Corleone meets his first fiancée, in Sicily, and this old guy says Michael was hit by the thunderbolt. I remember rolling my eyes at that. Really schmaltzy, like something from a bad romance novel. But the night my sister got married, I understood what it meant. Sounds corny as hell, but it’s true. You can meet someone and, bam, it’s like being hit by a thunderbolt.”
“Love at first sight.”
“Mmm, I guess so. But that always sounds so . . . passive. It’s not like that at all. It wakes you up with a jolt and you know your life is never going to be the same. Say what you will about fate and that metaphysical shit, but I don’t think our meeting was a coincidence, us sitting together, alone, our significant others unable to attend. Me and Bobby, it just . . . works, you know? We have something.” He paused. “Had something.” Another pause, then Damon looked out the window. After a moment, his fingers returned to the armrest, silently drumming.
COLM
COLM HAD TO WARN ADELE.
He took out the cell phone she’d given him, the one she’d