back. "We should call in and see if Masters is willing to cooperate."
She cleared her throat. "Yeah. That would be... good."
She clambered up into his new 'old' truck and put her seatbelt on. The case. They should talk about the case now; except the only thing she could remember at the moment was the feel of his touch. God, she'd missed him so damn much. The smallest gesture from him fed her starvation like manna from heaven.
"So, I never did ask you. Are you dating or married?" Brody glanced at her as he drove away from the curb.
"Me? No. No time for a social life." As a matter of fact, there had only been Brody, and then because of Gage, she'd decided not to date unless she could see the relationship going somewhere. Most men didn't want a ready-made family. Her dating life had been as dead as a Dodo bird. Extinct was an adequate summation. She glanced at him. "What about you?"
"Date occasionally." He shrugged a shoulder. "Guess you could say I wasn't willing to let anyone get close after... us."
"What about the tux?"
He cut his gaze from traffic to her. A deep crease cut through his brow. "I'd just come back from Brock's wedding."
"Brock's married?"
He nodded. "His wife, Kallie, is a cop. Damn good one. Homicide."
"Really? He's homicide? He'd only just come home from the Marines when..." She let the sentence fade because why make it any more awkward than it already was.
"Yeah. He's a damn good cop. He and Kallie were the ones responsible for nailing Masters."
"I heard his name thrown around by the press, but it was in connection with a shooting outside the precinct."
"Yeah, Kallie's ex-husband. He'd been stalking her, and he tried to kill her, but Brock and Sean McBride were right there along with her partner, Grant."
"And you? How long have you been on the JDET team?"
"Almost two years now. I was recruited from patrol to work undercover on a drug case. I volunteered for everything I could until I could pass my sergeant's exam and put in for the transfer."
"How long do you need to be on the force before you can test for sergeant?"
"Policy is three years, but no one makes it that early. I made it at six years and that was quick. Of course, there were the bullshit comments about nepotism, but I studied my ass off for the exam and then aced the oral portion two months later. How about you? The DEA?"
"When Gage was one, I had to do something. Dawn was still in school, and we lived off her student loans. I sent applications to every opening I could find, but no accounting firm would take me on without experience, at least not at a survivable pay. I broadened my net and applied to the DEA, ICE, FBI—any federal job which would allow me to have stability. I was accepted by ICE and the DEA about the same time. I felt the DEA would be a better fit." She snorted. "Wow, well, let me tell you that was a process. I attended orientation, took the written test, passed it. Went through a panel interview. That was something I never want to do again. Did the normal drug test and medical, then the polygraph and psychological assessment. When I finished with all the tests, they did a background investigation. And then shit got real. Eighteen weeks at the DEA Training Academy at Quantico which included physical and firearm training. Thank God I was getting paid. The money was deposited in the bank, and Dawn had access to it. I hated being away from Gage for that long, but it was our future, you know?"
Brody nodded. "You made sacrifices to raise him."
"It wasn't really a sacrifice. Dawn loves him and is so good with him. I knew he'd be all right. I did what I needed to do to make sure we could survive. Then Dawn got the job with her company. She's done well there, moved up from administrative assistant to office manager."
"Why the transfer to JDET? Did you request it?" Brody accelerated onto the interstate.
"Yeah. The more experience you get in the DEA, the more you are subject to being gone on cases which could last for months on end. I know JDET has some messed up hours, but I'd be home for the most part. My sleep schedule might be messed up, but I'd be home. My son needs it, so do I."