Face the Fire Page 0,39

You took care of things here?"

"Yeah. Just added a layer over what she's done. She's stronger than she was," he said half to himself.

"And she's thorough."

"Obviously not thorough enough. I'm going to talk to Mac about it. He has all sorts of ideas."

"Yeah, he's full of them," Sam said sourly, then shrugged his shoulders when Ripley scowled at him. "I liked him. So congratulations and best wishes on your marriage, and all of that."

"Gee, thanks, that was so heartwarming."

That made him smile. "Maybe it's just hard for me to imagine Let-It-Rip cozied up in connubial bliss."

"Shut up. That was high school."

"I liked you in high school." Because he had, he tried again. "I'm glad you and Mac bought the house. It's a great spot."

"Yeah, we think so. No hard feelings your old man sold it out from under you?"

"It was never mine."

She opened her mouth, shut it again. For a moment he'd been the lost and restless boy she remembered. And had cared for. "You messed her up, Sam. Seriously messed her up."

He stared at the cliffs that rose over the sea and spilled down to it. "I know it."

"Then I messed her up."

Puzzled, he looked back at Ripley's face. "I don't understand you."

"She didn't tell me about this morning because we're just getting back on even ground again, after a long time. I dumped her just as hard as you did, so I'm thinking . . ." She drew a breath. "I'm thinking I don't have any right to take shots at you, when part of it's just to ease my own conscience. You knocked the ground out from under her, but I didn't stick around to help break her fall."

"You want to tell me why you didn't stick?"

She sent him a hard, level look. "You want to tell me why you didn't?"

He shook his head. "No. Why don't we start dealing with now? I'm part of this, and I'm sticking this time around."

"Fair enough," she agreed. "I say we can use all the help we can get, from whatever the source."

"I'm going to do whatever I can to convince Mia to let me back into her life."

"I'll wish you luck." At his surprised glance she smirked. "But until I make up my mind about you, pal, I won't say whether that's good luck or bad."

"Reasonable." He held out a hand, and after a moment's hesitation she took it. Heat shimmered and sparked. "Figures," she said in a dour voice.

"Connections." He gave her hand a friendly squeeze before releasing it. "What can you do?"

"I'll let you know when I figure it out. I have to finish my patrol." She waited a beat, inclined her head.

"After you." She jerked a thumb at his car. "And keep that phallic symbol on wheels under the speed limit."

"Oh, absolutely, Officer Friendly." He sauntered back to his car. "One more thing? Let's not mention my little visit here to Mia. She'll just get pissy about me questioning her skills."

Ripley snorted as she climbed into her own car. She had to give Sam credit for one thing. He still knew his woman.

Chapter Seven

She wouldn't tell Mia, but Ripley didn't consider that her discretion was required to extend to Mac. She was pretty sure there was some loophole in the confidentiality law that applied to spouses. The way she looked at it, if you loved someone enough to promise them a lifetime, you got to tell them all your stuff and listen to all of theirs. It was a side benefit and balanced out having to share closet space. Though they lived together, slept together, woke together, they met for lunch a few times a week at Cafe

Book. The few times a week Mac wasn't so buried in his work that he remembered what time it was. The lunch date, she decided, was as long as she could hold out before she spilled her news. She itched to relay the story to Nell, but after a complex internal debate, she decided Nell cut too close to Mia and didn't come under the dispensation rule.

Mac would have to do.

"So," she continued as she plowed through a grilled tuna and avocado salad, "he stood there, all handsome and brooding - it was still cool and misty, so he had on this long dark coat and it was all, you know, billowy. Perfect tortured-hero look. So he's like that, on her front lawn with that big old house behind him and the mists just burning off, until I