probably one of the safest places I know, just based on the skills of the local population.”
“Hmm,” he said, thinking. “I have an army marksman ribbon…”
“You know what’s wrong with that idea. Right?” Brie asked. When he didn’t answer immediately, she did. “If some stranger wanders into town and looks at you funny, you could get spooked. You could run into him after dark and shoot him just because you’re spooked. I’d rather you rely on us—Mike and I. Please, anyone suspicious turns up, call Mike.”
“I wish I were the one protecting Katie,” he said.
“And the problem with that is that you protecting Katie brings her and the little boys into specific relief, making all four of you stand out. Conner, just build kitchens and bathrooms for a couple of months. Huh? You and Katie and the kids will be together again soon. Right now, having you here and Katie on the other side of the country just makes sense.”
After breakfast Conner drove to Ferndale, a beautiful little Victorian town full of bed-and-breakfasts and shops. He sat on a bench on the main street and had a conversation with Katie, who was at the YMCA with the boys in a town very far away. Conner resisted the urge to tell her about his conversations with the D.A. and Brie. All that was important to him was hearing the happiness in her voice. She liked her job, she had friends, she thought maybe she had a crush on her boss who had taken her to dinner, and the boys were having so much fun at their new school. Andy was a little too shy and Mitch a little too not.
“Sounds like you’re getting along fine,” he said.
“Are you so disappointed that I’m not sobbing myself to sleep every night?” she asked him. “I do miss you, Danny.”
“Names,” he reminded her.
“I’m sure we’re fine. I do miss you. The boys miss you and love talking to you. I’d put them on right now, but they’re tumbling. They were on the trampoline and now they’re on the mats. Are you getting along all right? Having fun, like you promised you’d try to?”
“Well…there is this girl....”
She choked. “Girl?”
“Woman,” he corrected. “Woman. I met her at work and she’s nice. Pretty. Funny.”
“Well, my God, a girl,” Katie said and burst into hysterical laughter.
“And this is so goddamn funny?” he asked indignantly.
“Because it’s just what you need and I never thought you’d have the guts. Oh, go for it!”
“She doesn’t like me that much yet,” he said. “Which is probably just as well. I’d end up just leaving her high and dry with no explanation,” he returned almost angrily.
“Now, calm down, that isn’t what’s going to happen at all. Not only will there be an explanation when you finally do your thing, there will probably be newspaper accounts and TV coverage. By the time all this is resolved, you’ll be able to tell her everything and bring her along with the happy party that includes me and two tumbling-soccer-T-ball players! Even if it makes more sense for her to let you go, it’s still a very good idea to enjoy yourself a little right now. You have no idea how happy that makes me.”
“Because if I could just hook up, you wouldn’t have to be stuck with me?” he asked her.
“Oh, my God, you can be such a drama mama. I have never been stuck with you—it’s been quite the opposite and you know it. Nothing would make me happier than to hear you’d given it up to some pretty, funny small-town woman. I’m on board with that. I just wish it would go as well with the dentist.”
“Are you getting involved?” Conner asked.
“Oh, no. It’s very professional,” she assured him. “I wasn’t the only employee he took to dinner. He also invited the office manager and his sister. It’s just friendly. But I think he’s the kind of guy I like. Stable and reliable. He loves children.”
“Don’t leave him alone with the boys!”
She chuckled again. God, how he missed her laugh. “Ah, I don’t think I’m going to be asking my boss to babysit.”
When they hung up he spent two minutes feeling ridiculous and twenty minutes remembering how level she had always made his life. And then he saw a shop owner putting out flats of flowers across the street. It had been a very long time since he’d taken a girl flowers.
Leslie had bought a flat of peonies and a bunch of starters of