He gave her back a set of her keys.
I smiled at the phone.
Hank kept talking. “I’m gonna be late but I want you to wait up for me. Boys are busy but they’re doin’ drive-bys. I stil want you checkin’ in occasional y.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t let Shamus out. I’l see to him when I get in.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
His voice went soft and I got another shiver when he said, “Later, sweetheart.”
“Later,” I replied.
“I love you,” he finished, my body went solid but before I could make a noise I heard the disconnect.
I stood stil with the phone to my ear, eyes staring unseeing at the floor in front of me.
“Roxie, you okay?” I heard Ava ask.
I didn’t answer.
Hank had never told me he loved me. I knew. Or at least I thought I knew. But he’d never said it.
And, because he never had, I hadn’t either.
Good God.
“Roxie? Are you okay?” Ava repeated and she was now close.
I lifted my eyes and focused on Ava.
“Hank just told me he loved me,” I whispered.
“Yeah? So?” Al y asked and she got close too.
“He’s never said that before,” I told Al y.
Both Ava and Al y reared back in shock and looked at each other.
“Jeez, he’s not a very fast mover, is he?” Al y asked no one.
“He didn’t give me a chance to say it back.” I kept sharing.
“Have you ever said it to him?” Ava asked.
I shook my head.
“You don’t move very fast either,” Al y informed me.
My eyes went to her and I felt them narrow. “I’m sorry Al y.
My eyes went to her and I felt them narrow. “I’m sorry Al y.
The last guy I said ‘I love you’ to took a sledgehammer to the door and eventual y beat the shit out of me, kidnapped me and stalked me. Maybe I’m a bit gun shy about this love business.”