He shook his head, then bent it and kissed me dizzy.
I blinked up at him when he was done.
Then he said, “This is fun.”
* * * * *
Hank took me to Fortnum’s and everyone was there; Indy, Lee, Al y, Daisy, Uncle Tex, Duke, Jet and Eddie. It was like they were waiting for the show.
I stomped in and Duke opened his mouth to speak but I put up my hand.
“I don’t want to hear it. So, yeah, you cal ed it. I put you al through the mil . It wasn’t like I wanted to be assaulted and abducted,” I snapped at him.
“I was just gonna say, good to see you safe,” Duke said.
“Wel …” I huffed, the wind out of my sails, “Thank you.” He shook his head at me like he wondered about my sanity. I couldn’t say I blamed him: I was beginning to wonder about my sanity too.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
Hank stood close to my side and I looked up to him.
“Don’t you have to go to work or something? Interrogate suspects? File reports? Testify in court? That kind of thing,” I asked, sounding uppity.
He put his arm around my shoulders and dipped his face to mine, his eyes smiling, his mouth not. “It’s Sunday, I only interrogate suspects on weekdays if I can manage it.” My head jerked. “It’s Sunday?”
“Yeah.”
Shit. I’d been away a week.
“My life’s a shambles,” I whispered.
He squeezed my shoulder and, for some reason, I felt reassured.
I had no time to process my feelings of reassurance as Daisy bel ied up to us, looking up at Hank. “Back off, big boy. You’ve had her long enough. We got girl talk.” Then she grabbed my hand and pul ed me into the shelves of books.
We turned in the P-Q-R-S section and I noticed Al y, Indy and Jet had fol owed us.
“So, you’re back with Hank,” Indy was smiling.
“I’m leaving town as soon as I can get my car,” I told her.
Her smile faded.
“Where’s your car?” Jet asked.
“Hank had it impounded,” I answered.
Indy’s smile came back.
“He doesn’t want me to leave,” I explained unnecessarily.
“You are so not gonna leave,” Al y said, she was smiling too.
I looked at her. “I’m gonna leave,” I said it and meant it.
“You are so not gonna leave,” Al y repeated.
Indy came closer to me. “Roxie, you should know, once, when Hank wanted a motorcycle, and his Dad told him he’d have to buy it with his own money, Hank got, like ten jobs.