“That’s all right, Double H, I’m on the case,” Ralphie assured him.
Hector’s face went a weird mixture of hard and soft and I realized why when he started speaking in a voice that was the same as his face.
“No. I want a trained man on her. Buildings are burning. The Balduccis are feelin’ pressure. I want her covered by a professional.”
I stared at Hector, cuddling YoYo closer to the warm, happy glow in my chest because at that point it hit me not a lot of macho, badasses would hang out with Ralphie (maybe Buddy but never Ralphie). They wouldn’t watch TV with him. They wouldn’t have dinner with him. They certainly wouldn’t be nice to him when they knew what they said could hurt his feelings.
And that’s when I knew.
Right then and there, watching Hector be careful with Ralphie’s feelings, I knew.
It had happened.
I was living the dream.
The dream of a good man who would save me. The dream of a man who would sweep away my bad life and take me to a jumbled bungalow (though Hector’s house wasn’t a bungalow but still) and make me safe. Make me happy. Make me so warm, I’d never feel cold again.
The force of this realization caused me to take a step back as if it was a colossal weight that landed on me and I had to hold it up but couldn’t quite manage it.
Hector, Buddy and Ralphie’s eyes all snapped to me.
“Sadie?” Buddy asked but Hector got close.
“Mamita?” His hands came to my neck.
I looked up at him. “I’m okay.”
He scanned my face and his brows drew together.
“You’re shuttin’ down,” he said but, immediately, so he wouldn’t think that, I shook my head and got closer, a lot closer, crushing YoYo (who didn’t seem to mind) between us.
I tilted my head back further.
“You don’t get it,” I whispered to him. “I’m okay.”
He stared at me and I went on.
“My gallery is burned beyond recognition. I’m estranged from my father. Crazy men are after me. I had the freak out to end all freak outs in front of friends and most of my clients last night but… I’m okay.”
I felt his fingers squeeze my neck as I watched his eyes grow warm and I knew mine were the same.
“Finally!” Ralphie cried, Hector and I lost the moment and turned to look at him. “Told her to enjoy the ride, Double H, ages ago. She didn’t listen. Finally, she’s learning to enjoy the f**king ride!”
I shifted and pressed my side against Hector’s front.
His arm curled around my neck.
Then I felt his lips kiss the top of my head.
I mentally pried my hands off the safety bar that was tucked, tight and secure, across my lap and lifted them straight in the air.
* * * * *
“Do you ever file a thing?” Kitty Sue asked Shirleen from her hands and knees on the floor.
Daisy and I were with her, alphabetizing a mountain of paperwork in twenty-six piles across the Nightingale Investigation’s reception area.
“It’s not in my job description,” Shirleen replied from her seat behind the reception desk, currently engaged in the difficult task of painting her nails a frosty grape.