Page 9 of Love in Mission City: The Shorts

Sunshine’s asshole ex-husband.

Well, not exactly an asshole.Not a bad guy.Just not suited to my favorite employee and good friend.

The polite thing to do would be to cross the street so I wasn’t yelling.I checked traffic and hustled across First Avenue.“Uh, everything’s fine.”I cleared my throat.“Lovely night.Are you, uh, alone?”

He pointed down the street.“Dorrie and I just got off shift and decided to grab Tim Horton’s.I thought I’d wander down this way.I miss patrol duty.”

Well, that didn’t sit right with me.He’d hated patrol duty, and that was why he’d pushed for the job in special victims—a promotion and a way off the streets.

Was it possible he was staking out the bookstore?Checking to see if Sunshine was still around?“She’s gone home.”

“I wasn’t…” The unflappable cop’s expression darkened.

Oh yeah, he was.

He was also out of uniform and looking like an ordinary civilian.Albeit one who topped six feet by a couple of inches.He towered over me.And while I was lean and wiry, he was buff and cut.

Movement caught my eye, and I spotted Dorrie Duhamel making her way down the street carrying a Tim Horton’s paper bag and a tray with two paper cups.At least that part of the story wasn’t a lie.Why here?At this moment?Three guesses and the first two didn’t count.

“Hey, Dorrie.”We’d gone to school together, but while she’d studied criminology at the Justice Institute, I’d headed into business.She didn’t look any more comfortable than I felt.

“Everything okay, Dickens?

Her question refocused me.“I was knocking on my neighbor’s door to ask him to turn down the music.”

She cocked her head.

“Well, it’s much louder inside.It’s reverberating through my entire apartment and it’s disrupting Ari while she’s eating.”

Dorrie handed the tray to Colton.She snagged a cup for herself and took a sip.“How is Aristotle these days?I haven’t dropped in recently.”

I eyed Colton.Yeah, it’d be awkward to have his partner visit while the guy’s ex-wife was working.Dorrie and Sunshine had been close.How had this split affected their friendship?“I’ll let you guys get on with…” I waved my hand in the general direction of their food.

“You want me to talk to him?”Dorrie’s blue eyes softened on me.“For Ari’s sake?”

Oh God, I was so pathetic.“No, that’s okay.I can, you know, use earplugs or something.”

Colton’s dark gaze pierced me.“That’s no way to live.Let us talk to him.”

And have him know I sicced the cops on him his first week in town?No way.

I ran my hand through my hair.“I’m good.Really good.I’ll just leave you to your, uh, dinner.”I pivoted, waited for two cars to pass, then trotted across the street.

Jaywalking.

Jesus.

I strode around to the back of our properties.I could throw rocks at the window, but if one broke, I’d be in deep shit.Finally, defeated, I re-entered the building and headed back upstairs.

Ari awaited me with awhat the fuckexpression still in her deep-amber eyes.

I inched over to the front windows and crooked a finger to pull back the drapes to see out.I kept them closed on hot days because of the afternoon sun, but I threw them open at night to let in the cool night air.

Dorrie and Colton sat on a bench across the street, eating their sandwiches.

Did she not think it odd they sat in front of the store where his ex-wife worked?I was pretty sure nothing was going on between the two of them, but I’d been wrong before.Not about Sunshine and Colton, though.That marriage had been doomed from the start.

Should I call Sunshine to tell her—

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