Page 12 of Two Hearts
“No, you’re right.You can’t.So tell her, Einstein.Tell her you’re a cop.”
Jack shook his head slowly.“She couldn’t handle it.”
“I think you’re underestimating her.”
“Look, what makes you think I want to be a cop all my life, anyway?Huh?”He averted his eyes when he said it.“The way Harry Phelps has things set up, I can practically pick a job and name the salary.”
JW sipped his coffee, then set the cup carefully in its saucer.He ran a hand over his widening bald spot and the thick dark hair that surrounded it like a horseshoe.He sighed.“You don’t want to work for your father-in-law, Jack.Believe me, it’s not—”
“I wouldn’t be working for my father-in-law.He has friends.Tons of them.They like me.”
“You mean, they like the guy theythinkis you.Jack McCain, security consultant, the guy with the expensive suits and shiny shoes that are costing you every bit of your paycheck.They don’t even know the real Jack McCain, the cop who spends ten hours a day with the scum of the earth.”JW shook his head.“And come to think of it, neither does your bride-to-be.”
Jack faced him slowly.“That’s right.And she never will.”
“You’re making a mistake, Jack.”
“She’s worth it, JW.I don’t want this garbage touching her.I’ve seen what it can do.My mother—” He bit his lip, cut himself off.“I just don’t.You understand?”
JW nodded.Sighed heavily, rolled his eyes, but nodded.
“I knew I could count on you.”
“Yeah.You always could.”
“I’ll, uh, be needing a best man.”
JW lifted his head.“Do I have to use a pseudonym?”
“Knock it off.”
“So how long before I get the incomparable joy of breaking in a new partner, buddy?”
Jack licked his lips.This had been the toughest conversation of his life.But at least this part of it wasn’t going to feel like a betrayal.“Not until we bag, tag and deliver that scurvy little dealer, JW.I won’t bail on you in the middle of a case this big.”
Jack could almost see his partner slump a little bit as the air left his lungs.Relief.But then JW frowned.“How the hell you gonna manage that?The wedding’s in two weeks!”
“Doesn’t matter.As much as I hate to lie to Grace…it would be worse to walk out in the middle of this.No.I’ll stay on until we wrap it.”
Jack had been having nightmares.Of course he hadn’t told anyone.Who could he tell, anyway?Not Grace; she didn’t know the truth.And certainly not JW, since he was the one getting blown away by some punk who thought himself a kingpin in the recurring dream that had been haunting Jack since he’d made this decision.
He didn’t know if the dream meant anything.He only knew he couldn’t walk out on his partner in the middle of a case this volatile, because it could happen.And Jack couldn’t live with that.
* * *
“What do you mean, you’re quitting?”
Charlie sat on the foot of Gracie’s bed, gaping at her.Hope sat on the far edge, and Grace was curled at the head, pillows pulled around her as if she needed something to cling to.
“He is marrying a delicate, society miss, not a jock who spends way too much time at a smelly gym on the bad side of town, Charlie.”Grace sighed, lowering her head.“Besides, all that stuff was…childish.I’m not a kid anymore.I’m a grownup.I’m going to be a wife…and a mother, eventually.I mean, how many mothers do you know with black belts, anyway?”
“Not nearly enough,” Charlie said.
“But…but Grace, what about basketball?”Hope asked.
Grace shrugged at her sister.“What about it?I played on a college team.College is over.It’s not even an issue.”
“Well, of course it’s an issue.Grace, you’regood.You love the sport too much to just…just let it go.What about those kids, huh?”
