Page 42 of The Map Home
“Duh, of course I do. Just remember, regardless of whether the glass is half empty or half full, there’s still water in the glass.”
“Oh, fucking hell,” Dakota groaned. “Please stop now.”
Ben grinned. “Dude, I’m just getting started. I feel like I’ve almost missed a calling, but you’re gonna help me get there.” He rubbed his hands together as if plotting his next irritatingly uplifting quip.
Leaving the evidence room, the two of them walked toward the lobby.
As they neared the Sheriff’s Office door, Ben asked, “So, are you going to talk to Tad? Tell him how you feel?”
“What do you mean, howIfeel?” Dakota’s voice squeaked.
Stopping mid-step, Ben turned to eye him again. “Really? Do I have to tell you that part too?”
Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, Dakota raised his hands in surrender. “No, please don’t. I confess.”
“Confess to what?” Sheriff Morgan asked from his office.
“Oh, nothing,” Ben said in a singsong voice.
It wasdark and snowing again when Dakota made his way down the apartment building hallway and stopped in front of Tad’s door. It opened before he could lift his hand and knock.
“Don’t you have a key? I’m sure I gave you one ages ago, right after I moved in,” Tad said as he moved away to stand in the middle of his living room.
The door shut behind him and Dakota brushed past Tad, inhaling a breath as he did so. The scent of him always calmed Dakota. Even living in town, Tad seemed to smell like fresh hay and the open air. Maybe it was the dryer sheets he used, but Dakota suspected not.
“I must have left it at my place,” he said. “Do you want me to go get it now?”
“No, I do not want you to go get it now. Jeez.”
Tad was nervous, Dakota could sense it. An almost visible aura of anxiety radiated from him.
Not sure how to start the conversation, Dakota took his jacket off and hung it up, then sat down to take his shoes off. The department-approved boots were heavy, and after a long day on his feet, Dakota felt their weight.
“Um,” Tad started, “coffee? Tea? Beer? Something stronger? I have some whiskey Boone gave me for my birthday. You know Boone, one-stop shopping at the liquor store. I wonder if that’s what Amanda will get for a wedding present? A big bottle of Wild Turkey.”
“Tad.”
“Maybe not Wild Turkey. He isn’t that dumb. He’ll go for something a little more romantic, maybe something from Scotland with a name he can’t possibly pronounce.”
“Tad.”
“Um.” Tad finally looked at him. “What?”
“Sit down next to me, please. It’s been a long day and I don’t want to crane my neck while we talk.”
“I hate that word.”
But he sat down. Not as close as Dakota wanted him to, but that probably would soon be taken care of. If he didn’t fuck it up.
“Which, crane or neck?”
“Talk, doofus.”
Dakota grinned. “I would talk if someone else in the room would give me half a second.”
Tad narrowed his eyes at Dakota. Apparently this was not the time for teasing.
Dakota cleared his throat, suddenly not sure where to start. After talking to Ben, he hadn’t made a plan. He’d just comehome, back to Tad’s apartment, knowing that he needed to tell Tad how he really felt. That he loved him. And he was scared to death.
