Page 45 of Heart Me Up
“Please, give me two minutes; that’s all I need.”
“I have nothing to say to you. Don’t contact me again.”
Shaking, I managed to press the button to end the call.
Greg was standing next to his desk with a snarl on his face. His fists were on his hips. “Tell me that wasn’t Drew.”
I nodded, then stood and wiggled my entire body like a dog. Destressing methods worked on more than one species. “Fuck him. Like I needed that on top of everything else today.”
“Wait a minute, what happened? Whywereyou up so early?
I sighed and plopped back into the chair. This was going to take a while.
* * *
When I finally left the pet resort, I wasn’t in the mood to go home and talk to Malcolm. I drove aimlessly until I recognized a small park near the edge of the Bent Oak city limits. I used to take Lucy there after work sometimes. She loved running through the trees and chasing the squirrels.
I got out of the car and walked across the grass and down the path. I slowed to an amble and wandered through the trees a little, doing some deep breathing and staring at the sky. Finally I dropped onto a bench.
I let out a long breath, feeling more relaxed. Birds called. Leaves and pine needles rustled in the wind. I gazed around wistfully, remembering how Lucy would race around and eventually come trotting happily out of the trees, tongue lolling and eyes bright with mischief. Grief caught me unawares. God, I missed her. My throat was tight and I blinked back tears. Crying would be the icing on the shit cake that had been my day so far.
My phone chimed with a text. I braced myself for a message from Drew, but instead it was Foster.
Foster:I’m so sorry. I was tired and the few brain cells I have were offline, but that’s no excuse. I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you. Can you forgive me?
I leaned my head back and watched the clouds for a few minutes. After everything else that had happened today, I wasn’t even angry at Foster anymore. But I wasn’t going to be a pushover. Foster needed to work for the forgiveness he wanted. I started typing.
Me: Let’s talk. I’m off work, so either in person or phone is fine
Foster wasted no time in responding.
Foster: I can come to you. Are you at home?
I gave him directions to the park, and he said he was on the way.
Fifteen minutes later Foster walked down the path toward me, allhot cop on the movewith a sport coat hiding his gun holster and his badge hanging from the waistband of his jeans. That same bubbly/comforting feeling swept through my chest. Damn, idiot or not, Foster did it for me. Caught up in the feeling, I found myself wishing Lucy could’ve met Foster. Right now she’d have been running over to greet him, maybe bringing him a ball to throw.
Shit, I was sappy today.
When he caught sight of me, Foster’s face brightened and he waved. I debated standing, but I ended up staying seated, mostly to see what Foster would do. No doubt I’d forgive him, but he could crawl a little first. Huh, maybe I was still a little angry.
Foster hesitated a tiny bit when he saw I wasn’t going to stand up and hug him, or whatever he’d been hoping for. He said, “Hey, thanks for seeing me.” Then he sat at the other end of the bench, leaving at least two feet of space between us.
I led with, “Did you talk to Malcolm?”
He grimaced. “Yeah.” He rubbed his hands along his thighs. “He’s not in a good place.”
“Hah, that’s an understatement. Did he talk to you about his injury?” I raised my hand. “You don’t have to tell me what happened.”
“Yeah, he did.” Foster’s expression was grim.
“Thank fuck,” I said. “I didn’t want to have to pry the truth out of him, but he needs to talk to someone.”
“He said you gave him your therapist’s contact info.”
“Yeah, but I’m talking about a friend. He hasn’t told me what happened, but when he was on the phone with one of his FBI coworkers, I heard him telling them some bullshit story about getting in a car wreck doing a Tokyo drift around the ramp in a parking garage.” Foster started to laugh but then tried to turn it into a cough. “Yeah, so you see what I mean.”
“Don’t worry about Mal,” he assured me. “He told me how he got injured. No Tokyo drift. I’ll be there for him if he needs me.”
