Page 87 of Sean's Sunshine
Randy peered at them shyly. “Could I? I mean, you two seem pretty cozy, but it’s nice to eat with friends.”
“You’re always welcome,” Sean said. “You know, we’re going to start haunting the dog adoption places. I was thinking, on the days Billy’s gone all day and I work, we could maybe use a friend who would come check on them, maybe take them to the park to play. I could pay you?”
“Can I help pick out the dog?”
Billy almost jumped, because the request was so raw, so needy, and he sent a panicked look at Sean, wondering what they’d unleashed.
“Sure,” Sean said gently. “You like dogs?”
Randy looked at them both and nodded, biting his lip. “See, I had a dog at home, Skipper, but… well, after I got kicked out, I asked my friend to check on him, and I guess my dad had him put down and… God. I miss having a dog. You guys, if I could, you know, pretend I had my own dog. I’ve got all the allergy medication and stuff. I… I miss my dog.”
“We can share,” Sean said softly. “That’s fine. We’ll keep an eye out on the websites, look for a good one to adopt. Billy says a smaller one and a bigger one. We can do that.”
Randy nodded and wiped his eyes on the shoulder of his shirt. “I gotta go check on dinner,” he said, although Billy was fairly sure kielbasa and sauerkraut mostly just got warm in the pot.
When he’d moved into the kitchen, Billy came and sat knee to knee with Sean, took his hand, and kissed it.
“Good job, cop,” he murmured.
Sean shrugged and used his free hand to rub his chest meaningfully. Billy did the same thing and remembered the text he’d gotten from his sister that day.
“Lily asked Mom if she could bring her and Miguel and Cora over too. I meant to ask you. It’s just that your neighborhood is so much better, and they’re old enough to not want a grown-up, but—”
“But too young to turn loose,” Sean said, and Billy nodded.
“You get it. So, I guess you’re gonna have a lot of people here Halloween night. My people, I guess. Sorry about that.”
Sean shrugged. “I didn’t get partnered with Andres until last January. So last year I filled a bowl with candy and went out to have a drink with the guys in my department.” He sighed. “I… well, they weren’t exactly rainbow friendly. I realized I was killing their convo and came back home to find the candy gone and toilet paper in my tree. I, uhm, sort of want to see your people all dressed up and being happy and drinking spiced cider. Invite who you want, okay?” He grimaced. “But we may need to go grocery shopping Friday after you get back from school.”
Billy nodded. “What about, you know, Project Cop on Vacation?”
Sean let out a little groan. “Yeah. See, I went back over our notes—when this guy hits houses, which nights, all that. Sundays and Fridays, and he’s due. He’s hit one of the thruway houses in Peach Stem. That was last Sunday, and he should either be out Friday or Sunday this weekend. Now I want to put my money on Sunday because Saturday’s going to be loud and obnoxious, and I bet a lot of people will be out Friday too. Sunday’s probably going to be quiet. The cops will be tired from Saturday, and?”
“It’s perfect,” Billy said.
“But then it would suck to have Bob call us up tomorrow morning and tell us that another place was hit.”
Billy grimaced and took a good look at Sean. He tended to overdo things when Billy wasn’t there, and the day before had been a lot of errands as well.
“We’ll take that risk,” he said, and Sean glared at him.
“You’re just going to decide that for me? I thought—”
Billy shook his head. “No,” he said. “See, I get it. In a month you’re part of the cop force, and there’s going to be danger every day, and you know what you’re going to do?”
Sean cocked his head. “Not tell you a fucking thing about it?”
Billy thought his head was going to explode. “You’re going to tell me fuckingeverything. I want to know if you get a hangnail or a paper cut or if the smell in the elevators made you puke. Henry says it’s heinous, by the way. I’m going to Febreze you the minute you walk into the house. Anyway, so you tell me everything, because if you’re not telling me shit, I’ll worry.”
Sean made a sound. “Mmm… when I was in the hospital, Rivers showed up on the internet driving a giant SUV into an apartment complex that had erupted into gunfire. I’m not sure how excited Ellery was about that.”
Billy glared at him and mimicked his sound. “Mmm… you can bet Ellery Cramer watched every last second of that footage, though, because that’s what you fuckin’ do when you love someone. Trust me on this.”
Sean’s eyes widened. “Okay. Okay, fine. So we’ve established that I can do my job if I don’t try to hide when it’s rough. Understood. What does this have to do with not going out tonight?”
“Tonight it’s cold, and you’re still on leave. Nothing about what the doctor said made you magically better, faster. I’m sure you tried tojogaround the dog park this morning, and you probably feel pretty good about that, but you’re beat. Tell me you’re not.”
He grunted because Billy had him dead to rights and he knew it.
