“Come inside.” I hold open the door.
She enters and sets her son down on the floor. He hangs onto her leg, eying me.
“It was so terrible. He came home last night, late, and he’d been drinking and he accused me…” She lifts her gaze to me. “He thinks I’m having an affair.”
And, bad me, but all I can think about is Russell, my other neighbor, and how the kid at her feet looks an awful lot like…
I’ve been a cop too long.
Then Gia takes a step toward me, and suddenly I’m thinking her husband has grounds because she puts her head on my chest, curls her arms around me, and starts to weep.
Oh. Boy. Uh…
“It’s okay, Gia.” I pat her back as benignly as I can because right about now is when Eve would arrive and I’d have some ‘splainin’ to do. I dearly hope I didn’t lose my mind and do something colossally stupid over the past three years with the neighbor across the street.
She pushes away from me. “I’m sorry. I just…you and Eve have been so supportive.” She wipes her eyes. “I miss her. I hope you two work it out.”
Phew. I nod. “Me too.”
“I was wondering, maybe, if I could stay here today? Just until Alex leaves? He’s sleeping it off on my sofa, but…” She makes a face. “He parked in front of my car, too, and has the keys on him.”
Here? In my house?
It won’t matter, though, because by the time I’m back, my world will have reverted and Gia will be back to flirting with Russell, single and without junior, so, “Sure. I’m going to take a run, though, and clean up. Why don’t you and junior—”
“His name’s Mikey.”
And that jerks me, just for a second because that was my brother’s name.
The one who went missing when I was twelve.
“Oh.” I swallow. “So yeah, when I get back from the run—”
“I can make you breakfast.” She pushes past me to the kitchen.
Hmmm …
I hear cupboard doors opening. But it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong—she’s a neighbor in trouble. And clearly, she knows I’m married, so I take the stairs, change into my workout gear and head out the front door, my ear buds in.
My route is always the same. Cut down Drew Avenue, over to Cedar Lake Parkway, then halfway around the lake to the beach, where I do a set of pull ups on the monkey bars of the playground. Sometimes, if no one is looking, I’ll drop for some push-ups, too, then run home as fast as I can.
It’s a decent, forty-minute workout that keeps my blood pressure down and the tacos from piling up on my waistline. But having recently inhabited my former, rather buff, body, I’m tasting my youth and eager to find it again as I start my route. It’s early, the lake is a deep amber thanks to the rising sun, the horizon dark, magenta skies over an explosion of gold, red and orange.
Regardless of the time, the sky is predictable. Sunrise. Sunset. I’m listening to The Four Seasons December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) and it conjures up my dream.
I’m breathing hard by the time I reach the park. As I do my pullups, I think about Hollie Larue and her parents. And how they’d like to rewrite time. The watch is at home—I took it off yesterday and now the idea of losing it, even to Mikey’s chubby handed curiosity propels me back home.
The house is filled with the smells of bacon and eggs when I enter. Laughter rolls out of the kitchen. I walk into my office and grab my watch, still breathing hard.
“You okay?” Gia is in the doorway of the kitchen. I turn and nod. The welcome scent of coffee floats down the hallway, giving me a tug, but I ignore it and head upstairs.
Okay, I was over-reacting. If she needs to stay here to be safe…well, I didn’t become a cop to turn people out into the cold.
I shower, change into my last pair of clean jeans and another button-down, put on the watch, and emerge, my shaggy hair back behind my ears, clean-shaven and humming.
Gia’s fixed a plate of bacon and eggs for me, and as I walk into the kitchen, she pops it into the microwave. She’s also poured me coffee.
As I sip the coffee as fast as I can, the microwave dings and she sets the breakfast on the table. I pick up the plate and shovel in the eggs. “I gotta run.” I grab the bacon, though. “You going to be okay?”