“Sara tells me that Willie’s been talking to them,” he said, “and this week got them both to shoot some hoops with him.”
“I didn’t know Willie played basketball.”
“He doesn’t, as far as I know, but apparently they aren’t allowed to play video games at the Stand. Too much violence.”
“Not in all of them.”
“In any of the ones boys that age would want to play.”
Turning her head, she looked lazily over at him. Those slumberous eyes gave him another kick. “What about the games you and Willie play? After everything that’s happened, don’t you think the violence is maybe not good for him?”
He shook his head. “We play world-building games. Think of that classic board game of Life, on steroids, in 3-D, with consequences for every move you make, and with a million more pieces, and you can play without your oppon
ent.”
She nodded. Smiled again. He wasn’t sure she had any idea what he was talking about. But before he could elaborate, she said, “I’m so glad Willie’s helping them. I’m so glad you kept having faith in him, Michael.”
He shrugged. Not quite ready to relax on that front, either. Willie hadn’t graduated yet.
He sipped his bourbon. Felt the light breeze. It was April and staying warmer in the evenings.
He could smell her perfume even now. She’d washed off the makeup, let down her hair, and looked even more beautiful to him.
He had to quit thinking about her looks. Let his body recover from the shock. There was still a chance he could get through this. That it would go away.
He didn’t want to lose her.
Wouldn’t lose her.
Even if his intense attraction to her didn’t diminish, he could and would control himself. He loved her for who she was. Needed her as a friend.
They’d get by this, as soon as he knew what this really was—a one-night stand, or a more permanent affliction?
“Who are you meeting with tomorrow?” she asked. And that got him, too. They sounded like a married couple, enjoying a nightcap before retiring to their bed. A couple who loved each other and naturally shared the details of their lives.
As he had the thought, it occurred to him that in some aspects, he wasn’t that far off. Erase the going-to-bed-together part, the married-couple part, and what he loved about him and Kacey was real.
Good.
The caring and sharing about the details of each other’s lives.
She’d opened this new world to him. He didn’t have to guard his thoughts and feelings from her. She wouldn’t judge or use well-meant intention to interfere or try to run his life.
“I’m meeting with an FBI agent friend of mine,” he said. To discuss a case he couldn’t tell her about—a recent hacking of a national chain that could have ties to Russia or China.
And that brought him to something else. “You know there could be another altered photo of you on the internet after tonight? The photographer seems to turn up any time you’re out in public.”
She hadn’t been out since the attack.
She frowned. “I purposely haven’t asked, but you were supposed to hear back about the surveillance footage from the coffee shop. I know you’d have said if there was anything pertinent, and now that there’s been a formal investigation opened you can’t speak freely, but...what can you tell me? Did they find anything?”
He’d been waiting for her to ask, glad to let it go because he had nothing but frustration to pass along to her.
“It took a while for the warrant, but the police got the tapes. They were able to look at exact time stamps since we already knew when the bogus accounts had been set up using your email address. Three of the computers were being used at the time in question, but someone was standing right in front the camera. All you see is someone’s back and shoulders in a black T-shirt.”
She looked at him, her brows drawn together. “And he probably isn’t even the person we’re looking for.”
“They already know he’s not. The camera showed him climb down from a ladder. He works at the café and had been changing a lightbulb.”