"I don't want to go into it now, Dodge. Can I count on you to be here?"
"When do you need me?"
"As soon as you can get here. Will you come?"
Her stubborn refusal to be more specific pissed him off. "Probably not."
A hostile silence quivered between them. He picked up his cigarette again, inhaled deeply, blew it out. He wanted to hang up on her. Wished he would. Wished he could.
Quietly she said, "I understand your reluctance to become involved. Truly I do."
"Well, what did you expect, Caroline?"
"I don't know what I expected. I acted on impulse without thinking it through."
"You call me in the middle of the freakin' night. You tell me shit, but I'm supposed to drop everything and come running to get you out of some kind of unspecified trouble?" He paused for effect, then said, "Wait. Why is this sounding familiar to me? Is this sounding familiar to you?"
She responded exactly as he'd expected her to: with pique. "I'm not asking you to help me, Dodge."
"Well, good. Because--"
"It's Berry who's in trouble."
"Looks like somebody actually cooks in here now." Dodge sat down at Derek and Julie's breakfast table in their organized but well-used kitchen. "Didn't used to."
Derek laughed. "I don't recall ever turning on the oven before Julie and I got married." He lifted the coffeemaker carafe with an implied offer of some.
"Sure," Dodge said. "Two sugars. The real stuff."
Derek carried over the mug of coffee along with the sugar bowl, a spoon, and a cloth napkin. Dodge fingered the fringe on the napkin's hem and looked at his employer with raised brows.
"Julie insists on cloth."
Dodge snuffled as he scooped sugar into his mug. "She actually use all those gizmos?"
Derek followed Dodge's gaze to the ceramic jug that held some of Julie's cooking utensils. "Yep. They've got a gadget for everything. You wouldn't believe."
"Where is she?"
"Upstairs throwing up."
Dodge blew on his coffee and took a sip. "That sucks."
"No, she's actually glad about it."
"She enjoys puking?"
"Morning sickness is a good sign. It means the embryo has latched on to the lining of her uterus, which creates all kinds of hormonal chaos, which causes the nausea, which--"
"Thank you," Dodge grumbled into his coffee mug. "I don't want to know anything about Julie's uterus. In fact, I'd just as soon keep the mysteries of human reproduction mysterious."
"I thought I heard your voice." Julie entered the kitchen and smiled at Dodge. She looked the picture of health despite her bout of nausea. "It's awfully early for you to be up and about, isn't it? Especially on a Saturday."
"Sounds like you've had a rough morning."
"I don't mind so much. It'll pass soon, and the sickness is a good sign, the result of the embryo latching on."
Derek laughed. "We've been over that. Dodge doesn't want to hear any more."