“Say something funny,” I mutter to Keith, who squints as he tries to figure my headspace.
“Umm,” he moves his eyes back and forth while he tries to think, “like what?”
I stare at the woods whipping by the window, and suddenly it comes to me.
“Is Code Forty-Five a real code?”
Keith chuckles quietly. “A few years ago, we had a case where we were retrieving five women out of a drug mule container just over the border of Texas and Mexico. We had a meet-up with one of our teams that’s mainly stationed in TJ. They had a new recruit with them, and, well, three days camping out on a mountain ridge will make you go a little squirrely.” He moves his gaze to the mirror and makes sure I’m still listening.
“The kid thought he knew everything about being on our teams. By now, you should how well Cole likes cocky people.” He turns with a shit-eating grin. “So, we messed with him a little. When we headed back to Washington to give our statements and whatnot, Frank tested what he learned out in the field.” Keith pauses to laugh. “It took everything in our power not to burst out in laughter as he explained to Frank that he Code Forty-Fived one of the women.”
“What did Frank do?”
“He asked him to explain what the hell he was talking about, and the kid just went on and on about all these codes he was taught.” He drops his head forward and hits the steering wheel as the memory lives on inside him. I smirk a little. If this story was told any other time, I’m sure I would see the full humor in it.
“But I guess the joke is on us.” Keith clears his throat to regain his composure. “We used it so much for a laugh that now we use it as an actual code.”
I fold my arms, slightly unamused with his story. “Have you used it on anyone else besides me?”
I can see his cheeks puff out like he is grinning.
“You guys suck.”
“Maybe,” he catches my gaze in the mirror again, “but it made you laugh, so…” He shrugs.
True. We settle back into our silence, and I let my mind move back to my heartbreak.
I force my eyes to look forward. I must move forward and not look back.
Cole
Cole sits on the edge of the bed, gripping the unopened letter from Christina. He knows what it says, what they always say. She wants him back, they are perfect for one another, and she can’t live without him. The fact that she gave it to Savannah makes him uneasy. He doesn’t trust Christina, and her behavior is becoming more aggressive. No doubt she was hoping Savannah would read the letter. She’d fed her a fake dinner story as it was. He wants to toss it in the fire and watch those memories of her burn away, but something stops him, and he decides to keep it along with all the others as evidence in case she tries to pull something later.
“Knock, knock,” his mother whispers at his open door. She is wearing her robe. “May I?”
“Sure.” He watches her as she makes her way across the room and takes a seat in his leather chair next to the fire, warming her hands with a little sigh.
“Please don’t be upset with me for helping Savannah find an apartment.”
Cole tosses the letter on his nightstand and leans back against his headboard. “I’m not angry. I’m just hurt that she wants to leave me. We worked so hard to stay together, and the first moment she gets a chance to leave, she takes it.”
“You think that’s what happened?” she asks, shaking her head. “Dear, she didn’twantto leave, shehadto leave.”
Cole makes a face, not following.
“We had a long talk over lunch today. She loves you more than anything, Cole. She left because she was feeling lost within herself. She left so she could make herself stronger so both of you could work as a couple. Don’t be selfish with her. She needs this time to find out who she is.”
Cole closes his eyes; he’s such an asshole. This is the second time he’s let his emotions get the better of him, and he lashed out at her. “I thought she was breaking up with me earlier, so I did it first,” he says softly, covering his face in shame.Fuck.
“Well, that explains it. Oh, dear, you have so much to learn about women.” She whistles and leans back in the seat.
Cole swings his legs off the bed. “Explains what?”
“Why she left in the middle of the night.”
“What?” he nearly shouts. “She’s gone?”
His mother moves to sit next to him. “Keith took her.” She places her hand on his knee, stopping him before he interrupts. “Give her a few days, Cole. Let her settle in, then go make it up to her. She’s not going anywhere. Remember, we have eyes and ears all over that town. She’ll be all right.”