Too easy. “Something like that.” He was thinking more along the lines of a few good knocks to the man’s thick skull, but he didn’t bother to elaborate. It had been a while since Cora smiled at him, and he didn’t want to say something that could change her mood.
“Poor Slice,” she said with a sigh. “He’s really broken up about losing Lindsey. At least he’s still young and has his whole life ahead of him. Plenty of time to fall in love again. What’s that saying? Time heals all wounds.”
“Not always,” Liam said. “Sometimes every moment without the person feels like an eternity, and time just amplifies your loneliness.”
Cora glanced at him curiously. She seemed to sense there was a story, and she wanted him to elaborate, but he knew better than to go down that path.
“That’s sad,” she said softly.
Heartbreaking. Soul-crushing. “Aye, it is. But that’s life.” His life. Her life. They’d always ended in tragedy. Against all odds, he prayed that this time would be different.
10
BOYD DIDN’T RETURN for the rest of the week. There were a number of speculations buzzing around the station as to why, some of which Liam found downright amusing. The receptionist, Mavis, thought he’d been having some marital problems, and she was convinced he’d taken his wife on an impromptu vacation to smooth things over. Liam was unable to imagine any weekend with Alice going smoothly. If Boyd had actually taken her on a trip, then he was likely to return in worse shape than he left.
“Maybe he has some chronic illness, and he’s not long for this world,” Happy said matter-of-factly as he stared at his computer screen. Everyone glanced at him in surprise, not because of his morose comment—that was pretty standard for him—but because Happy rarely participated in office gossip. He always seemed too bored or grumpy to care. In fact, the only time Liam had ever noticed Happy looking somewhat eager was when he took off in the afternoons with his mysterious gym bag, and even then, he usually had a sour expression on his face.
“Captain doesn’t have a fatal illness,” Otto said around a mouthful of bagel. “He’s stressed out because of the unsolved murder cases, sure, but I see him in his office every day at lunch, and that man has the appetite of an ox. People with one foot in the grave don’t have hearty appetites. It’s a common fact.”
“Pity,” Happy said under his breath.
Otto let out a good-natured chuckle. “Yup, partner. Looks like you’re going to be stuck with me for a long time. Lucky you.”
Happy was staring at his computer screen, but Liam didn’t miss the smirk hovering at the edge of his mouth. For a moment, Liam was dumbstruck. He’d never seen Happy display anything but boredom or distaste, and Otto was always kind to him, anyway. It suddenly dawned on Liam that the two men actually had a strange bond of friendship, even though their personalities were on opposite sides of the spectrum. Not for the first time, Liam realized how painfully shortsighted he’d been ever since the angels dropped him into this new life. He’d formed first impressions about people based on the way they seemed, and he’d used his own imagination to fill in the gaps. He’d never bothered to look any further because he was too wrapped up in his own goals to waste his time on anybody else. If he hadn’t been so self-centered, things could’ve been so different.
By the time Liam walked into Dante’s bar on Friday night after work, he was feeling disconnected and melancholy. He caught sight of Cora sitting in a back booth with Finn. They looked good together, easy and relaxed, in an animated conversation punctuated with occasional laughter. Cora’s hair tumbled around her shoulders in a mass of wayward curls, and Finn was looking at her like the sun rose and set by her royal decree. A hollow ache thudded in Liam’s heart, because he knew the feeling. How Cora managed to miss that Finn was head over heels in love with her, Liam didn’t know. But it was a lucky thing, he told himself as he walked to the bar to order a drink. It meant the task the angels had left him with might not be insurmountable, after all.
“Hey,” Suzette said from his elbow. “You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
Liam glanced over at Cora’s best friend. “Perhaps I do.”
“Come on. Nothing’s that bad,” she said, waving at the bartender. She held up her fingers and mouthed,Two, indicating both her and Liam. “Let me buy you a beer and you can tell me all your woes.”
“You don’t want to hear it,” Liam said, taking the bar stool next to her.
“Sure I do. I’m always up for hearing other people’s problems. Especially if they’re way worse than my own. It makes me feel better, so feel free to exaggerate.”
Liam shook his head, staring at a bead of condensation as it dripped down the side of his glass. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“You think not, desperado?” Suzette dropped her chin in her hand. “Hit me with it.”
“Fine.” Liam ran a hand through his hair in agitation, then decided to just go for it. “The reason it looks like I’ve got the weight of the world on my shoulders is because I do. Thousands of future lives hang in the balance, and I’ve been reincarnated on earth, sent by angels to right a wrong I committed almost two hundred years ago in order to save the life of someone I love and my soul from eternal damnation. How’s that?”
Suzette cocked her head to one side, studying him thoughtfully. What surprised him most was that she didn’t seem shocked. Liam glanced around the bar, wondering if the faux flame torches on the walls were going to explode, or if a lightning bolt was going to strike him down. It was the first time he’d ever uttered the truth about his task to anyone, and it was strangely freeing. For a split second, he felt elated that there was someone to share it with. It made the burden less painful.
“Your presentation needs work,” Suzette said after a pause. “It was a little over the top. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw that movie on TV.”
The sudden elation he’d felt evaporated into a cloud of disappointment. “I wasn’t lying; it’s the truth.”
“See, now you’re just overselling it,” Suzette pointed out. “When you do that, it looks like you’re trying too hard. That’s how you lose credibility. I’m a little disappointed in you, to be honest. Never thought a man with such a pirate smile could be such an amateur at subterfuge.”
Liam took a few healthy swigs of his beer. Why bother? Even when he set out to tell the whole truth, he failed.
Suzette reached over the bar to snag a cherry from the condiment dish when the bartender wasn’t looking. “But on the upside, I do kind of feel better about my own problems now.”
“Glad to be of service,” he said magnanimously.
“Here’s the thing, and I’m only going to say this because I actually like you.” She smelled like artificial cherries and beer as she leaned closer and enunciated, “You are a total and complete idiot.”