The Broken (The Apostles) (41 page)
Read The Broken (The Apostles) Online
Authors: Shelley Coriell
These past two weeks with Hayden hadn’t been easy. Fiercely independent, they were still learning how to be a couple, but Hayden had moved to Reno.
“Except for Maeve, Tucson is just a place to store my suits,” he’d said. “I’m rarely home.”
True. Last week, Hayden had been called in to profile an individual believed to be running a sex slave ring in San Francisco, and before that he had been in Washington, DC, profiling the sender of a series of ricin-laced letters sent through the U.S. Postal Service. But to her surprise, he’d called daily. And on the day she’d interviewed for a position to work as the media relations liaison for a Reno-area nonprofit, he had commandeered Parker’s jet and its captain, and flew home for a celebratory dinner.
“Celebratory?” she’d asked as she grilled two T-bones that night while he poured champagne. “Isn’t that a bit premature?”
“You’ll get the job,” he said with a smile. Agent Know-It-All had been right. After a delicious dinner then dessert in bed, he hopped on the jet back to DC. The next day the recruiter called and offered her the job. Today, she finally found the nerve to say yes. And tomorrow, she and Hayden would start house hunting in Reno.
“You’re right. Hayden and I have a long way to go before we get to the doorstep of Happily Ever After, so why not go to Tucson? Maeve said she wouldn’t mind putting up with you a while longer. Go, just for a few weeks. She needs the company.”
“That bossy thing?” Smokey picked up his toast and aimed the point at her. “I don’t need people telling me what to do, including you.” Smokey didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, but he couldn’t live alone.
The old soldier had dug his way out of an underground prison and helped Hayden catch Dustin Root, aka the Butcher. He was healthy, and yesterday, before the aide left, he told her Smokey Joe hadn’t had a single nightmare. Maybe because the old solider had completed the mission. She wrapped her hands around her coffee but didn’t drink. Smokey Joe had been her hero. He had saved her in more ways than one.
“But I need you,” she said. Just like she needed Hayden. “Who’s going to help with the jewelry store? You expect me to work two jobs while you sit around and play dominoes?”
“Stop your yammering, Kate. That new aide I hired will be here any minute, and I need to find that damned bread machine book.” He hopped up from the chair and started rooting around one of the kitchen drawers. “Now git outside and check on G-man. He should have the shed doors fixed by now. Also have him take a look at the bottom step on the porch. I damn near broke my leg on it the other day.”
Outside Kate found Hayden wearing a tool belt and using a screwdriver to test the hinges on Smokey’s newly installed shed doors. He pressed the two doors together, and they clicked into place.
“A perfect fit,” she said.
He turned with a smile. “Well?”
“I couldn’t close the deal,” she sat on the bottom step, which was indeed loose. “I’m afraid all you get is me and the cat.”
Hayden tucked the screwdriver into the tool belt and joined her on the bottom step. “All I need is you.”
“But I’m going to keep trying. Eventually, he’ll admit that he can’t keep chasing off aides, and he can’t live alone.”
“Is that hope I hear?” Hayden asked with a grin.
“Probably.”
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