Unnatural Acts (Stone Barrington 23)

“I think you’ve just found the start button,” she said. “Can we skip to the final step?”

He rolled on top of her.

Half an hour later, they lay, panting and sweating, holding hands. “Does that complete my reeducation?” she asked.

“That’s only the first lesson,” Stone said. “We have a lot to work through yet.”

“Such as?”

“You’ll see, lesson by lesson.”

“I guess it’s good that I seem to have relocated to your house. It saves all those trips through the garden and in the back door.”

“It is good, isn’t it? Even difficult situations can have their bright side.” He rolled over and kissed her. “Where’s that start button again?”

Herbie was at his desk by seven on Monday morning, and Cookie came into his office, leading another young woman, taller than she and dark-haired.

“Herb, this is RoseAnn Faber,” Cookie said. “She’s going to be working with us.”

“Wow, that was fast,” Herbie said, standing up and shaking her hand.

“It all happened Friday afternoon,” Cookie said.

“Are you glad to be out of Accounting, RoseAnn?” Herbie asked.

“You bet your ass… Excuse me, yes, I’m very glad to be out of Accounting.” The accent had a tinge of Brooklyn.

“And we’re glad to have you,” Herbie said. “I’ve been working Cookie too hard.”

“So she tells me,” RoseAnn said.

“ RoseAnn! ” Cookie said, blushing. “I haven’t been complaining, Herb. I love my job.”

“I know you do, Cookie, because I know how well you do it. RoseAnn, I hope you learn to love your job as well as Cookie does hers.”

Cookie looked at her watch. “Your appointment is probably here now,” she said. “I’ll go see if he’s in reception.”

Both women left, and Cookie came back a couple of minutes later, leading Dink Brennan, who was dressed in a suit.

Herbie shook his hand and sat him down. “I had a call from the director at the farm,” he said.

Dink sat down and accepted coffee from Cookie. “Yes, well, I felt the farm had done all it could for me. You see, I was never an addict, and almost everybody at the farm was. I felt out of place.”

“Have you spoken to your father?”

“We met last week, and I think we both went a long way toward patching things up.”

“I’ve gotten to know him pretty well,” Herbie said. “He deserves better from you than what you were giving him.”

“I can’t deny that,” Dink said. “I’m going to do better by him.”

“Why are you here, Dink?”

“Several reasons. First, I want to apologize to you for being such a handful.”

“Apology accepted. Don’t do it again.”

“Secondly, I’m sufficiently impressed with you that I’m thinking of applying to law school.”