“And I don’t think you’ve really proved a helluva lot of maturity in the past few days.”
Jeremy stared at her hard. With eyes that reminded her of his father, Joe. “I was worried about you.”
Pescoli’s throat closed. “I know. I appreciate it. And now I’m going to be fine, so, please, for the next two days, hold tough, deal with Lucky and Michelle, and when I get out of here, we’ll have Christmas in January.”
CHOSEN TO DIE
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He snorted his agreement.
“And Bianca,” she said, “you’re in charge of the snowman pancakes and flocking the tree pink.”
“Ouch!” Jeremy said.
“Meeeow,” Bianca responded and through the half-open door, Pescoli heard the sound of a doctor being paged. “Mo-om! That’s so mean!”
“Must be the meds,” Pescoli muttered but they all laughed. “Now, if you really want to get on my good side, go to Wild Will’s, order a hamburger to go and smuggle it in here! Hey, what’s that?” For the first time Pescoli noticed a small silver band around Bianca’s left ring finger.
Her daughter flushed. “It’s a Christmas gift from Chris. A promise ring.”
Pescoli didn’t like the sound of that. “Promise for what?”
Bianca twisted the ring. “Just, you know, ’cuz he likes me.”
“Jer?” Pescoli glanced at her son. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know. Kinda like I promise to someday, like, get engaged to you.”
Pescoli leveled her gaze at her daughter. “Is that so?”
Bianca was shaking her head. “No, not really.” A lie.
“You’re thirteen. There will be no promises.”
“Mom, it was really sweet of him.” Bianca wasn’t going down without a fight.
“You heard me, Bianca.” God, she had to get out of here. “You need to return it.”
Sparks flared in her daughter’s eyes. “But—”
“Okay, okay, we’ll deal with this when I get home, 452
Lisa Jackson
but trust me, you’re waaaay too young for any kind of promises besides ‘I’ll go to the winter dance with you.’ Even that’s a stretch.” She pushed herself up in bed, felt her IV connection pull at her wrist and wished to hell she could get someone to release her.
“Look I’m going to find a way out of here, so you get the house ready, okay. We’ll have Christmas.”
She saw the spark in Jeremy’s eyes, “But until it’s official and I call you, I’m afraid you’re stuck with Lucky.”
Her kids grumbled but left and she pushed the call button for a nurse. She was going to be released come hell or high water.
Within two minutes the door opened again and she said, “I need to get out of here ASAP,” before she saw her partner striding into the room.
“You got that right!” Alvarez was shaking her head. Her hair was pulled tight into a bun at the base of her neck and she wore all black—sweater, slacks, boots, and jacket. Like she was going to a damned funeral. Only the hoops glinting from her ears broke up her somber attire. In one hand was a bouquet of white carnations and bright yellow daisies, in the other was a pack of Nicorette gum.
“The Department’s just falling to pieces without you. Anarchy reigns.”