“How about this weekend? Saturday? I’ll help in the kitchen.”
“That’s fine with me,” Teddy said, his mind racing.
“Oh, good,” she said, kissing him. “Holly’s a great girl. I knew her in the army, then she was chief of police here, and now she does something with the CIA.”
“What on earth is she doing here?”
“She’s just taking her vacation; she has a house here, from when she was chief.”
“And her boyfriend?”
“His name is Josh Harmon, he’s a doctor and that’s about all I know about him.”
“Okay.” Teddy took a deep breath. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Shoot.”
“I think this relationship is going really well. How about you?”
“Really well,” she said, kissing him.
“Something you said awhile back stuck in my mind: you said you hated the hot summers in Florida, that you’d like to live somewhere with a more even climate?”
“Did I?”
“Yes. Were you serious about that?”
“Well, it’s not like I was contemplating moving.”
“Let me tell you about two places I’ve thought about,” Teddy said. “One is Santa Fe, New Mexico. Have you ever been there?”
“No, but I’ve heard good things about it.”
“It has a warm summer but no humidity; it’s seven thousand feet up in the mountains; the winter is cold but, again, dry, so it’s not oppressive. It’s the kind of weather where you can sit in a hot tub and let the snowflakes fall on your face.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“The other place is San Diego, California, specifically La Jolla, a suburb, on the Pacific. The weather is delightful year-round: stays in the seventies, pretty much.”
“Again, it sounds wonderful. Are you thinking about moving, Jack?”
“Yes,” Teddy said, “but only if I can take you with me.”
She laughed. “That’s a pretty good offer. Are you serious or just kidding?”
“I’m not kidding, sweetheart.”
“Wow. And how are we going to afford this? Can I get a police job out West?”
“Only if you want to. I’m very well off, so you don’t have to work.”
“That’s very tempting,” she said.
“There’s no rush,” Teddy said. “Think about it, and if it’s what you want, well, when you get these murders cleared, we could just take off. I’ve got the air
plane, remember?”
“I remember.” She gave him a long kiss. “You’ve a very, very nice man, Jack.”