Tied Up in Knots (Marshals 3)

“Why don’t you come out for turkey day and stay the rest of the weekend,” I offered.

She sniffled. “Will Ian want me?”

“Ian’s not here,” I said, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “I think he’s in your city, actually, involved in an inquest about a guy he served with, or if not, he’s been deployed. I’ve called him a million times in the last twenty-four hours and he ain’t pickin’ up. So if you could come keep me company and hold my hand and hug me in the middle of the night when I have bad dreams, that’d be awesome.”

“You need me?” Her voice quavered.

“Yeah.”

She blew her nose. “How come you’re not going to Aruna’s?”

“I seem to remember that she’s cooking for her in-laws this year, and I didn’t wanna get in the way.”

“So just the two of us, then? That sounds cozy.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Dude,” I began—a word I only used when I was really tired—“I got sucked into cooking for every-fuckin’-body. You gotta help me.”

I could hear her nearly swoon on the other end. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Can I ask?”

“Of course.”

“Where’s Ned?”

“He said that he couldn’t handle my hormones, and he went to spend the holiday with his mother.”

“Fuck.”

“Uh-huh.”

I cleared my throat. “Not to take his side in any way,” I began slowly, carefully, delicately, “but…” Oh God, it was like walking out onto new ice over a pond. “…were you maybe, possibly supposed to take the train after work on Wednesday and go over to Alexandria to spend the holidays with Ned and his family?”

Silence.

Yep, that’s exactly what she was supposed to do. “So… Janet… sweetie… he didn’t actually leave, right? I mean, he went up early to help his folks do all the shopping and everything.” Her husband, Edward, Ned for short, was the middle child, sort of, if there was a middle of eight, so when everyone descended on his parents’ home in Alexandria, Virginia, for the holidays with all the wives and husbands and kids, the parents needed help. Because Ned and Janet lived the closest, right there in Washington DC, it was normally the two of them who got there first. “He loves you and he loves the baby.”

No answer.

I knew Ned Powell fairly well. We weren’t as close as Catherine’s husband, Eriq, and me—I was one of his ushers when they got married—or Liam and me, but Ned and I were friends. I knew if she left, he’d lose his fucking mind. He worked for the NSA, so it took a lot to fluster him, but having his wife go missing would do it.

“You wanna call him, maybe?”

“If you were straight, I would have married you.”

I knew that. I felt the same. She was the one. We got along like two halves of one whole. The only place we weren’t compatible was in bed. It bugged the hell out of guys I fucked and guys she dated until Ned. He didn’t care one bit because we were only ever going to be friends, and he got to make her his wife. “Yeah. And?”

“It’s easy with you. It always has been. I need some easy.”

I sighed deeply. “Then come on, kitten. Let’s snuggle.”

Her whimper was adorable.

“For crissakes, you know I want you here.”

“I’ll be there in the morning. I’ll text you the flight information and I’ll call Aruna.”

“No, don’t call—shit,” I swore when I realized she’d hung up on me.

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked as he closed in on me, Kohn right beside him.

“Nothing,” I muttered, standing up. “What the hell’re you guys still doing here?”

“You know,” Ryan told me. “We gotta know where you’re goin’ and what you’re doin’ before we ditch you.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry. Family crisis.”

“Doyle?” Kohn guessed. It was a good one.

“No, my friend Janet. She’s coming for Thanksgiving.”

“The more the merrier,” he assured me.

They were being weird, standing there, doing nothing, and it finally hit me. They had things to do, people to see, but they were waiting on me.

“I’m getting a cab and going home,” I announced.

“Swear?” Ryan hedged, concerned and also, it was his job to ask, to know.

I crossed my heart for him. “I swear. No more drinking, straight home to bed. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

They both looked skeptical.

“Remember, men, if you can’t be good, be careful.”

That got the middle finger from both I was waiting for, but they still didn’t leave until I got into a cab. It was nice that even though I’d been flipped off, I got a wave good-bye as well.

I HAD the driver dump me off a block from home so I could get some groceries, but when I got close to the store, the idea of going in under all the fluorescent lighting was daunting. I had coffee at home, and creamer, half-and-half, and ramen. I was good.