I nodded. I was too choked up to speak, really.
Cindy was fine. Yuki was fine.
I went around the room and kissed each of my friends and they kissed me. There were hugs, too, long ones, no one wanting to let go. Speaking for myself, I was thinking how life could end without warning and how freakin’ wonderful it was to have moments like this.
When we were exhausted from the hugging, I pulled over a chair for myself and sat down hard, next to the bed.
I said, “I want what you’re having.”
There were peals of laughter, one distinctive peal coming from Yuki.
She said, “Was that me laughing? I haven’t done that in a while.”
She was a little drunk, but that was appropriate. She had told me and Joe most of the horrific story, including that she’d shivved the bad guy.
“You told everyone?” I asked her.
“Yep. The Women’s Murder Club kicked ass this week.”
“I’ve got Ms. Mackie’s three-eyed corpse in my cooler,” said Claire. “So I’ll drink to that.”
Claire raised her cup of Jell-O, and just then there was a knock on the doorjamb.
The unsung hero of the hour, the man who’d taught Cindy to shoot, was standing there. I said, “Well, I’ve gotta go now, Cindy. I hear my baby calling me.”
Claire added, “I’ve got a baby, too, and I’m driving Yuki home. I need to get a look at Brady.”
There was a little rustle as we gathered our things. More kisses for Cindy and then we each said hi, as we edged past my good-looking, good-doing partner, who was standing in the doorway.
I hoped to God Cindy was well enough to handle this.
CHAPTER 110
CINDY SAID, “HEY, where’s everyone going?”
The girls waved good-bye, blew kisses, and let themselves out the door, letting Richie in. Her pulse shot up. She touched her throat as he came into the room, looking great, wearing a jacket, his tie loose at the collar, fresh blue shirt, and khakis. His hair was falling over one eye.
“Richie. Hi.”
He looked around the room at the garden on the window sill and said, “Cindy, I would have brought flowers but a birdie told me that you have plenty.”
He turned his eyes on her, smiled, and shook a white paper bag with a gold-foil seal holding down the flap.
“I brought this instead.”
“Come onnn. Chocolate orange peel? Let me see.”
“Some grapefruit peel, too. Thought I’d mix it up a little for you.”
Rich approached the bed, put his left hand on the rail at the far side and rested his weight on it. He leaned over, pressed his cheek to hers, then gave her a soft cheek kiss.
Cindy breathed him in.
He stood up and handed her the bag of candy, which she held in her lap. Then he pulled up the chair Lindsay had been sitting in.
“Thanks, Richie.”
He sat down and said, “Welcome. How are you doing?”