Tied Up in Knots (Marshals 3)

I took him to breakfast at Firecakes, my favorite donut place over on Clark, because the idea of eggs and bacon made him a bit green around the gills. But warm sugary goodness worked and he looked a bit more human when we left. I loaned him my sunglasses so he wouldn’t go blind, and then he walked back home with Chickie and me.

“This is nice.” He sighed as he kept pace with me and my werewolf in the chilled morning air while we navigated the tree-lined streets. “I think I need a place out of the city.”

I didn’t want to correct him and say that Lincoln Park wasn’t really a sleepy little ’burb because his head and stomach were still a bit dicey.

“But then I’d be far from all the clubs.”

There was that to consider.

“If I try and pet the dog, will he eat my hand off?”

I snorted out a laugh and moved around Chickie so he was walking between us. It was nice that Sharpe didn’t even have to bend to reach Chickie’s head. There is something so soothing about petting a dog.

I watched the last of the night drain out of Sharpe. “You know, if going out and getting laid makes you so miserable that you drink and feel like crap and are totally stressed, maybe you might wanna rethink it, huh?”

“Are you kidding? I love getting laid.”

I was not going to inspire him into some cathartic moment. “Why don’t you come sit on my couch and watch football while I clean the house.”

“Yeah, all right. You got clothes for me?”

I did. I gave him sweats and a T-shirt and heavy socks, which worked out fine after he took a shower so he didn’t smell like cigarette smoke and alcohol anymore. He passed out on the couch watching not football, but Netflix. I cleaned around him and Chickie, the dog only opening one eye when I bumped him with the vacuum.

I woke Sharpe up around four and made him an omelet and toast, and between that and the ice tea, he looked better when he left. I got a hug that we normally didn’t engage in, on his way to the curb to get into the cab I’d called for him.

I hadn’t eaten because I wanted to wait for Ian, and with how excited I was, there was no way food was happening.

A bit later I got a call from Min, who was upset after making her weekly pilgrimage to see her mother.

“You guys get it,” she vented. “Why doesn’t she?”

I sighed. “She’s worried if you don’t get married and have kids that you won’t ever truly be happy in life.”

Her exhale was full of exasperation and sadness in equal measure. “But you guys know that’s not true. I love my job, I love dating, I love my life. I’m happy except for when I have to deal with her.”

It hit me. “You told her about Janet, you dumb broad.”

She giggled. “That was stupid, huh?”

“No,” I soothed. “You were happy for your friend, so you shared the news with your mother. You didn’t think it was going to boomerang back and hit you in the face.”

I got a real laugh then. “No, I certainly didn’t.”

“Think before you speak, Min,” I teased. “You’re a lawyer, after all. I shouldn’t have to tell you these things.”

That was it; she dissolved as I did a really good impression of her mother, Soon-Bok Kwon, who had never warmed up to me or Catherine but loved Aruna and Janet dearly.

“Your mother hates me,” I said for the eight billionth time.

She didn’t argue.

“You suck.”

“Not on the first date,” she corrected.

“Oh God,” I groaned. All my friends were disgusting, men and women both.

“Are you sleeping?”

I hustled her off the phone after that, and she said we’d talk about it next time. And while I didn’t want to talk about how much rest I wasn’t getting, it was nice that I talked to her and Janet and Catherine at least once a week, if not more, even after so many years out of college. I was always so thankful that, when they’d left Chicago, I hadn’t lost them.

I was still thinking about her and the others, about friendship and the family I’d made, as I drove to the airport that evening. But by the time I got there, the girls were out of my head and I was back to worrying. The thing was, I’d thought of something earlier, and as I stood outside the security point, leaning against a wall close to the benches in the waiting area, I realized my stomach had gone from gentle butterfly-wing fluttering to full gale-force wind tornado. What kept running through my brain was that sometimes Ian said things in the heat of the moment that he regretted once the ache of need passed. I hoped he still wanted me there when he emerged with the rest of his unit into the terminal from the concourse.