One More Time

“I heard the girl's going to be okay.”

Chris nodded. “Seems like it. She's awake and alert,” he said.

“Did they tell you where they got the heroin?”

He shook his head. “Nope,” he replied. “She's not being cooperative. Wouldn't give us a name.”

“No offense, but in her place, I probably wouldn't want to talk to a cop either,” I said and gave him a crooked smile.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, probably not.”

We stared at one another for a long moment and I could have sworn I saw the light bulb go off over his head. A small grin touched his lips.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, you're going to talk to her, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, not liking the direction this was headed. “It's part of my job.”

“Well, maybe you can get her to talk,” he said. “Maybe she'll open up to you.”

I shrugged. “I doubt it,” she said. “She'll probably still consider me an authority figure and won't want to talk.”

“You never know until you try though, right?”

I let out a long breath. “I suppose not.”

“I'm not expecting you to work miracles here, Hannah,” he said. “But, if you can just get a name out of her – ”

I held up my hand to stop him. “I'll see what I can do,” I said. “I'm not making you any promises.”

A grateful smile crossed his face. “I know you're not,” he said. “I'm just grateful that you're willing to try.”

“Hey, I want this drug scourge to end as bad as you do,” I said. “If we can get these poisoners off the street, I'll do what I can to help.”

He nodded. “I appreciate it,” he said. “And as a gesture of my gratitude, how about I take you to dinner? We can compare notes?”

A knot in my stomach constricted painfully. The last thing I wanted or needed was to be dating somebody at the moment. Dating anybody. Until I could get Eli out of my system entirely, once and for all, I wasn't going to be good for anybody. And nobody would be good for me.

Still, maybe going out with somebody other than Eli, rather than sitting at home brooding all the time, could be good for me. It could be a disaster, of course, but it could also possibly be good. Still, I thought it best to start slow. Dip my toes into the water first, before diving in head first.

“Dinner, huh?” I asked. “You're upping the ante from coffee, aren't you?”

Chris held his hands up, a smile on his face. “Hey, we can do coffee instead,” he replied. “Just a casual conversation over a cup of coffee.”

I let out a long breath. “I'll – think about it,” I said. “Again, I make no promises.”

There was a sparkle in his eye and a broad smile on his face. Maybe because this was the first time he'd asked that I didn't give him a flat out, no. Maybe, he felt some little spark of hope that I'd actually consider dating him or something. Or maybe, I was letting my ego get the best of me.

Suffice it to say, I was a hot mess, emotionally speaking.

“Fair enough,” he said. “You have my number.”

I nodded. “I do.”

“Well, I hope you choose to use it.”

I shrugged. “I might,” I said, the ghost of a smile touching my lips. “You just never know.”