Page 18 of Never Alone
"I'm just saying," he said. "For the record. The kind of moment you had on that lawn happens in a book. In a movie. With music."
"Martinez."
"Hallmark Channel, Lieutenant. With the soft lighting."
"He's right," Davis said. "It was very Hallmark."
Martinez had, at twenty-nine, the worst romantic record of any man I'd ever met. He didn't have any trouble getting women to go out with him. He had every kind of trouble getting them to stay. He couldn't, despite the sample size, account for it.
"How's Taylor doing, Martinez?" I asked.
The grin froze.
"That's mean, Lieutenant."
"Just asking."
"You don't have to bring it up."
"I'm just expressing concern."
Davis was openly laughing into the newspaper now. Hutch made a sound that was almost not a laugh.
I picked up my coffee, took a long pull, and set the cup back down.
Martinez was looking past me. His face had done the thing it did when a pretty woman walked in. I'd seen it a hundred times.
"Cole."
Davis had stopped laughing.
I turned.
A woman was crossing the lot with a white box in both hands. She looked like she'd walked out of a church window with her white dress and the morning sun catching in her hair.
"Is that?—"
"That's her."
"Lieutenant, she's gorgeous."
Sam came out of his office at the end of the kitchen and walked past us without looking at any of us.
The rest of the crew was making no effort to pretend they weren't watching.
She held out the box. People usually brought something to thank the crew after a good call. The bay had taken in a lot of casseroles over the years. Sam knew how to receive them.He nodded once at whatever she said and said something brief before he turned his head and looked at me.
The look was the kind of look you gave a person when you were telling someone else, with your eyes,You can tell him yourself.
"Cole. Come here a second."
Behind me, the crew made the noise—the low, drawn-outohthat meant they were enjoying this. Davis made it first. Hutch joined him. Even Martinez, whose grin was somewhere between betrayed and delighted, made it.
Here we go.
I stood up.
Sam walked past me, winking as he passed. He knew exactly what he was doing. I wasn't sure I was grateful for it.
