Cool?
"Uh, is that it?" I asked his question.
He looked to me. "Is what it?"
"Do you have any questions?"
"Like what?"
"Like, how long we"re staying with Merry? And the answer to that is, I don"t know, but hopefully not long. Just until that"s sorted."
"Okay," Ethan said, then went back to his bowl.
I stared at the top of his head.
Then I asked, "Are you worried about anything?"
He looked at me again. "Like what?"
"I don"t know. Anything," I told him. "Merry and me haven"t been seein" each other very long, but this isn"t like we"re moving in with him. And that guy freaked you out. I don"t want you to hold back if something"s bothering you or you have a question you want answered."
Ethan tipped his head to the side. "Are you and Merry dating?"
I thought that was a weird question because he knew the answer.
Still, I gave him that answer. "Yeah."
"No, Mom. I mean, are you dating or are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"
It kind of freaked me out my ten-almost-eleven-year-old son knew the difference.
I couldn"t focus on that right then. I had to focus on his question.
Merry and me hadn"t officially had the conversation, but I did feel it was accurate to answer, "We"re boyfriend and girlfriend."
"So, that guy is bad news. Merry heard about him. His woman is livin" on the same street, and we"re movin" in with him until he deals with it," Ethan declared. "It"s not a big deal. It"s just Merry."
I stared at my kid again.
Ethan must have misinterpreted my stare because he went on to explain, "If that guy lived close to Feb before Colt married her, Feb would move in with Colt. Same with Vi and Cal. Merry"s like them. So..." He shrugged. "Whatever."
"Whatever?" I asked.
My son didn"t elucidate.
He asked, "Does Merry have a nice place?"
I told him the truth.
"No. It sucks."
"b.u.mmer," he muttered.
"It has a decent TV," I shared.
Ethan shoveled egg mush in his mouth and asked through it, "Can we take the Xbox?"
"That and a skillet," I confirmed.
Ethan mouth scrunched to the side in confusion. "A skillet?"
"Merry"s been more interested in riding his Harley and catching bad guys than buying a decent skillet."
Ethan grinned an egg-saltine-salt-and-pepper-mush grin.
My little man but still my boy.
G.o.d, I had the awesomest kid in the universe.
"You"re the awesomest kid in the universe," I declared.
His eyes narrowed. "Are you gonna get gooey?"
"No. Except tellin" you you"re the awesomest kid in the universe."
He shoved his spoon into his bowl and scooped up more mush, muttering, "Already knew that."
I grinned.
Then I grabbed my phone.
I texted, Ethan"s good with the extended sleepover as long as we can bring the Xbox with our skillet, and hit send.
Considering my man was embroiled in a fresh murder investigation that involved a woman I"d seen once, in her nightie, having an argument with my d.i.c.khead neighbor, I was not surprised his reply took an hour and a half.
When I got it, it was, Xbox affirmative. He get to school okay?
Seriously.
Totally.
If we went the distance, I so was going to be able to talk him into more kids.
Yes, boss. FYI, we"ve been accomplishing that difficult maneuver since the third day of kindergarten when he quit pitching a fit because his momma was dropping him off with b.i.t.c.hes who made him take naps, I returned.
Whatever. Come by the station. Need to give you keys. Leave the Xbox by the TV. No one touches my TV but me. I"ll deal with it when I get home. Be home before you go to work so I can see to Ethan.
I stared at the text, wanting to take a screen shot of its awesomeness, print it out, frame it, and put it by my bedside so I could read it every day.
Since I didn"t want to be a whackjob who would do something like that, I just experienced another boon Merry gave me.
That being, me, now a woman who had a man in her life who was a man who was in her life. Being there. Taking care of her. Being a partner. Being a part of her kid"s life. Taking care of her kid. Liking that. Wanting it. Going for it.
After I let that goodness sift through me, I called my mom and explained the situation.
Needless to say, Grace Sheckle was pretty f.u.c.king happy my kid and I were moving in with Merry. So much, she didn"t care there was a possible homicidal boyfriend living two doors down from my house.
Not even a little bit.
I packed my bags. I packed Ethan"s. I disconnected the Xbox. I packed some groceries. I grabbed a skillet. I loaded this all in my car. I went to the station, got the keys, and stole a quick, distracted kiss from my man who was on the phone the entire time I was there.
While there, I also got a lot of greetings from a lot of friends, all of whom were busy, so I didn"t dally.
I took our s.h.i.t to Merry"s and put things away as best I could.
His extra room was a junk room, not a guest room.
I"d deal with that tomorrow.
I went out to go to the grocery store to add to the seriously meager supplies Merry had in his kitchen, something I needed to do before I went to go get my kid from school.
And I left the Xbox on the floor in front of the TV.
Garrett "Nothin" here but girl s.h.i.t," Jake muttered.
Garrett and Mike stood across the table in the bas.e.m.e.nt were Jake did some of his work. Scattered on it were Wendy Derian"s purse, the contents of the same, and the contents of her car.
"Yeah, except there"s no cell," Garrett replied.
Jake looked up to him. "Nope."
"We went through the room she was stayin" in at her sister"s. Not one there either," Mike noted.
Garrett looked to Mike. "Twenty-eight-year-old woman"s gonna have a cell phone."
Mike looked to the table. "s.h.i.t."
Woman in a hurry to get where she"s going.
Cell gone.
Not good.
"Got stuff to process, guys. You need anything else?" Jake asked.
"No, man, thanks," Garrett answered.
They moved out of the room, but they didn"t move to the stairs to go back to their desks. They moved to the stairs to exit the building in order to do legwork. They had a list of friends and family to hit.
But Garrett knew where they were gonna start.
"Cutler"s?" he asked as he pushed the door out to the back parking lot.
Mike nodded.
They moved to the unmarked sedan they used on the job and didn"t speak, not even to discuss who drove.
They"d been partners a while. They had that down.
They took turns.
Today was Mike"s turn.
Garrett folded into the pa.s.senger side.
Mike set them on their way.
Cher"s house was quiet, her Chevy not in the driveway, when they hit her street and parked outside Cutler"s.
They got out. They went to the house. They knocked.
No answer and his truck was not in the drive or on the street.
"We"ll come back," Mike said.
Garrett nodded and they took off. They went down the list and hit what they could-Wendy Derian"s employer and then her friends at home, some at work, ending with going back to the family.
Most were home. They"d gotten the news and news like that translated to an instant personal day.
But they got the same from everyone, which was the same as what they"d gotten from her sister.
Wendy was well-liked. She was funny. She was sweet. She was a decent worker (she wouldn"t win awards, but she showed and got the job done).
But she was stupid. Picked the wrong men. Never learned. Kept doing it.
No one liked Cutler. Friends were wary of him. Family detested him.
Even with that, there was a lot of shock. She might"ve picked the wrong men, but however bad they were for her, no one thought she"d end up shot three times because of it. Maybe banged up. Even beat to s.h.i.t.
Not dead.
This read that whatever the men she picked did-whatever Cutler did-she wasn"t involved.
She went to work. She spent time with her friends. She did not exit her life for her man or to cover up whatever he was wound up in or the fact she was tied up in it too. She didn"t seem to be hiding anything or retreating from life, work, friends, or family.
She just kept getting mixed up with the wrong guys.