So its Thursday, he said. I dont know why, but it feels like Saturday.
Is it because what we did last night is usually reserved for Friday nights? A way to kick off the weekend?
I dont know, he said. I havent done something like that for a while.
Get out of here, she said as she set the coffee maker to brew.
Seriously. Junior year of high school, I think. That was good year for me in terms of make-out sessions without the sex.
Well, you apparently didnt miss a beat. Last night waswell, it was much more than I was expecting when you picked me up.
Same here.
But Im glad it happened, she added quickly. All of it.
Good. Maybe we can do it again. This weekend, maybe?
Maybe, she said. But my restraint is already feeling weakened.
Maybe that was my plan after all, he said with a sultry smile.
She blushed and looked away quickly. She was a little taken aback by how much she enjoyed seeing him in such a flirty state.
Look, she said. I need to grab a shower. Youre welcome to anything in the fridge if you want breakfast. Theres not much there, though.
Thanks, he said, seemingly unable to take his eyes away from her.
She left him in the kitchen and went into the bedroom, which the larger bathroom was connected to. She stripped down, turned on the water, and stepped into the shower. She almost felt like giggling over how the night had gone. It had made her feel like a teenager, enjoying the feeling of him there with her and feeling comfortable enough with him to know that he wasnt going to pester her for sex. It had been romantic in an odd way and there had been two moments where she had nearly gone back on her claim of not sleeping with him. With a glee she was not used to, she secretly hoped he might decide to summon up the nerve to come join her under the water.
If he does, all restraint is going out the window, she thought.
She was just about done with her shower when she did indeed hear him enter the bathroom.
Better late than never, she thought. Her entire body tensed up with excitement and she found herself instantly eager for him to join her.
Hey, Chloe?
Yes? she asked, a bit provocatively.
Your phone just rang. Maybe I was being nosybut I looked. It was from the bureau line.
Really? I wonder if something has come up
She then heard the ringing of another cell phone. This one was closer, presumably in Moultons hand. Chloe peeked out of the shower, pulling the curtain slightly to the side. They exchanged a look before Moulton answered his phone.
This is Moulton, he answered. He stepped back out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Realizing why, Chloe turned off the water. She grabbed a towel from the rack and stepped out, grinning at him when he stared while she quickly wrapped the towel around her. Just because they had made out for about an hour and a half last night did not instantly mean she was okay with him seeing her completely naked.
There wasnt much of a conversation to eavesdrop on. It was mainly just Moulton listening and saying, Okayyes, sir a few times.
The call lasted about a minute and when he was done, he comically poked his head into the bathroom.
Is it okay for me to come in?
Wrapped in a towel that covered all of her private spots, she nodded. Yes. Who was that?
That was Assistant Director Garcia. He said he tried to call you but you must have slept through it. He smiled at her and then went on. He said I should call you or come by and wake you up. Theres a case they want us on.
She chuckled as she stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. You think last night will affect the way we work together?
It might cause me to sneak into your motel room after hours. Other than thatI dont know. Well see.
Would you pour me a cup of coffee? I need to get dressed.
I was sort of hoping I could use your shower.
Of course. Though it would have been nicer if youd asked ten minutes ago when I was still in there.
Ill know better next time, he said.
As he went to the shower and Chloe started to get dressed, she realized that she was happy. Quite happy, in fact. Throwing a new case on top of all that had happened last nightit seemed as if her day had not been devastated by the sudden appearance of her father at all.
But if living with such an estranged family history had taught her anything, it was that you never truly escaped it. One way or the other, it always seemed to catch up with you.
CHAPTER FOUR
At roughly the same moment Chloe was being reminded what it felt like to lose herself in a man, her sister was in the middle of a nightmare.
Danielle Fine was dreaming about her mother again. It was a recurring dream shed been having since the age of twelve or soone that seemed to take on a different meaning with each stage of life Danielle entered into. The dream was always the same, never changing in detail or plot.
In the dream, her mother was chasing her down a long hallway. Only, it was the version of her mother that she and Chloe had discovered that day as young girls. Bleeding, wide-eyed, and lifeless. For some reason, the dream had always assumed shed broken a leg in the fall (even though there were no official reports of any kind that had ever suggested such a thing) so the dream version of her mother dragged herself across the floor in pursuit of her daughter.
Despite the injury, her dead mother was always right on her heels, just a few fingertips away from grabbing her little ankle and pulling her down to the floor. Danielle ran away from the grisly vision in terror, her eyes cast to the end of the hallway. And there, standing in a doorway that seemed a universe away, was her father.
He would always be kneeling, opening his arms to her with a huge smile on his face. But there was blood dripping from his hands and in a moment of dream-panic that always woke her up, Danielle would stop running, stuck between her dead mother and her maniacal father, unsure of which direction was the safest.
It was no different now. The dream came to a crashing conclusion, jarring Danielle awake. She sat up in bed slowly, so accustomed to the dream now that she knew what it was even before she was fully awake. Groggily, she looked over to the clock and saw that it was only 11:30. Shed only been asleep for about an hour this time before the dream had come sneaking in.
She lay back down, knowing that it would take a while before shed be able to go back to sleep. She shook the dream away, having learned many years ago how to shut it out by reminding herself that there was nothing she could have done to keep her mother from dying. Even if she had come clean with all of her little secrets about things she had seen and heard and experienced in regards to her fathers toxic personality, there was nothing she could have said or done that would have kept her mother alive.
She turned over and looked toward the bedside table. She almost reached for the phone to call Chloe. It had been three weeks since theyd last spoken. It had been tense and awkward and it had been her fault. She knew she had been projecting a lot of negativity toward Chloe, primarily because Chloe didnt hate their father with the venom and angst that she did. It had been Danielle who had made the call three weeks ago, realizing that Chloe was waiting for her to make the next move since the last conversation theyd had before that had not gone so wellwith Danielle practically telling her sister not to reach out.