“Bullshit, Feb,” Colt kept teasing. “You’re Jackie Owens’s daughter. You like order all the f**king time.”
“Something wrong with that?” she asked, now getting pissed. She always hated being teased which meant he used to do it a lot because she was cute when she was pissed, that was only when it was under his control.
“Nope, nothin’ wrong with that,” Colt answered.
She hesitated then called, “Colt?” like he wasn’t on the phone with her but she was trying to catch his attention.
“I’m right here.”
“Um… would you mind if I…” another pause then quickly, “clear a drawer and maybe… commandeer a few hangers?”
Fucking hell, she wanted to move her shit in and Colt felt that in his gut too.
“You know, so I don’t have to live out of a bag?” she finished on a rush.
“Take as much room as you need,” Colt paused too and then said, “and bring over as much shit as you want.”
Feb was silent a moment before she said softly, “Okay, babe.” Then she asked, “What’s your day gonna bring?”
“So far, it’s brought more dirt on Denny, I’ll tell you about it tonight.”
“They closer?” she asked.
“Closin’ in.”
“Thank God,” she whispered then, her voice stronger, “since I had an unscheduled day off yesterday, I need to be at the bar tonight. You wanna meet me there for dinner? Frank’s. On me.”
“You’re on. Six o’clock.”
“You want me to tell Darryl you want a tenderloin so you’ll maybe get a burger?”
He smiled into the phone before he said, “Why don’t we try a patty melt, see what that brings?”
He heard her laughter coming at him through the phone.
You made her laugh, she doesn’t do that much.
He heard Ryan’s words through Feb’s laughter. Ryan was right, it was true, Feb didn’t laugh much. Not for years and only genuinely with Palmer and Tuesday. She’d been doing it a lot more recently, mostly with him.
“Patty Melt Mystery Dinner it is,” she cut into his thoughts after she stopped laughing. “Six o’clock. Shit!” she said suddenly, he heard the phone jostle and her far away shout. “Yeah, I’m up! Be out in a sec.” Then she came back to him. “That’s Dad, he says he wants to be briefed as to why Chip’s here.” She laughed softly again before saying, “Colt, babe, he actually used the word briefed.” Colt laughed with her the second time before she finished hurriedly and distractedly. “Better go brief Dad. See you later, love you, babe.”
Colt froze and just managed to force out a “Later, baby,” before Feb disconnected.
See you later, love you, babe.
That was how she would end every phone conversation they had which were daily when she wasn’t up visiting on a weekend when she was at home and he was at Purdue.
See you later, love you, babe.
He knew she’d been preoccupied when she said it, slipping back into a very old habit.
He also didn’t f**king care.
He flipped his phone shut, shoved it in his back jeans pocket, grabbed his muffin and entered the Station smiling.
* * * * *
The phone on his desk rang; Colt picked it up, put it to his ear, looked at the name on the display on the desk set and said into the handset, “What’s up, Kath?”
“Colt, Amy Harris’s folks just walked in. I put them in the conference room.”
Fuck.
He knew they’d arrived yesterday from Arizona to start making arrangements for the funeral. Yesterday, with Colt mostly out of commission, Sully had dealt with them, making an appointment for them to come and talk with Colt today at two o’clock.
Now it was today and it was f**king two o’clock.
“Do me a favor, ask them if they want coffee, get it for them if they do and I’ll be down in a minute.”
“No probs, Colt,” she said and he put the phone down.
Kath was a civilian and she worked the front desk. She had a dickhead of a husband and five kids, all of them heathens. She did her best but, the Dad they had, her kids acted out anyway, as often as they could and they were creative. When they advertised the job for the front desk, she applied for it, telling them it was a way to spend some time with her family since all of them, including her husband, sat in a cell on more than a rare occasion. They gave her the job, mostly because she was a good woman, dependable, smart and, not including her husband, her family was a good family, deep down. They just had a lot of shit to get out and, until Kath grew a backbone and kicked her husband out on his ass, she needed all the help she could get.
Colt stood, pulled his blazer from his chair and shrugged it on. He was about to turn to the stairs when Sully walked up.
“Candy Sheckle’s on her way in,” Sully told him.
Colt’s brows went up. “Of her own accord?”
“She had a shift at the club last night, just turned her phone on and, minute the Feds asked, she said she’d drop her kid off at her Mom’s and be right in.”
“That’s helpful,” Colt remarked, surprised.
“Super duper helpful,” Sully returned, equally surprised.
“That’ll be an interesting interview.”
Sully smiled. “Can’t f**kin’ wait. You gonna watch?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“See you there, I’ll bring the popcorn.”
Colt shook his head and went to the stairs.
The minute he saw Mr. and Mrs. Harris, seated but huddling together in the conference room, he knew why Craig had to carry Amy into the house, not to mention why Amy was petite. Her parents were both small. He didn’t recall either of them but, if they were as quiet and reserved as their daughter, he doubted he ever saw them but in passing and probably wouldn’t notice them.
“They didn’t want coffee, Colt. The Mom drinks tea. You want me to run down to Mimi’s?” Kath asked as he passed.
“You’d do that, it’d be appreciated,” Colt replied, not taking his eyes from the Harrises.
“No trouble,” Kath said and took off.
Mr. Harris caught his gaze while Colt made his way to the conference room. This would be difficult for more than the normal reasons. He had no intention of sharing. They didn’t need to know their daughter went through what she went through. Still, he knew it and knowing it meant this was going to be far from easy.