Assault and Batter(40)

“No, and that worries me a little, too. If he’d wanted me with him, why did he ask me just once?”

Momma shook her head. “The ways of men are just as mysterious to us as our ways are to them. It might be that he was afraid to ask you in the first place, and asking twice might have seemed like he was begging. Now answer me this honestly. Does that seem like something Jake Bishop would do, no matter how much his own heart might be breaking?”

“No, you’re right,” I said, suddenly feeling better because Jake could just possibly be as miserable as I was right now. I knew that it was petty of me, but I couldn’t help it. “If you don’t mind, I think I will try to get some sleep. Thanks for everything tonight.”

“Grace had things well in hand before I got here,” she said. “I’m not sure that I added all that much in the end.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. When a girl’s heart is broken, she needs her mother most of all.”

Momma’s smile was full as she said, “Then I’m glad that I could be here for you. If you want to talk, even if it’s the middle of the night, wake me. Will you do that for me?”

“I promise,” I said. “Good night.”

“Good night, Suzanne.”

I was just about to go to sleep when my cellphone rang.

It was Jake.

“Suzanne, I’m so sorry that I sprang that on you at the last second. I can be such an idiot sometimes. Can you forgive me?”

I laughed, just happy to hear his voice again. “Only if you forgive me for not dropping everything and flying off to Alaska with you.”

“You’re much too practical for that,” he said. “I should never have put you in that position in the first place. I guess it was pretty cowardly of me.”

This from a man who faced down armed criminals on a regular basis. “Jake, you are many things, but cowardly isn’t one of them.”

“Oh, I can stand my share of danger, but I should have handled this entire mess better than I have.”

“Tell you what. Let’s give each other a free pass and stop beating ourselves up about it, okay? It’s not like we can’t see each other more often than every three months, and we can talk on the phone every day.”

He laughed. “We don’t talk that often now.”

“Maybe not. I hope you have a safe flight. Call me when you land, okay?”

“No matter what time it is?” he asked.

“Chances are that I’ll either be making donuts or selling them,” I said. “Don’t worry about waking me up.”

“Thanks, Suzanne. I can’t believe how lucky I was to find you.”

“It was part of another murder investigation, if you remember.”

“I’m not about to forget,” he said. “Speaking of murder, I hear you’re in the thick of another one.”

“How did you hear that?” I asked.

“Chief Martin called me the day before yesterday,” Jake admitted. “Don’t tell him that I told you so, but he asked me to keep an eye on you.”

“Is he worried about me?” I asked.

“He worries about everything. The man honestly cares for you.”

“Because of Momma,” I said.

“There’s always that, but I think he likes your spunk, too.”

“How about you?”

“I like it just fine,” Jake said. I could hear speakers in the background of the airport making an announcement, and he added quickly, “I’ve got to run. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Have a safe flight, Jake. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

When we hung up, I felt a great deal better than I had all day. Talking it out with Momma and Grace had given me a little perspective, but working things out with Jake was even more important to me. He had said farewell in a much better way, not a final good-bye, and we were in as good a place as we could be, given the circumstances. We’d work things out one way or the other, I was sure about that, but I was going to stop feeling sorry for myself because he was a continent away. Others had gone through much worse to be together and it had all worked out fine in the end, so there was no reason to think that we would end up otherwise. In the meantime, I had a renewed interest in catching a killer, and I wasn’t going to be able to do it without sleep. I climbed into bed and fell asleep, wrapped in my boyfriend’s love and finally understanding that though distance separated our bodies, our hearts were together, and that was really all that counted.





Chapter 15


“Good morning, Suzanne,” Emma said the next day as she walked into Donut Hearts.