"It isn't the kind of thing we do. You need a private investigator, or in all honesty just call the police," Cabe said. Six ran his hand over his face. He wanted to help her, he really did, but as much as it annoyed him, Cabe was right. This really wasn't the kind of work they got into. But he could definitely help her think it through some more.
"Hey, Cabe. What did you want when you popped your head in?" Six asked, shooting him a look that he hopefully understood as "Fuck off, you asshole."
Cabe looked between Six and Louisa. "Fine," he huffed. "I just wanted those files on the job we have coming up at the start of next month." Security for an energy company's engineers in Venezuela. Six reached behind him, grabbed the folder off his desk, and handed it to Cabe, who promptly left the room.
"It's okay," Louisa said, head down as she walked to the door. "It's fine. I'll get out of your hair."
"Louisa. Wait," Six said, jumping to his feet. "I can talk this through with you. Isn't that what you came here for?"
"No. You know what, I'm overreacting. It's okay," she said, attempting to square her shoulders but then letting them fall in defeat. "Just saying it out loud to you guys made it sound silly."
"Well, call the police right away if you get worried." He reached for her wrist and realized how small it was in his hand. "Or even better, call me. You've got my number."
She turned and left his office, and he heard the soft click of the security doors.
Screw Cabe.
Fuck the rules.
It was partly his company. And he'd decide for himself what kind of work he took on.
* * *
"I can't believe he left me after I bought him a car. He said the hospital trip had been a wake-up call about our age gap, and that he didn't want to be a caregiver. I'm only fifty-five for goodness' sake." Her mother, Antonia, poured a small measure of port into the vintage cut-crystal glass that she'd had Louisa carry out on a silver tray. "Are you sure you don't want one?" she asked.
Louisa shook her head and focused on the roar of the ocean as waves crashed onto the shore that ran along the front of her mother's Torrey Pines Road home. The large patio that ran the full length of the property was accessed through the living room and was shaded by a large pergola that was covered in large, sweetly scented violet blooms of wisteria.
"I'm going to have to drive home soon," she answered, turning to face her mom. After three strangely quiet days in the lab, as they took stock of where they were after disposing of everything in the lab, she'd asked Ivan about updates, but he had no new information to share. So she'd come to get her mom's opinion on the situation, but as soon as she'd arrived, her mother had started in about her latest romantic disaster, so she'd decided to save the conversation for another day. "Mom, I have to ask, are you really surprised that Lucan left? And I'm judging him, not you, with that question. Daddy wouldn't want you to be alone-that isn't what this is about-but some of these men are twenty, perhaps thirty years younger than you. It's almost like you're not mutually dating them. You get to take them out, but they never take you out with their friends or families."
Her mom sat back in her chair. "I'm not some naïve old woman, you know."
"I know, Mom. But you are incredibly generous. And have a big heart. And somehow these men are getting under your skin."
Antonia took a sip of port. "The dating world has changed so much since your father and I met. Somebody suggested that I should use a dating website because I'm lonely, Louisa. I really am."
Louisa thought long and hard about how to answer, because in a strange dichotomy, since meeting Six, she'd felt very faint pangs of loneliness herself. "I get that, Mom, but loneliness isn't a good enough reason to settle. And it's never going to work if you have to buy their attention." Every single man her mother had dated was perfectly handsome, all with pretty faces and smooth tongues. They'd flatter her mother and flirt. But a handful of them had shown their true colors. One of them had made a pass at Louisa as her mother was in the kitchen while they celebrated Christmas two years ago. "I wasn't aware there was a younger option," he'd said as he slid his hand along her thigh and up her skirt. She'd slapped him, and he'd left. At first, her mother had been distraught at his sudden disappearance, but once Louisa had explained exactly what had happened, her mother had been more concerned that he'd left wearing the Breitling Navitimer watch she'd given him only hours earlier.