Page 60 of Solanum

"To break your balls." A half-smile tugged the corner of her mouth and she propped her chin on her hand while leaning on her kitchen counter.

"Yeah." I smirked and braced my phone against my water bottle on the nightstand. "You okay?"

"I'm okay…" Her gaze flickered downward, and she toyed with the bracelet encircling her wrist. "Thinking about things. I just got home about half an hour ago."

"Really? It's like ten…"

"Jackson kept us late. This case is really serious. We found matching patterns in two other victims and we suspect more."

"Chin mentioned that after she got off the phone with him."

"Is she there with you?" Nora asked, her gaze on the screen again.

"Yeah. You know she—"

"I mean in the room. Can she hear you?"

"Oh. No." I shook my head. "Believe it or not, we got our own rooms."

"Really?" Nora's brow furrowed and I noted the tension that crinkled it. "That's…different."

"Very."

"Did you book it that way?"

"Wilkinson."

"Huh…" She faded to quiet for a moment, the weight of something clearly pressed on her.

"What's wrong, Nor? You look…distracted."

"Nothing. I mean…nothing new." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I spent some time with Anita last night and we talked some things out."

"Ah. What kind of things?"

"A little of everything." Her face remained nearly stoic, practiced at best, but it didn't stop the tears that brimmed her eyes and dampened her lashes. "Maya's fully vetted now. Did you hear?"

"I did not. How's she doing?"

"Really good. She loves being a cop." Nora smiled and swiped at her cheeks despite the lack of falling tears. "We're going to spend some time together this weekend. She just flexed her hours to long days, so she has more time off. Smart kid."

"For sure. She's a good egg."

"She is. Not sure how she made it out of our former lives alive, but she's thriving."

"She had you, Nor. That's how she made it out. Regardless of traumatic upbringing, having someone who unconditionally loves you see you through it means a lot. You know that, Doctor Brody." I chuckled and a small smile made it to her lips.

"Yes. I do." She paused for a moment, tucking her hair behind her ear again. "Anita moved her private practice closer to Grays Harbor where I'm going to close on the condo soon. I was thinking about maybe working with her. A few private clients here and there."

"What clientele do you think you'd work with?"

"Probably kids. My original clinical training was play therapy and such before I went for my doctorate in forensics."

"I think you'd work well with kids," I said, voicing my true feelings as always. "Seeing how you are with victims, that kind of skill translates well."

"It does." A double hair tuck happened that time and I assumed she propped her phone up on something as well. "When you get back, can we maybe have dinner together again?"

"Of course." My heart simultaneously swelled and sunk into my gut, if that sensation were even possible. "Where would you like to go?"

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