Page 6 of So Bleak

So, she sighed and said, “I think I can find a doll for you in the evidence locker at the Field Office.”

He grimaced. “Eww. I’m good, thanks.”

“You sure? They’ll do anything you want—”

“I am very good, thanks,” he interrupted. “Eww… Eww…”

She laughed, then sighed again. “I want to move in with you too, but it’s not like I can just hop over tomorrow and change my mailing address.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I still have six months on my lease.”

“So? I won’t charge you rent. You can finish paying the lease and then just not renew it.”

“I still have to live there. It’s called maintaining residency.”

“I think it’s called something else, but I get what you mean. So you pop by one or two nights a week and leave the light on when you’re not home.”

“What an irresponsible waste of energy, Dr. Friedman.”

He sighed. “You’re really going to make me wait six more months?”

“I know,” she said, pouting like a mother comforting a child. “It’s so hard. I’m sorry, poor baby.”

He laughed and pressed, “It is hard. I love you. I want to come home to you. Come on, am I really so clingy just because I want to spend every second of the rest of my life less than three feet away from you at all times?”

She chuckled and took his hands in hers. “Yes, but that’s okay. Because I want to be with you too.” She met his eyes and said, “Let me think about it, okay?”

“You’ve been thinking about—”

“I know, I know. Just a little longer. Worst-case scenario, six months. If you love me, you’ll wait six months.”

He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and groaned. “Ugh! That’s not fair! You can’t pull that card.”

“Sure I can,” she said pertly. “But… it’ll probably be less than six months.”

He brightened immediately. “Really?”

“Yes, real—”

Her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket and sighed. “Really?”

“Your boss?”

“Worse. My partner.”

She answered the phone and Michael’s voice said, “Hey, I didn’t interrupt you in the middle of anything naked, did I?”

After eleven years of working with Michael, she was used to his aggressively immature sense of humor and responded in kind. “No. What about Ellie? Is she staring up at you wishing you’d just finish already?”

“Bold of you to assume she makes eye contact.”

Faith grimaced. “Okay, that’s on me. I played along when I should have ignored you. Please tell me you called to be an annoying prick and not because of work.”

“Sorry,” he replied. “It’s work.”

She sighed and let her head fall forward. David patted her shoulder comfortingly, and she asked, “What is it?”

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