Page 10 of The Spy Ring

FOUR

Jagger

“You’re a ninja?” Tenn laughed so hard he splashed his coffee on the small round table.

“Come on, Tenn. It’s not that funny,” I said as my eyes swept the café out of habit.

A few people sitting at small, square, wooden tables turned in our direction due to the volume of Tenn’s chuckles.

“Oh, it’s funny. You ask me to take our lunch break here at Wake Up Joe’s and then drop bomb after bomb after bomb on me. Each one funnier than the last.” He shook his head and started to lift his coffee cup before stopping mid-rise.

“We should start an act. Tenn and the Ninja. You could do your moves around me while I tell jokes.” He snorted.

“That’s not even funny. How is that funny?” I leaned forward and turned my head from prying eyes.

“Think about it.” He tapped the side of his head.

I sighed as I knew I had to battle Tenn’s laughter and sad jokes in order to get his help. When I went to Tiffany’s place on Friday, I had forgotten about her son. When I read her file before I went off to Vegas over a month ago, I skimmed the part about her son—probably where it mentioned he required some special help.

That was sloppy work on my part. It seemed when I took a step toward the idea of family, even an accidental one, I became careless. Another reason to end this and stay away from close relationships of any kind.

“Does he have Cerebral Palsy?” Tenn turned serious.

“No, I don’t think so. I looked up physical disabilities and if a child has Cerebral Palsy, they had damage to the brain before, during, or just after birth. From what Tiffany told me, David was two when he was in the car accident.”

“My aunt has CP. She had lots of therapists. Maybe I can call her and get you some information for your role as a physical therapist,” Tenn said before leaning back in our corner booth and taking a sip of coffee.

The memory of my cousin popped into my head. He was my best friend despite how my family told me to keep my distance. I wish they had been more open to him like Tenn’s family was to his aunt.

“No. The reason I told you all this is to help me get out of it. I didn’t mean to pretend to be her son’s PT—”

“Look at you already getting into the role! You sound legit using the acronym like a pro.” He smiled and finally picked up some napkins to wipe up the spill he made earlier.

I groaned. Dealing with Tenn was like dealing with a talented athlete who was still in high school. Yeah, the athlete was gifted, but they made ignorant life decisions and had the mental agility of a teenager.

“I told you, I don’t want to be the physical therapist. I went there to give her papers for the divorce. I had them folded up in my back pocket, ready to break them out the moment we were alone. But she started talking about her son’s accident and then her son walked out. I felt like . . .”

“An asshole,” Tenn added.

I thinned my lips. “No, dick. I felt terrible, like I took advantage of this good woman trying to do right by her son. Fuck.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “The worst part was she didn’t recognize me. I thought when I walked up to her at the bar in Vegas she was sober, but maybe she had already had a few drinks.”

“Or, maybe she took one look at you two days ago and thought it was best to play dumb for fear you might try to kiss her.”

I balled up a paper napkin and flung it at him. He grabbed it out of the air, balled up a few more napkins, and began to juggle.

“Why are you an agent? Shouldn’t you be performing at the circus?”

“They wouldn’t take me. So, I entered the government instead.”

I stared at him in silence. For once, Tenn wasn’t joking.

“Putting that scary thought aside, I do need your opinion on how to get out of this.”

“You never want my opinion. Why now?” He kept on tossing the balls of napkins in the air until one finally fell.

“You’re my partner. We work together.”

His eyes narrowed. “That’s news to me. Usually, you take control of a mission and delegate all the communication and paperwork to me. I’m at home keeping everything clean while you gallivant across the country.”

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