I nod. “We did.”
I don’t volunteer anything more and watch her fill a kettle with water. Then she grabs a mug down from the cupboard and tosses in a tea bag.
“You’re not having a beer?” I observe out loud.
She shrugs. “I prefer tea.”
Interesting. I briefly wonder who she had in mind picking up those beers yesterday, when she returns to the subject of the crash.
“That can’t have been an easy scene.”
I take a reinforcing drink from my bottle before answering her.
“Pretty horrific,” I concede.
“Never gets easier, does it?”
Her comment reminds me she’s not a stranger to death in all of its grisly forms. Maybe that’s why I was drawn here. She’s someone I could talk to, she’d get it.
“It doesn’t. These people didn’t even see it coming. Makes you wonder what the fuck they were doing out in that storm in the first place.”
I realize that question has been bugging and angering me since I heard of the crash.
“And now a young girl is still out there somewhere.”
“The girl? You haven’t found her?”
“She wasn’t with the wreckage, and we’ve been looking for her since last night.”
“Do you think she could’ve survived? I don’t know—gotten injured, maybe confused, and wandered off?” she suggests.
“It’s possible, but it’s hard to believe we wouldn’t have found her by now. We covered a decent amount of ground.”
She does that head tilt again, like she’s sizing me up.
“What?”
Her generous lips stretch in a soft smile.
“You wanna be out there.”
“Damn right I do,” I admit. “But the boss sent us home to get some rest.”
“And instead you’re here, having a beer,” she points out, as she turns to the water kettle which is boiling.
“It would appear so…”
She pours water in her mug and leaves it to steep, as she opens the fridge and starts pulling out ingredients.
“I assume you haven’t eaten yet?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You okay with double-decker grilled cheese?”
“Can’t say I know what it is, but it sounds pretty good.”
Looks amazing too.