Page 36 of Break

I hold back my grin when Walter stretches his neck out to sniff at her chin, then lips, panting his nasty dog breath on her face. It’s fascinating to see how absorbed she becomes when he’s around, like she’s never been exposed to dogs before. When his tongue runs across her cheek and she giggles softly, I exchange a smile with Vincent, who’s already looking back at her with laughter in his eyes.

“Walter certainly seems taken with you,” I tell her, keeping my tone light.

She looks up at me, and her smile falters. Pulling her hand back from his head, he leans into her and shoves his nose into her lap, looking for more attention.

I didn’t want her to feel she needed to stop petting him. It’s like each time I speak, she acts like I’m scolding her for something.

“Did you have a dog growing up?” Vincent asks her, redirecting her attention towards him. “Wait, nevermind. I would have remembered if you had a pet when we were over at Danny’s.” His eye twitches when I bump his shin for bringing up a reminder of our association with her husband.

Her fingers are playing with her napkin nervously before she touches Walter’s head again in a soothing gesture across the bridge of his nose. I can hear the thumping of his tail on the floor, so I don’t begrudge him for essentially being eye-level with the table while there’s food present. Normally, he’s not allowed to be in the room when I’m eating because he’s a beggar. This time, though, he’s just looking for a little affection, so I let it go.

“Well, feel free to give him all the pets you want. He’s never opposed to getting attention,” I tell her, setting my napkin over my plate and pushing it away from me slightly. She sees my action and immediately stands up, coming around the table to grab it.

I eye her unfinished sandwich and stop her. “You don’t need to do that, Mina.” Nodding my chin toward her place, I add, “Sit. Finish your lunch. We wanted to talk to you anyway.”

She hesitates, then reluctantly moves back to her chair and sits back down. The three of us are finished, and she looks uncomfortable with all of us focused on her.

Ethan taps the table to gain my attention, and when I look at him, he raises an eyebrow.I’m at a loss here, buddy. I don’t know what to say to her to make her feel more at ease.My mind is scrambling to think of what to say next when Vincent takes the conversation in a much darker direction.

“So, Mina. We have something to tell you that you need to know.” He’s got a sheepish look on his face, like he’s done something wrong. I just know he’s going to tell her that Danny was released this morning. She needs to know, but I was hoping to get her to relax a bit more before we broke that news.

“Okay,” she says. She’s not eating anymore, so I assume she’s finished, and this is as good a time as any. I doubt she’ll have an appetite after we’re done.

He clears his throat and covers her hand resting on the table with his. She doesn’t jerk away like she did with me, but does pull it free to fold into her lap.

“They released Danny this morning on bail. Before I took him home, I verified that his restraining order was all set, but you need to know that he’s out now.”

Her mouth drops open, then snaps shut, processing the devastating news. “Y-you picked him up?” Her eyes turn to me and Ethan in question, able to see that we both aren’t surprised by the news. “Does he know I’m here?”

Ethan is quick with his denial. “No.”

Vincent answers at the same time as Ethan. “Absolutely not. We wouldn’t tell him that, honey.”

“Why not? He’s your friend.”

“He is not our friend,” I grumble out. Her flash of anger at my answer is a surprise, but it’s not unwelcome. I’m glad to see that there’s some fire in her.

“Since when?” she asks, then points a finger at Vincent. “He picked him up from jail and took him home. That’s something a friend would do.”

Vincent is quick to defend himself. “I only picked him up because we don’t want him to suspect anything. If he thinks we’re on his side, he may let us in on anything he’s planning, hopefully giving us a heads up. We’re only trying to stay one-step ahead of him.” He attempts another one of his trademark smiles, but doesn’t get the reaction he was hoping for. “We’re your friend too, Mina.”

I swear to God, the woman scoffs at him, and I’m proud of her. “You aren’t my friend.”

He settles his hand on his heart playfully, and I want to smack him for not reading the situation correctly. For a cop, he sure can be obtuse. “What? You’ve hurt me! Since when have we not been friends? We grew up together.”

Her silence is deafening as she stares at him, truly believing that we’ve never thought of her that way. Sure, we were asses growing up, but we were just kids and that’s what kids do. I don’t know if I, personally, would have called her friend, but maybe acquaintance.

Vincent refuses to go down on this sinking ship. “We used to play over there all the time. You were at birthday parties with us, and we’d talk in the summers, too.” He looks at me to back him up.

Ignoring the brief memory of driving past her in the rain where we hit her with water, I ask, “You went to prom with me. Remember that?”

Her anger disappears, but not the frown. She looks away from all of us, choosing to gather up the dishes in front of her to take them into the kitchen without responding.

“Mina?” I call out to her. “No one is trying to upset you, but youdidlike me enough to go to prom with me.”

Turning around, she grips the dish tightly as she struggles to answer me. “You mean the prom that I attended as a backup? The one where everyone was annoyed that I was there with you? Or the one where, after ten minutes of being there, another girl showed up, and I had to walk home?”

Fuck. I forgot about that.

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