Page 13 of Devoted

"She's cute. Love the dimples." I pick up my burger and take abite.

"Yeah, those dimples are something." He puts his phone on the table. "Now, this is just between you and me,right?"

I chew and nod. "Yup."

"My cousin convinced me to join one of those dating match sites. Sheila is a vet tech. Works with cats anddogs."

"Yep, I know what a vet tech does." I swallow and grab the drink. "Is shefun?"

He takes a deep breath. "Hope so. We officially meet on Thursday for some pie over at Rikki's Pie House. Thought we'd keep is simple and non-committal for our first face toface."

"Pie is non-committal all right. Now, if you're stopping for brownies, then that changes the whole relationshipdynamic."

He shakes his head. "Ah shut up, ya ass. We can't all just fart into the wind and have a dozen women knocking down the door to find out where the sweet fragranceoriginated."

"Trust me, that method for wooing women is highlyoverrated."

He covers his mouth to not spit out his burger bite with a laugh. He drinks it down with a long sip of soda. "We've talked a bunch of times on Skype." He pulls the lettuce out of his burger before picking it up again. "I confess, I've been tossing the detective thing around some. It works too. Just nervous about meeting her for the firsttime."

I plow a fry into a puddle of ketchup. "You'll be fine. Just beyourself."

"Says Detective Adonisflippantly."

"I'm no Adonis. Just askTen."

Silvana puts his burger down. "See, I'm just talking about the first date and I'm too nervous toeat."

I point across the table. "So ya going to eat those onionrings?"

He pushes the box towardme.

"Do you still remember the first time you met Ten?" he asks. Silvana is probably the only person I've ever talked to about my feelings for Ten. Even with him, I've kept them mostly guarded. Hell, I keep them guarded from myselftoo.

I nod as I chew an onion ring. "Like it was yesterday." I can't stop the chuckle that forms every time I think of that day. "I got to work and there was a buzz going around the office about a new transfer coming in from across town. You know how everyone gets like a clucky bunch of hens when there's news to toss around. I was more interested in why the fuck no one had filled the coffee pot in the break room, but I heard snippets about some young punk with a smart mouth, a Detective Tennyson, who was being transferred because the higher ups thought Clark could handle the punk better than anyoneelse."

Silvana sips his drink and listens with interest like a kid listening to a bedtimestory.

"So, I'm refilling the damn coffee pot and Clark bellows from his office"—I drop my voice and make it gruff—"Maddox, get in herenow."

"Seconds later, I'm sitting in his office and he's telling me that I'm getting the new transfer as a partner. About nearly fell out of my chair when he told me he was expecting her any minute. I repeatedher? This Tennyson punk is aher? Right then, the door swings open and shut and this spunky girl walks in. A black baseball hat is pulled down low over her head, making her red hair look extra red. And she's on the phone. She is meeting her new captain and partner for the first time and she's on the fuckingphone."

Silvana laughs. "Sounds just like Ten. Maybe it was an important call?" hesuggests.

"That's where it gets really good. I still remember everything she was saying into the phone." I pick up my own phone as a prop and do an imitation of Ten that would earn me a hard knuckle on the shoulder. "She has this serious look on her face and she says—'now repeat that back to me please'. In the meantime, Clark's face is as red and round as a clown's nose. He says, 'Detective Tennyson, when you step into my office—' She lifts up her finger to tell him one second. He just about swallowed his own tongue. So she continues with her call." I raise my voice to imitate her again. "She says, 'onions? When the hell did I say onions? See, this is why I had you repeat the order back to me. Yeah, and there better not be onions on that breakfast burrito'. I'm just sitting there in that old chair across from Clark's desk watching the whole thing and working hard not to laugh. Clark sputters and spits her name again and tells her to hangup."

Silvana is laughing hard enough that I have to stop for him to catch his breath. "Did she hang up?" he chortlesout.

"Nope. She pulls the phone away and says 'hey, what's the street addresshere?'"

Silvana slaps the table and startles the people at the table next to us. He holds up his hand. "Stop. I can't take any more. Can't even catch mybreath."

I pick up another onion ring and dip it inketchup.

Silvana finally composes himself. "Holy crap, I wish I'd been there. You should have snapped a picture of Clark's face. It'd be worth a million bucks just to see it. I'm surprised he didn't ask her to turn around and head back acrosstown."

"Nah, you know Ten. She had Clark wrapped around her pinky just a few weeks after shearrived."

Silvana nods and picks up a napkin to wipe his hands. "Yeah, that's Ten. Hard not to love her." He gets flustered and drops the napkin. "You know what I mean. I don'tloveher. I love her like afriend."

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