Page 45 of Bedroom Therapy

She nodded.

“Do the letters inspire you to try new things?”

“I’ve only had this job for a month,” she answered, thinking that she’d like to take the conversation in a less personal direction.

He sat forward and suddenly asked, “Why didn’t you absorb your parents’ values?”

“I have a theory about kids. You either end up like them, or you do just the opposite.”

He looked thoughtful. “I guess you’re right.”

“You’re speaking from personal experience.”

“Yeah. My dad was a very straight-arrow cop. I ended up in the same field. My brother, too.”

Feeling reckless, she said, “Straight-arrow. Did that mean your dad wasn’t into sex?”

“I think my parents had a very lusty relationship. I think they still do.”

“Good for them.”

An expression flashed across his face—something that she wasn’t sure how to read.

“You said you have brothers. What about sisters?” she asked.

“There were five of us. Three boys and two girls. Like I said, my brothers are both cops. One of my sisters is a doctor. The other is a librarian.”

“It sounds like your parents should be proud of their offspring.”

“They are.”

The waiter interrupted by appearing at their table with the main courses. And they both turned to your meals.

After a bite of his veal shank, he said “This osso bucco is great. Do you want to taste it?”

“If you’ll try some of my rack of lamb.”

They exchanged some of the food, and she tasted his dish. “It is good.”

“So is the lamb.”

“It should be. They could feed a family of five for a week on what they’re charging.”

“Yeah. But you have to crank in the ambiance.”

They smiled at each other across the table, and she thought that they were acting like a couple who knew each other pretty well. Joking. Sharing food. The latter was an intimate act, but she told herself not to read too much into it.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling that they’d reached another level in the relationship. And she craved more information about him.

“Did you like being a cop?”

“Better than being a PI.”

“Why?”

“I guess I liked getting the bad guys off the street. What I do now is more routine.”

“Like what?”

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