He smiles. “Hey, you look happy.”
“I slept really well.”
“Good.”
He extends a breakfast sandwich, which I take gleefully. “You are a lifesaver.”
“It’s just breakfast.”
“Yes, but . . . I don’t have anything I don’t have to cook, and I am starving.”
“Well, we all know that you and the kitchen are not a match.”
I roll my eyes. “You set the stove on fire one time and you get labeled a hazard.”
One brow lifts. “One time? Try four.”
“I have no memory of that,” I say with a grin. I definitely remember them all, but this memory thing could play in my favor at least once.
Spencer laughs. “Are you ready, or do you want to eat first?”
“I was thinking . . .”
“Never a good sign.”
I ignore him and continue. “I think you should go through the apartment with me. There are clues here, we all know that, but I am too emotional to look at things like you do.”
“And how is that?”
“Like everything is a puzzle you need to put together to see the whole picture. I need you to help me find the pieces, and I’ll see if I can assemble them. You’re like the Yoda of reporters, and the things you uncovered were so out of left field no one else saw them. Maybe there’s something here that points to what happened that I’d overlook but you wouldn’t.”
Spencer nods. “And if there’s nothing here?”
“Well . . .” I fidget, considering my next comment carefully before I say, “Then maybe you can help me figure out who I was seeing before . . .” I gesture to my head and glance away.
“What makes you think you were seeing someone?” he asks.
“Because the cigar thing and then, under my bathroom sink, I found a box of . . .” I am hoping he won’t make me say it because that would be mortifying.
“A box of? Tampons? Pads? What?”
I hate him sometimes. I groan. “Condoms. And it is open and some are missing.”
He laughs and then turns his head.
“You ass! You knew what I was trying not to say!” I scold him.
“I had a guess, but it was really fun watching you try not to turn beet red. Valiant effort on your part.”
Seriously, why do I like this man at all? It makes no sense. Okay, it does. He is insanely attractive, confident, and commands any room he walks into. Spencer can look at you, see more than anyone else, and never judge.
“Anyway, it’s just a few things here and there that make me wonder if there is someone, even if just casually.”
Spencer grabs his pocket notebook and writes something down.
“What are you writing?” I ask.
“I’m making notes of things you mention or do, which I’ll likely be doing often. I think you should do the same. Even if you think something is irrelevant, you should write it down because it might actually be important. Then, when we agree it’s time, we’ll compare notes and see what we find, okay?”