Page 18 of Heart and Soul
“That’s a thing?”
Russo chuckles. “Big time. The badge, the authority, the uniform. She digs it, I dig it. We’re gonna do our thing for a couple weeks, and then she’ll move on to another badge, and I’ll have somelively memoriesto go with my steak and eggs.”
“Oh, I see. So all that talk about ‘the spark’ is bullshit. You’re not waiting for therightone to come along. You’re waiting for thenextone to come along. Some pretty young thing to worship your…badge.”
“Hey, ‘the spark’ is still a thing, and it’s sacred, but we can’t all be Brenners, can we?” He slaps Brenner’s knee, then pinches the back of his neck like an obnoxious older brother. “I pegged him as a ‘one-and-done’ from the start.”
I swat his hand away. “Until Kirsten goes afterhisbadge next.”
“You think she hasn’t tried?” Russo teases.
I pretend to be miffed. “Oh,really.”
Russo’s voice takes on a nostalgic air, as though he’s regaling me with a tall tale. “Hear this, Shayne Davies. Many a fine young thing has thrown herself at Detective Brenner over the years. But all—I repeat,all—attempts were met with crushing failure, until you came along.”
Unconvinced, I narrow my eyes at Brenner, as if to demand confirmation.
“Well…” Brenner tilts his head, and he makes an uncertain gesture with his hand. “Maybe notall.”
I make crazy eyes. “Wrong answer.”
Brenner winks at Russo, who throws his hands up and blurts, “I don’t know you.”
Before I can take another stab at Brenner’s knee, an uproar rises from the crowd. One of the Tigers players is hauling himself up on top of the dugout right in front of me. When he stands to his full height, I nearly die with shock to see that it’s Ardee Todd. In full uniform. My pick for nine-out-of-ten on the scale of hottest guys. My not-so-secret celebrity crush for the last five years.
After waving to the crowd, he locks eyes with me, smiles, and says, “Shayne Davies?”
And then…
And then…since I have a spotty recollection of the next few moments, I’m going to get another POV to help fill in the blanks. Be right back…
RUSSO
I remember everything aboutthat moment perfectly and accurately, so prepare yourself for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, directly from the mouth of an officer of the law, sworn to the duty of upholding life, liberty, and the mother-loving American way. With one hand on the Bible, I solemnly swear that when this Ardee Todd fella appeared, a divine glow shone from his face, every set of panties in that stadium immediately burst into flames, and I was struck down by the undeniable fact that we had underestimated how much better-looking he is than Brenner. Lowball estimate,at leastten times better-looking than—
SHAYNE
You know what, forget it. That’s the last time I try dual POV.
Anyways.
After convincing myself that this is no dream sequence or fake prologue, I stand up to face Ardee Todd. He steps down into the aisle, ignoring all the other women shrieking for his attention. He shakes my hand. “Hey there, good to meet you. I’m told you’re a super fan. That’s awesome. I always tell everybody we got the best fans in the world.”
He stops talking, because by now I should have said something, or done something—anything—in response. But I’m just standing there, frozen, so he nods hello to Brenner. “Hey man, you must be Detective Brenner?” He leans past me to shake Brenner’s hand.
“Thanks for stopping by,” Brenner says. “Means a lot.”
“No worries. Happy to. You guys are the real heroes. Be safe out there, yeah?” After getting a hardy shake of the hand from Russo, Ardee Todd returns his attention to me, producing a black marker from his pocket. “Can I sign something for you?”
Gathering the hem of my Tigers jersey in both hands, I lift my shirt up to my armpits, exposing my black bra on the Jumbotron. Whistles and catcalls fill the stadium. I angle my ribs toward him, showing off the tattoo of the Tigers’ letter D logo just beneath my left Pointer Sister.
Todd stammers, “Oh…right.”
As he dives down there to sign his name across my ribcage, I crane my neck toward Brenner. I’m practically breathless. “You set this up? You did this for me?”
He smiles. “Cross it off your bucket list.”
“Oh my gosh, you did this for me?” I repeat.
