Page 149 of Girl Between
“Jake, you know I care about your family.”
“I do. But if we’re cutting ties, I’d rather start now.”
“You can’t drop an ultimatum on my lap like this. I’m in the middle of an investigation. I can’t leave now. Even if I want to.”
He pulled back, taking the crackling heat between them with him. He let his gaze fall to his lap. He was quiet for a moment, contemplating something. Then, “If you change your mind, meet me at Café Beignet on Royal by noon.”
131
The rain started falling almost immediatelyafter Dana got to her hotel room.
Normally, she loved the sound. Droplets pitter-pattering off the street below, splattering the foliage in the planter boxes on her balcony, pinging off the wrought iron railings. But tonight, the rain came too fast, too hard—like the information pouring through her mind.
Dana couldn’t hear herself think over the roar of the rain or the pounding in her head.
Jake was leaving the bureau.
He wanted her to follow him into the unknown.
Crazier still, there was a part of her that wanted to take that leap.
She stood in the center of her hotel room, a painful ache of regret building in her chest. Looking around she saw the shambles of her life with fresh eyes.
She’d been in New Orleans for months, yet most of her clothes still lived in her suitcase that she’d yet to move from the luggage rack. She had no books or research here. No art, no personal effects like photographs or a favorite candle. The only thing that made the roomlook lived in was her half-empty bottle of bourbon on the bar cart and the perfume she’d left on the bathroom counter.
Even her cosmetics and toiletries were stored back in her bag after each use. She didn’t know when she’d started living this way. Actually, that was a lie. Her life had been this way for a while.
Always have a go-bag ready.It was Jake’s voice in her head, but she’d been the one to accept this kind of life. Which really wasn’t a life at all.
She was a nomad. A woman without a family or a home. She’d told herself it would change when she found her parents’ killer, and then after Meredith was better, then Claire … but nothing had changed. She hadn’t made time for herself. And Jake was right. There would always be another case, another excuse to put off pursuing the life she wanted.
Guilt stabbed her as she thought about leaving George in the middle of the investigation. Though it wasn’t much of one now that they’d been relegated to the sidelines by Creed. Still, George wasn’t alone. He had the NOPD assisting him, not to mention the FBI reinforcements Creed called in after their discovery at Monroe’s place.
With the evidence they’d uncovered, it was only a matter of time before the FBI’s finest nailed Monroe. They had their best minds deciphering the crime scene, and not to mention their analysts searching every corner of the dark web. That type of work was out of Dana’s depth.
She’d already given the task force her expertise. If she stayed on now, it was purely for her own selfish need to see things through.
But what had that ever gotten her? She’d solved more crimes, mysteries, and conspiracies than she could’ve dreamed of, but none of it made her feel whole.
If she wanted that to change, she was the one who had to make the effort.
Dana glanced at the bedside alarm clock. It was late. But she could be packed and in the lobby in less than twenty minutes. In another twenty, she could be across the river in Algiers, taking a stand for the life she wanted.
Without hesitation, Dana began to move, gathering her things and buttoning up the room. Each step confirmed her decision. This was the right path. She’d known it for a long time. Trying to deny it or run from it had changed nothing. She and Jake belonged together. And it was time she let him know.
She was doing one last survey of her room, when she heard a knock at her door. Grinning, she could all but see Jake in the hall, back with more points to argue on his behalf.
He never gave up.
I love that about him.
Love!
The thought made her giddy as she rushed to open the door.
It wasn’t Jake.
Dana blinked at the bellman standing next to the hotel luggage cart. It took her mind only a moment to register the face that stared back at her. By then, it was already too late.
