Page 24 of Spark
Tyler could barely hear her past the sound of his radar screaming.“It’s a big enough deal that Addison noticed and sent me here without telling you because she thinks you need an assist.You want to try again?”
“No?”
No more Mr.Nice Guy.“I can call her.Or, oooh, FaceTime her.Better yet, we could do a group call with her and Ryan, since they’re together at this cake thing.I’m sure he’d?—”
“Oh, my God, okay!Okay.” Chloe let out an exasperated breath.“So, I might have done a bunch of party tasks by myself, partly as a distraction from this case, and Addison might be just the tiniest bit worried about me.But she’s reading way too far into it.I’m fine.”
If Tyler had a dime for every time he’d said those two words, in that order, he’d own the fucking galaxy.He knew he should let it go—if Chloe wanted to be Not Fine and bury herself in party planning as a distraction, far be it for him to stand in her way.But the thought of her planning an entire bachelor and bachelorette party in order to redirect her stress sent a feeling through Tyler that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, and his mouth was moving before he could stop it.
“Are you, though?Because from what I can tell, this case is pretty freaking intense, and you’ve already had your fair share of trauma.It would be okay if you weren’t fine.”
She blinked.“This caseisa lot,” she said, covering the admission he’d bet she hadn’t meant to let slip with a shrug, “but I don’t mind the work.Anyway, I know how much you hate this kind of stuff—weddings and couples and love, sweet love—so it’s okay, really.You’re off the hook.”
“I don’t want to be off the hook,” he said, and okay, did she have to laugh hard enough to snort in response?
“Oh, yes, you do.You hate weddings the way the Grinch hates Christmas.The way Army hates Navy, and vice versa.The way Station Seventeen hates Station Forty-Six because of that whole softball tournament rivalry thing.The way?—”
“You’ve made your point,” Tyler said.Because he couldn’t argue that part, he added, “I’m still supposed to be helping you plan this party.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of the details,” Chloe tried again, but this, hecouldargue.
“I know you are.But I am, too.”
She didn’t look convinced.“Okay, but it’s about to get next-level wedding-y up in here.”She gestured to the restaurant’s front door.“You’re going to be miserable.”
Before he could overthink it, he said, “Look, I’m not going to pretend, even for a second, that I love to crash weddings on the weekend for grins, but I made the same promise you did when I signed on to be Ryan and Addison’s best man.I said I’d help, and I don’t want to slack on that.I want to be here for them, not just in name only on the program.”
“Oh,” Chloe breathed, eyes wide.Tyler knew it was a little below the belt to hit her right in the loyalty button, but he really did want to be a decent friend.Plus, if Addison was worried about Chloe enough to get sneaky about sending him here, then Chloe probablywasburning the candle at both ends.Letting her take it on alone when she already had stress in her life was a dick maneuver.“Okay.I guess let’s do this, then.”
“Not so fast.”He stopped her with her hand just shy of the door.“We’re a few minutes early, right?”
“Yes.”It crossed her lips like a question, and he gestured to a shady bench nearby.Addison wasn’t the only one onto her.
“Then we can take a second to catch up.”
“You want to catch up,” Chloe said, looking doubtful, “with me.”
Tyler let out enough of a smile to reassure her into following him over to the bench.“Relax, Ferguson.I don’t need a tell-all.I just want to know how the case is going before we get caught up in party details.And please don’t say ‘fine’.I think we’ve covered how well that goes over.”
She gave him a look just shy of sticking her tongue out, and Tyler was grateful for her restraint.God knew he had damn little when it came to her and her tongue.
“It’s as okay as it can be right now, I guess.”
She gave him a two-minute rundown, recapping that Esme had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessed a brutal murder that Intelligence was investigating.Tyler’s blood ran chilly when Chloe told him the murderer had been identified by Intelligence as a really bad guy, and chillier still at the prospect of Tara needing an overabundance of evidence in order to even charge him.
“So, Addison and Maxwell’s interview yesterday didn’t give them anything?”Tyler asked.
Chloe’s smile was far more wry than happy.“Other than, to quote Addison, ‘serious ick’?No.Everything they have so far is circumstantial.We’ve just got to wait out the forensics, which should come in any second now, and hope he got careless.”
Damn.No wonder she was antsy.“How’s Esme taking all of this?”
“She’s hard to read,” Chloe said slowly, “and still prickly, which is to be expected.But I check in with her every day, and the team has a plan to take this guy down.For now, she’s safe.”
The implication that a situation would arise where Esme wasn’t safe—and therefore Chloe might also be unsafe—sent a big, darknopethrough Tyler’s gut, and it took effort to tamp it down.He was trying to help her out, not spin her up.“Plans are good.Plus, you know the Intelligence Unit.They don’t exactly give up without a fight.”
“Neither do I.”Finally, Chloe managed a God’s-honest smile.“Anyway, that’s why I needed a bit of a distraction, but you can report back to Addison that I really am okay.”
A week ago, he’d have buttoned his lip and ended the conversation with as few words as possible.But they were talking about the case, not having a giant feelings festival.Plus, her smile made him realize how few of them he’d seen from her ever since their kiss—which he wasnotthinking about—and he slid back into his old demeanor with her like it was a set of trusty turnouts.
