Page 134 of A Matter of Time

“I don’t,” he countered, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice. The flutter that rolled through me was really annoying.

“Well, I hate you.” I was back to sounding like a brat.

“No ya don’t.”

And I didn’t. I was crazy about him, plain and simple, and too drunk not to show it. I chuckled. “Well, somebody hates somebody or we’d be together.”

“You’re a drama queen. That’s why we’re not together.”

I grunted.

“Just come on. Tell me where ya are.”

“I’d rather gargle glass.”

“See? Dramatic.”

I groaned loudly.

“Tell me,” he demanded.

So I told him, and he said to give him five minutes. I promised to give him that. I fiddled with my phone, deleting old text messages and downloading a new song for my ringtone. It was always a good diversion. I lost track of time.

“Jory.”

I looked up as Trip came to stand over me. “Hey, man.”

“I couldn’t find you.”

“I’m gonna go ahead and leave.” I smiled slowly. “I’ll see ya later.”

“But I thought we were gonna hang out.”

“So did I, but it’s cool.”

“No,” he said, squatting down beside me, hand on my back. “I want to⁠—”

“J!”

I looked to the street, and there was Sam getting out of his tank, which he had parked beside the curb. I really needed to ask him why he felt the need to drive the monster car. He didn’t need to compensate for anything.

“Who’s that?” Trip asked me as Sam came around the front of the SUV and strode toward us.

And I had the strangest moment of clarity, watching him close in on me. “That’s Sam.”

“Jory.”

My eyes flicked back to Trip’s.

“Who’s Sam?”

“Hey.”

We both looked up at Sam as he reached me and held out his hand for me to take.

“That was fast.” I smiled at him, liking the way the chinos hugged his long, muscular legs, the enormous belt buckle, and the steel-toed boots that were all beat to hell. A white T-shirt peeked out from under a flannel work shirt, and the fleece-lined denim jacket finished off his outfit. “What’d you do, work construction today, Detective?”

His smile came slowly, warming his eyes, firing them as he stared down at me. “I did a lot of walking around today. I didn’t wanna freeze my ass off.”