Page 18 of Falling For You

She laughed. It was the first time I'd heard it. She started giving Travis a hard time about his grip, his stance, the way he lined up his shots with his tongue out. Travis took all of it with his chest puffed and his arms wide open, loving every second. The crew was in stitches.

I was standing three feet away and I couldn't stop watching her. This was a version of Andy Walsh I'd never seen. She wasn't guarded like she was on scene, arms crossed, eyes sharp, everything locked down. She was still sharp, still dry, still the woman who'd pulled herself out of an elevator rather than take my hand. But whatever wall she kept up on duty wasn't here tonight. She was matching them joke for joke, settling in like the seat had always been hers.

The bar started thinning out past midnight. Greene was first to say he had an early morning, something with his wife's car. Carl followed. Travis stopped at the bar on his way out and pointed at Andy. "Same time next week. I'm practicing."

"You're going to need it," Andy said.

Travis grinned and slapped the bar twice. The rest of the crew filtered out after him.

Andy stood up and set her glass on the bar. "Thank you, Gus. Good night, Selena. Night, Terrence."

"Good night, Andy," Gus said. "Get home safe."

She headed for the door.

"Hey, Walsh! Wait up!"

She was already on the sidewalk when I caught up to her.

"It's not safe for a woman to walk home alone."

She looked at me. "Which of the two of us is the cop?"

"Right. I forgot because you're not in uniform."

She kept walking. I fell in step beside her.

The block was quiet. Porch lights were on and someone's TV hummed through a screen door. I looked at Andy. She was staring straight ahead, not acknowledging me, but she wasn't walking ahead of me either. She was letting me walk beside her without giving me the satisfaction of knowing it.

"Where did you learn to play darts like that?" I asked.

Andy didn't answer right away. We walked a few more steps before she said anything.

"My dad. We played a lot when I was younger. He taught me how to throw a dart and how to shoot."

I went quiet for a while. "That must be nice."

"How long have you guys been going to The Lantern?" she asked.

"Since I joined the department. The crew just gravitated there. Gus has a way of making you feel like you've been coming your whole life."

Andy was quiet for a few steps. "He's a good man."

"Yeah. He is."

The rest of the walk was comfortable silence, just our footsteps and the sound of a neighborhood that had already turned in.

We were almost at our houses when I said it. "That was fun tonight."

"Yeah." She almost smiled. "I had a great time. Even if you guys took up the time I planned to use to read my book."

She smiled at me. I'd never seen that smile before. And I knew right then I was going to spend a lot of time trying to coax it out of her again.

"Good night, Brooks."

"Good night, Officer Walsh."

CHAPTER 6