Page 95 of Rigid

“Then go, and have fun. Eddie and I will both be fine.”

I leaned over the edge of the table. “Come here.”

She did the same, and met me in the center of the table.

I kissed her. It seemed to happen a lot more lately, and I was growing to like it much more than I ever would have guessed. Kissing was something that had been missing from my life, and experiencing it was something that seemed to draw me closer to Sandy each day.

So, I decided to kiss her as much as possible.

“I like it when you kiss me,” she said.

“Makes two of us. I like kissing you.”

She wiped her mouth with her fingertips. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll text you every few hours if you want.”

“How about every hour, on the hour?”

“Okay.”

“I’ve got a few rules that need to be followed,” I said. “I meant to go over them with you before now, but I guess I forgot.”

“What are they?”

“Cops show up for any reason, no matter what they say, don’t let them in the house unless they have a search warrant.”

“How do I know if they have one?”

“You ask to see it.”

“And, if they don’t have one?”

“You tell them to leave.”

“Is there. I mean, is there stuff in here that--”

“It’s the principle. No, there’s nothing illegal in this home. And, I have nothing to hide. But. I’m not letting some shit hat cop come in here and plant any evidence. That’s the last thing I need, is to be doing a dime for something I didn’t do.”

“What’s a dime?”

“Ten year bit.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “They’d do that?”

“They do it all the time.”

“Okay, no coming inside without a search warrant. What else?”

I reached in my pocket, pulled out my pistol, and set it on the table. After opening the cylinder, I unloaded it, and showed her that all five shells were on the table.

“Empty. You see where they go?”

She nodded. “Uh huh.”

I handed it to her. “Here.”

“Oh wow,” she said. “It’s heavy.”

“Has to be. It’s a .357 magnum. If it wasn’t, it’d kick so hard it’d break your wrist.”