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Better to change the conversation some. Or put more on her.
It felt like it was all about him and his dysfunctional life lately.
“About what?” she asked.
“What have you learned about your past relationships and what we’ve got?”
“That work can’t always be first,” she said, grinning.
But it was forced and he saw it. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Finishing up dinner.” She put the three sandwiches on the plate, on top of each other, then cut them all in half at once. “Eat up.”
He reached for the bowls she set out and put some soup in it, then placed two halves of the sandwiches on a plate and sat down.
The silence didn’t normally bother him. It did right now.
“Are you getting pressure on the narco case? I heard they are ready to make another arrest.”
“I heard too,” she said. “I’m being told they’ve got what I need, or close to it. Now it’s getting the deal when it’s happening.”
“That’s good. Enough for a fast conviction?”
“You know it doesn’t work that way. They want more charges, they need to give me more. I can’t and don’t work the same as my mother. Maybe because I’m newer, I’ve been more cautious.”
He’d heard that a lot lately.
Not in a good light either.
That she was slower to bring up the harsher charges. More deliberate so that she didn’t risk losing.
He could see both sides of it.
“It’s not wrong either. Don’t think that.”
She frowned. “I don’t. Why, are people saying that?”
“I’m sorry. We’re having a good night and I’m going to ruin it.” He put his head down to eat some more.
“You’re not ruining it. I’m sorry. Things are building up.”
“I get it,” he said. “You need some time to get work done. I don’t have to stay.”
“Colson. Stop. I can’t and won’t work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I’ll burn out. I know that. Maybe you’re teaching me those things. You want to know what I learned? It’s that. It’s the balance. That when I’ve got the time to work, when I can get things done, I’m more focused. And when it’s time to spend it with those I love, I push it aside. I don’t want my work to come between us. Between our time.”
“It’s not always easy,” he said. “With either of our jobs. And me having Bella. We rarely get time alone.”
He’d been called out a few times and had to cancel on her. Their lunches or their coffees in the morning.
The same as her.
It felt like the weekend was their time, and he spent hours with Bella this morning and this afternoon.
Like most weekends.
“I don’t always need time alone with you, Colson. Stop reading into things. I would have been there today if you or Bella wanted it.”
“But instead you worked?” he asked.
