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Sam glances over. “Seriously? Do you want me to just pull over at the first payphone? You can call him rather than working your way throughthat.”
“No, just keep going. He probably wouldn’t answer the phone even if we called. You know how he feels about telemarketers. Andneighbors.”
Not for the first time, I’m considering investing in a car phone. Many agents I know have them, but I’ve been resisting. There’s just something I haven’t gotten on board with about it.
“It’s going to take you the whole ride to figure it out,” he says.
“No, it isn’t. Do you think that’s an 11 or two ones? Or a one and a13?”
“See?” Sam says. “Just let me find aphone.”
“No. He says it’s urgent. I want to get back there. I’ve got this. It’s not going to take me the entireride.”
Twenty minutes later, we pull up in front of the house right as I finish the code.
“What does it say?” Sam asks.
“I am out of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” I let out a long groan and look over at him. “You never should have bought that forhim.”
“It was new and I thought he would like it,” Samshrugs.
“He’s had twenty boxes in the two months since you got it, Sam. It’s becoming a primary part of hisdiet.”
“You’re the one who got him stuck on cinnamon,” Sam says, climbing out of thecar.
“He’s an adult, Sam. I hardly think my cinnamon rolls were his first experience with thespice.”
“Did you get my message?” Xavier asks when I walk through the door and find him sitting at the table with a massive jigsaw puzzle in front of him. I’ve never seen it and it’s already most of the way done.
“Cereal was your urgent need?” Iask.
He looks up at me and blinks a couple of times. “I ranout.”
I sigh. “I’ll get you somelater.”
“Thankyou.”
“What are you doing here, anyway? I didn’t realize you hadn’t left withDean.”
“I did leave with him. He brought me back. Why did you leave in the middle of thenight?”
“The Cherry Hill police department called to ask us to assist with an investigation. There was another massacre at Camp Hollow,” I tell him.
He sits silently for a second before clicking another piece of the puzzle into place.
“Sounds like I’m going to be here with you for a little bit. You might want to add that message to ourlist.”
I nod, already heading toward my bedroom. “I fully intendto.”
When Sam wakes up, I’m sitting in the living room with a notepad in my lap and a couple of printouts on the table in front of me. A plate with a partially eaten cinnamon roll that’s been pretty much forgotten off to one side. The mug of coffee close to my hand hasn’t beenforgotten.
“Hey, babe,” I say, glancing up from the papers when he comes into the room. I’m tempted to say good morning, but considering it’s the middle of the afternoon, it doesn’t feel appropriate.
“Hey,” he says. He looks around. “Where’sXavier?”
“In your gym,” I tell him. “He’s decided he needs to buff up for swimsuitweather.”
“It’s August. I think he’s missedit.”
