AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oh,” Morgan said, smiling thinly. “And what did you find?”
“That I need to let you come to me. Too much attentionand affection right away can be a bad thing. I’m supposed to let you getaccustomed to familiar things from your old life. Like the house, for instance.”She chuckled and then, petting Skunk, said: “Or a pet.”
Morgan nodded, giving Skunk more scratches. He lookedback and forth between the women, loving every second of the attention. “At therisk of sounding rude, that’s a pretty accurate answer,” Morgan said.
“I figured. And no offense taken. You know where I am. Soif you need me, you wade yourself through that jungle of a yard and come get me.”
With that, Lora placed a delicate kiss on Morgan’s cheekand started for the door. Skunk obediently went after her, but Lora halted thedog in its tracks.
“No, sir,” she said. “You stay here. Get reacquaintedwith your real master.”
Skunk’s tail wagged, but uncertainly.
“I appreciate it,” Morgan said. “But this is all new tohim, too. Would you mind if we did a sort of warm-up process? He’s seen me, gota few sniffs in. Maybe bring him over again tomorrow and the day after that,and the day after that, and so on. Once he gets really used to me, we can try atransition. Or…you can keep him. You said he kept you sane.”
“He did. But now it’s time for him to keep you sane. Andyour warm-up idea sounds perfectly fine to me. But let’s let him hang out herefor a bit without me. Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
Lora smiled and finally made her exit. Skunk whined a bitwhen Lora left, taking a few uncertain steps toward the door. He then turned toMorgan and gave her an inquisitive look.
“Do you remember me, boy?”
The dog walked over and sniffed at her, his tail stillwagging. And for now, she supposed that would be good enough.
“I don’t have any chow,” she said. “For either of us, nowthat I think about it.”
And as that thought sank in, she realized that now, onher first day back, she was already going to have to start tackling everydaychores. Little things like grocery trips and cleaning the house. She’deventually have to get out and mow the lawn.
As she tried to wrap her mind around all of this, therewas another knock on the door. She frowned, but in a good-natured way. She hadn’texpected Lora to be able to stay away. Her kind heart would insist on doingeverything she could, flirting with being intrusive just to make sure Morganwas doing well.
She answered the door with Skunk trotting along by herside. She opened the door, fully prepared to make a smart-ass but kind remarkabout Lora’s kindness. But Lora wasn’t on the other side of the door.
It was another familiar face…one she’d thought she might neversee again.
Derik Greene, her partner of three years with the BAU.For a second, she could have sworn she was dreaming. It was a shock to hersystem, this part of her old life so suddenly showing up at her door.
“Hey,” was all he said.
Morgan suddenly felt swimmy-headed as she looked at him.
She hadn’t expected to see Derik again, especially not onher first day back. She had thought about him often during her time in prison,wondering if he still thought about her, if he still believed she was innocent.He had, after all, testified on her behalf in court. She assumed that hadcaused tons of problems for him at work. When she’d gone to prison, her entiredepartment had been divided—about half thought she was guilty, that she hadassisted a serial killer with his gruesome work. The other half, primarily ledby Derik, had done their best to prove her innocence.
She’d assumed that since then, Derik would have moved onto bigger and better things. He was an exceptional agent and she figured he’dhave a cozy director’s job at their field office by the time she got out.
“Derik,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
He looked the same as he had before, his dark hair neatlycombed to the side, his piercing blue eyes locked on hers. He was dressed forwork, the black jacket over the white button-down. The neat, straight-leggedpants that weren’t quite slacks.
But there was something different about him now,something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“I wasn’t sure if it would be okay to come this early,”he said.
“How did you even know I was out?”
He looked at her, slightly befuddled. “Morgan…I’ve beenkeeping track. I’ve had this day on my calendar for a while now. If I didn’tthink it would have embarrassed you, I would have been at the prison to pickyou up.”
“Oh.” She had no idea what else to say, so she simplystood aside and gestured for him to come in.
