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“Hmm.”
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about us, Taylor,” she says. “Because you and I both know that we’re?—”
“Incompatible. You don’t want love,” I say. “I don’t have love to give.”
Marci dishes the first pancake onto my plate. It’s weirdly shaped and a little burned on one end.
“First ones are always a flop.”
“That’s what my grandfather thought about me,” I laugh.
Marci freezes.
“Jesse. You’re not a flop. You’re not even as much of an asshole as I thought you were.”
“Don’t judge too soon. I might let you down.” I clear my throat. “Anyway, fuck it. I want you, Marci. Physically.”
She bites on the corner of her lip.
“I want you too. Maybe we can do the ‘friends-with-benefits’ thing until this is over? I’ve never— Yeah.”
“Friends?”
“Enemies with benefits,” she corrects, a twinkle in her eye. “Youarea cop.”
“Why do you hate cops? Because of Deputy Dingleberry?”
Marci chokes out a laugh, but then her expression sobers. She picks off the corner of the pancake and nibbles on it.
“It’s a lot of things,” she says. “Some of it’s because of Billy. Because I always felt like I was a mother to him in a weird, unhealthy way. I was all he had, and when he started getting into trouble, it was difficult to blame it on him. It still is. It’s difficultto accept that I couldn’t be what he needed. So, yeah, that part of me blamed you for arresting him.”
There’s a lot to unravel there, but Marci picks up the spatula and turns back to the stove.
“Why else?” I ask.
“Sheriff Davis hates Billy, and he hates me. Especially after Dad. After—” Marci trembles so hard the spatula shakes in her hand.
I’m at her side in an instant. I switch off the gas, take the utensil from her, and turn her around.
“What’s wrong? Why are you shaking?”
“I need to sit down.”
I guide her to Mr. Skitters’ recliner and dust off the ginger hairs.
“What can I get you? More tea? Water?”
Marci shakes her head.
I sit down on my coffee table, bracing my forearms on my thighs.
“My father died in a car accident,” she says.
“I’m sorry.”
I touch a hand to her knee, stroking my thumb over her skin. I was aware of the accident, but there’s more to this.
Tears gather in her eyes. “He… He had a head-on collision with…” She chokes on the words. “Sheriff Davis.”
