Page 56 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Fine. But only a minute, okay? I want to do a total overhaul of your office before you officially come back.”
“That seems like overkill considering Colin’s in jail.”
“But there could be another crazy person out there. You’re a public figure, and if you win the election you’ll have even more enemies. And to be honest, without a motive, I’m still uneasy.”
Enemies? What a terrible word, she thought. But it was, unfortunately, an accurate one.
“Can I go back to the pool when we get home?” Sophie asked. A big bout of melancholy hit Olivia. They hadn’t discussed anything, but there’d be no need for her to go back to Joey’s home tonight.
Joey’s home.
Not her home. She almost corrected Sophie, but instead, without missing a beat, Joey replied. “Only if we can have a cannonball battle.”
“Yay! I wanna win.”
“So do I, freckles.” He looked at Olivia’s daughter through the rearview mirror and winked and the little girl giggled. Giggled!
Of course she had. When Olivia was around Joey she felt the same way. She too felt like giggling. But liking him this much this fast felt wrong, and an unfamiliar and unwanted bout of nostalgia flooded her system. She tried to shake it off, though.
It was okay to be happy. It was okay to fall in love. It was okay to move on. Neil would have wanted all of that for them.
Sophie was counting from one to ten over and over as she skipped to the elevator at the government building where Olivia had her office. “I wanna pwess da button, mum.”
“Sure sweets. Push ten,” she told her daughter once they stepped inside. “But no more counting, okay?”
Joey chuckled and she gave him a meaningful look, silently thanking him for his patience with Sophie.
“Joey, did you know that lizards that are humungous and swim are called Gapagaglos Iguanas. Have you ever see a Gapagaglos Iguana? They are this big,” she outstretched her arm as big as they went.
“I think you mean Galapagos, and no, I’ve never seen one, but I want to. Maybe they have them at the zoo?” Joey said.
“We’re going to the zoo?” Sophie jumped excitedly.
“No. No,” Olivia said. “I mean, we can one day, but not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
“No, sweets, not tomorrow.”
“The day after?” Seeing as this was not going to ever end, Joey got on one knee and said, “How about one weekend when your mommy and me are not working, we can all go? But today we’ll do a cannonball contest instead.” And the change of subject worked, because she began to talk about the pool.
As the elevator ascended, the lights immediately began to flicker. Olivia’s eyes moved to Joey who immediately stiffened and his arms twitched for his weapon, instinctively. It was déjà vu.
She hated small confined areas. A few weeks ago, when she’d been stuck in the elevator, the only reason she hadn’t gone into a full-blown panic attack was because Joey had distracted her with conversation and kissing. Plus, back then she hadn’t just been assaulted in the locker room of a gym. But the odds of being stuck in an elevator again were . . . nope, just couldn’t happen.
* * *
Something felt off. The building where Olivia had her office was a relatively new building, and the flickering lights and the way the elevator jolted slightly made the hair on his neck stand up.
His hand was already on his Sig but he wouldn’t take it out unless absolutely necessary. No way would he scare Sophie. The flickering continued for a few more seconds, and Sophie seemed completely unaware as she talked about the pool, but Olivia’s face was pale.
They looked at each other. A silent communication passed between them and he reached for her hand and squeezed. He was about to open his mouth to tell her it was okay when the lights went off completely, and they were jolted to a complete stop in darkness.
Then there was silence.
“Mommy?” Olivia’s little voice immediately turned into a sob. “Mommy? Mommy?”
“I’m right here, sweets.” But Olivia sounded just as scared.
