Page 159 of Sunset Beach
“If you ever want to talk about it, I’m willing to listen,” he told her.
“I know you are,” Drue said gratefully. “I don’t want to be like my mom,” Drue said, looking directly at him. “Or my dad, when it comes to that. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said. “Understood.”
Jonah insisted on entering the cottage ahead of her, to, as he put it, “run reconnaissance.”
“No bad guys,” he reported, after searching all the rooms, including both closets.
He gathered up his laptop and headed for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Drue asked, hands on hips.
“Home?”
“What about that do-over you promised me?” she asked.
He raised one eyebrow. “On a school night? You are a naughty girl.”
Later, naked and tangled up in sweat-dampened sheets, Jonah got out of bed and propped the fan up on the dresser.
“My apartment is tiny and crappy and the only view is of the next-door-neighbor’s roof,” he said, spooning his body next to hers, “and I never thought I’d say this, but I also never thought I’d miss air-conditioning as much as I do right now.”
“You get used to it,” Drue said.
He kissed her bare shoulder.
“I certainly hope to.”
64
On the next sunny Saturday morning, Rae Hernandez stood on her doorstep, her hand resting lightly on Aliyah Mayes’s shoulder. The girl was dressed in a purple print two-piece swimsuit, staring up at her through a pair of neon-green swim goggles.
“Surprise!” the detective said.
“Um, hi,” Drue said. She leaned down and smiled at Aliyah. “Hi, Aliyah. What’s going on?”
Aliyah beamed. “Miss Rae bought me swimming glasses.”
Drue looked up at Hernandez. “Seriously, what is going on?”
“You promised to teach her how to swim so she could be a mermaid, right?”
“Is this a joke?“Drue opened the door wider. “Come on in, honey,” she said cheerfully. “Why don’t you go sit down in the living room while I have a word with Miss Rae.”
Aliyah looked up at the detective, seeking her approval.
“Go ahead,” Hernandez told the child. “It’s all right. I checked. Miss Drue doesn’t have a criminal record.”
Drue waited until the girl was out of earshot. “Are you serious? I have plans for today. You can’t just drop a kid off like this. Does Yvonne know you’re doing this?”
“It was Yvonne’s idea,” Hernandez said. “She got called in to work at the hospital today, so I said I’d help out. Aliyah has been driving her crazy, asking when she was going to have her swim lesson. Today seemed like as good a day as any.”
“You couldn’t call first and check with me? What if I had company? What if I hadn’t been home? Would you just leave her on my doorstep?”
“Of course not,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t call first because I figured if I did, you’d find an excuse to be someplace else. And I knew you were home, because I had one of our patrol officers drive by fifteen minutes ago.”
“No,” Drue said. “Today is absolutely not a good day. I said I would teach her to swim, and I will, but…”
