Christmas Eve
Birmingham, Alabama, The Fifth, 7:40 p.m.
Cops and lawyers. Even on Christmas Eve the downtown pub was filled with people who either hunted down the bad guys or prosecuted them. Jess didn’t remember this place from before. Then again, it was a little more upscale than the places they had stolen into as teenagers.
The building was an old one with a lot of the historic architectural details still intact. The decor was stark and urban. But the crowd was warm and friendly. Jess couldn’t deny an instant kinship.
“So you work for the mayor?” She traced the sweat sliding down her longneck bottle of beer. There was nothing particularly unique about the domestic label but it gave her a distraction. Every time she settled her gaze on Dan she got lost somehow.
“I’m the liaison between the mayor’s office and the police department. It’s a new position. One we’ve needed for years.”
“You’re turning into a politician after all.” She’d always said he would make a good one. He could charm anyone into most anything.
Dan laughed. “I don’t know about that but I do enjoy my work. It gives me an opportunity to make a difference, you know what I mean?”
She gave a nod. “I absolutely do.”
Her gaze rested back on the bottle. It was better than looking into the mirror behind the bar. On the drive from Publix she’d dragged the ponytail holder from her hair and run her brush through it. Three Altoids had numbed her tongue but at least she’d gotten the too-many-hours-on-the-road taste out of her mouth.
Dan had offered to drive her but there was no way she was getting into his vehicle alone with him. No way.
Speaking of his ride. “What happened to the Thunderbird?” The convertible he’d driven all through high school and college had been replaced by a big Chevy SUV. A nice ride but not nearly as sexy. Not a Dan car.
He grinned. “You always did like that car.”
She would be lying if she denied the charge. They’d made love for the first time in the backseat. “I guess I did.”
He looked away but not before she saw the flash of guilt in his eyes. “It was time to get something more reliable. The T-Bird had a lot of miles on it.” He knocked back a slug of his beer.
She supposed that was his way of saying he’d needed to move on. Why not? He’d certainly moved on from her in all other ways. Jess turned up her beer to drown the thought. What the hell was she doing? She felt like one of those people who couldn’t stop staring at the steam rising from the mangled metal of the two cars that had just collided.
“You’ve certainly moved up from that Jetta you drove all over Boston.”
Jess set the beer aside and plucked a peanut from the small bowl the bartender and provided. “It was time.” She’d practically driven the wheels off that old Jetta.
Unlike the Thunderbird, they hadn’t made love in her Jetta. Instead, they’d spent most of their time in it quarreling. She would never forget the first time she’d left Boston headed to Quantico for a summer internship with the Bureau. Dan hadn’t made the list. They’d spent most of the summer apart. If she hadn’t been so focused on making an impression, she would have realized that was the beginning of the end.
They’d argued before she’d driven away. He insisted he wanted her to go and yet she had sensed his emotional withdrawal. Barely a year later he was ready to come back to Alabama without her. Only when he’d driven away there hadn’t been any arguing. There hadn’t even been a goodbye.
She tossed the nut back in the bowl and finished off her beer. “This was fun.” Not. “I should get going.”
He couldn’t let her go.
“I saw Lil a few weeks ago,” Dan interjected, hoping to distract her from leaving. Not that he could blame her. He’d said all the wrong things. He’d definitely made all the wrong moves.
Maybe it was the shock of seeing her after all this time. He couldn’t believe she was here. She was still just as beautiful as the first time he’d laid eyes on her at that football game. His first thought had been of how very much he’d wanted her.
“You did?” Jess looked surprised. “Lil didn’t mention it.”
He loved her eyes. They were the deepest brown. The rich dark color was a vivid contrast to her creamy skin and lush blond hair. God, he’d dreamed of that face so many times.
“Where did you see her?”
Pay attention, man. “Her son was one of twenty students to receive an academic commendation from the mayor. He’s a smart kid.”
“Both her kids are smart.” Jess smiled. “Lil and Blake are doing a great job as parents.”
Dan’s chest tightened. He couldn’t help wondering if he and Jess had stayed together if they would have had kids by now. Not likely. She was too career oriented. He glanced at her ring finger again. He wondered why there wasn’t at least an engagement ring there.
He, on the other hand, had muddled his way through two marriages. Both had been mistakes. He flinched. Not a subject he wanted to visit tonight.
Another thing he didn’t want right now was to spend just one hour with this woman. He wanted to know everything about her. Sixty minutes would never be enough.
When she reached for her purse, he said the first thing that came to mind, “You still have that apartment?”
She jerked her head up as if he’d shouted. “No... I have a condo, but I’m looking for a house in Stafford since I’m in Virginia now.”
Felt strange to think of her living some place besides that apartment... the one they had shared. “I just got a place downtown. I’m on call twenty-four/seven, living in the heart of the city seemed like the smart way to go.”
Her smile slipped a little. She was ready to go. His gut clenched. What did he expect? That she’d be happy to see him?
Not after he’d walked away... even he hadn’t forgiven himself for that one. Maybe he never would.
A new kind of hope flared inside him. This was his chance. Maybe running into each other had been fate. He had a chance to set things to rights between them.
“My new place is just across the street,” he said quickly. “You have to see the view. You’ll love it. I swear.”
Her posture changed, stiffened. Those dark eyes turned wary. She was going to say no. “Dan, that’s—”
“An excellent idea.” He stood and reached for her hand. “Remember, I have connections in this town. Give me any trouble, Agent Harris, and I might have to pull some strings.”
She laughed. The rich sound made his heart glad. How he had missed her laugh.
“Five minutes,” she warned, “and then I’m on my way.”
“Deal.”
He’d negotiated himself a few more minutes. Now all he had to do was find the guts to say what needed to be said before his time was up.