Ree finished her shower in record time, trying her best not to think about Quint’s question. Why did admitting to him there was no one special in her life stir all kinds of mixed emotions? Rather than focus on something she had no control over, she wished there was something she could do to help Quint get answers on Dumitru. Maybe then he could get closure?
She toweled off, brushed her teeth and then moved her clothes from the washer to the stackable dryer in the hall closet. Thankfully, the cabin had laundry or she would be in a world of hurt trying to handwash her uniform every night.
Her shift had been a real winner. Two tables had stiffed her on a tip despite her giving them amazing service. Adrian had shrugged and said it happened from time to time, but at least Ree was getting Adrian to open up more. She’d said Ree must’ve drawn the short stick on customers. Even so, Ree earned a wad of cash that she kept balled up with a rubber band. Best not to leave it in her purse, so she tucked it inside a coffee mug and replaced it in the back of the cabinet.
“What should we do tomorrow?” she asked. Quint’s gaze was focused on the screen as the sounds of squeaky truck brakes cut across the parking lot. The temptation to run to the window was real. She took in a deep breath and resisted.
Quint’s gaze flew to the window.
“Don’t worry. The camera will capture the activity,” he reassured her, as though he could read her mind. Then again, he was the one with all the experience. Her instincts were good, she realized that right away. But she lacked practice.
“Right,” she said, trying not to think about all the mistakes she’d made today alone. Adrian wasn’t as chatty after Ree had started asking questions. She’d made a judgment about Chef’s innocence and now it was difficult to keep her objectivity with him. At least Quint had the same impression. But she doubted he would let that get in the way of keeping an objective eye on the man. All she wanted to do was keep asking. “I wonder if I should push Adrian for a little more information.”
“What do your instincts tell you?” he asked casually.
“To back off. But I want to charge ahead,” she said. “There’s so much we don’t know, and I feel like a sit-down lunch or a reason to have drinks with Adrian could clear up a whole lot.”
“Or draw attention to us,” he stated.
“There is that,” she acquiesced. “I’m also wondering if I should nudge Charley about considering me to be a barmaid since progress is slow with the other waitresses.”
“Being too eager might cause Charley to back away from you instead of bring you in closer,” he said. He was right and she knew it before he said the words. Still, she wanted to do something more than wait on tables and Charley’s ‘friends’ seemed to like the bar.
“What else did Chef say today?” she asked, tapping her finger on the table.
“I wasn’t there for long enough for him to say too much. If it was a test, which I highly doubt, then I seem to have passed,” he said. “I couldn’t dig into his files since it was a cord issue and not a bigger problem. If I’m honest, I’d hoped to be able to take a look around. But I established trust and that’s important.”
“Yes, it is,” she agreed.
“Looks like I’m up,” Quint said, pushing up to standing. “It won’t take me long to shower.”
Why did those words send warmth swirling low in her belly?
Mentally shaking off her reaction, she cleared her throat. She thought about her last relationship, and was reminded how bad she was at them. There’d been good qualities to her ex. For instance, they’d known each other for a long time, so they were comfortable together. Being away from him reminded her of all the good times they’d shared.
Had Shane been right? Did she keep her running shoes at the door? Was it time to start dating with a different attitude?
Preston was the only person from her past she could see herself going there with. Maybe she should give him a call after this assignment. Or not. The few fights they’d had were over her commitment to work. He’d framed one of them as her lack of commitment to their relationship but he’d been saying the same thing in different ways...he wanted to be her priority over work.
Ree had been up-front with him. She’d explained that she was building her career and that it had to take precedence for now. She’d explained that it wouldn’t always be this way, and that once she got established there’d be time for more. Preston had been clear on his stance. He wasn’t willing to wait it out.
Curiosity had her wondering what had changed. He had to realize her priorities were still the same. If anything, she was deeper into her work now than before she got her last promotion. Going undercover was an even bigger commitment. Was that the reason she was reaching back for the familiar? She was so outside her comfort zone right now? And had been for the last year?
She didn’t know how to grow without pushing herself. Work had to be a priority. There would be plenty of time for a spouse and possibly kids later on down the road. An odd realization struck. Did she even want kids? The honest truth was that she didn’t know. She hadn’t given much thought to her personal life. It just seemed like she had time.
Had Tessa thought the same thing?
The question struck like stray lightning on a sunny summer day. Didn’t everyone take for granted that tomorrow was a given? Despite being in a dangerous line of work, Ree never once questioned that she would come home at the end of the day or assignment. Her mother, on the other hand, reminded Ree far too often how risky the job was.
At least her grandfather had nothing but confidence in her.
Was Ree being naive to think nothing could ever happen to her on the job?
Probably a little, at the very least. Then again, worrying never solved a problem, either. And if she didn’t believe with every fiber of her being that she would come home every night she’d probably picked the wrong line of work.
If Preston was reaching out to Shane, did that mean he’d come to accept her priorities? She could see herself doing long-term with him if he could give her space to develop her career and to figure out if she wanted to have a family or not.
Rather than stew on that any longer when she didn’t have any clear answers, she shifted gears. There was something niggling at the back of her mind about this whole investigation, and she had yet to pinpoint exactly what it was. A distraction would be nice. Or maybe she just needed sleep because her thoughts kept circling back to the kisses she’d shared with Quint and the disappointment burning in her chest at the lack of them tonight.
Getting sleep just jumped up a few notches on her priority scale. She settled under the covers, trying her level best not to think about Quint. And mostly succeeded.
As she closed her eyes, he came out of the bathroom. The lights were dim. She pretended to be asleep, figuring this wasn’t the time to speak to the man she couldn’t seem to shake from her thoughts when she should be thinking about a man she might actually have a shot at a future with.
Rather than beat that dead horse, she rolled onto her side and tried to go to sleep.
Ten minutes ticked by and all she’d done so far was roll from side to side. She heard the occasional click-click-clack of fingers on a keyboard, and wondered what Quint was up to. This was the point in the day when he examined footage.
When she couldn’t stand faking being asleep for another second, she sat up. “Find anything yet?”
“Is everything okay?” he asked, not sounding as caught off guard as she’d suspected he might. “Why aren’t you asleep?”
“Can’t.” She didn’t think this was the time to go into the fact she was torn between thinking about her on-again, off-again boyfriend and Quint. She sat up and hugged her knees into her chest. “Are you getting anything?”
“I’m not seeing anything big enough to carry weapons, no matter how hard I’m trying. There’s no activity to suggest crates of guns are moving through here,” he admitted. “There’s something here, though. There has to be. We just haven’t found it yet.”
“I’m not seeing anything illegal or immoral going on inside, either,” she said on a sigh.
“What are we missing?” He tapped his fingers on the sofa’s armrest. His cell buzzed and it seemed to catch them both by surprise. He retrieved his phone and checked the screen. “Looks like today was more productive than we thought. Charley is asking if I can come in tomorrow and take a look at his computer. Said Lorenzo couldn’t stop talking about what I did for him.”
Was this the break they needed?