Beck woke to the unpleasant glare of bright light shining through her eyelids and pulled the sheet up over her head. “Please, God, turn it off,” she mumbled.
“I would, but alas, I have no control over the sun.”
She lowered the sheet and opened her eyes to find Liam towering over her. “Sit down, you’re hurting my neck.”
He rolled his eyes but sat at the end of her bed. “I made dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“It’s a meal. People eat it in the evening. What part of this conversation is unclear?”
She shot up in bed. “What time is it?”
“It’s six. I know it’s early for dinner, but one of our clients brought over some new salads they are trying out at their restaurant for lunch, and I ate one to be nice, and it was great, but an hour later I was starving and I haven’t had a chance to eat, so I figured we could eat early and maybe watch a movie. Or talk. Talking would be good.”
When had Liam become such a Chatty Cathy? Beck rubbed her eyes and willed him to stop talking. “I know you just said a bunch of things, but all I heard was the time.” She swung her legs out of the bed. “I need to get in a run.” She stood and started searching for her shoes.
“I really was hoping we could talk. You’ve been back here a week and you’re welcome to stay as long as you want, but I’m a little worried about you. All you do is run and sleep, run and sleep.”
She paused midway in her search and looked at him. She could tell he was genuinely concerned, but she didn’t want to talk about anything that had to do with her job or Macy, and anything else was fluff. If she told him what she was up to, he’d do everything he could to stop her, so it was easier not to share at all even though she could tell it pained him to see her pulling inward. “I should go back to my place.”
Liam shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t, and I’m not asking you too.” He smiled. “I like having you here. I can’t help it that I want to fix things, but I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
She sighed and sat back down beside him. “I got suspended.”
“That much I figured out.”
“For helping Macy.”
“Helping her rob a bank? Commit a burglary?”
“Very funny.” She reached for the right words to convey exactly what happened without casting judgment because even though she knew Liam would take her side no matter what, some part of her didn’t want Liam to dislike Macy. She couldn’t explain it, and she knew it wasn’t rational, but that’s how it was. “I leaked information to help her with an investigation. She wasn’t very discreet about it and it got back to my boss. Hence the suspension.”
“And you cut things off with her because of that?” His tone was very matter-of-fact.
“How do you know I cut things off with her?”
“Because you’re not the only one with keen powers of observation. I’ve seen you ignoring texts and calls. You’ve been here for a week, and, except for your incessant running habit, you don’t go anywhere else. It’s pretty clear you’re in classic avoidance mode.”
“It’s whatever. Macy and I aren’t a thing.”
“Too bad. I like her.”
She wanted to say she thought it was too bad too, but if she started down that path, she’d wind up feeling conflicted again, and she was just starting to be okay with ambivalence when it came to Macy Moran. At least she pretended to be okay, and that was all she could do until the real thing kicked in.
She spotted her shoes under the nightstand and reached for them. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“But you’re going for a run instead of eating dinner?”
“I’ll eat something when I get back. I promise.” She stood and walked to the door. Before she left, she turned back to see him still sitting on her bed, or rather his guest room bed. “I appreciate you letting me crash with you. I promise I’m not running away from anything. I just need some time to work things out.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” She could feel tears start to well up and she turned and brushed her hand across her face. “See you later,” she called out and then took off before things got even more mushy.
She retrieved her Jeep from behind the building and while it warmed up, she retrieved a map of White Rock Lake from her pocket. She’d marked in red all the trails she’d run over the past week, but there were still three she hadn’t tried. She’d run one tonight and one in the morning and the last one tomorrow night, and then she’d start all over again. It wasn’t a great or foolproof plan, but if the killer was out there, then eventually she’d come across him. It was just a matter of statistics, and now that she didn’t have a job to go to, she had all the time she needed to get the numbers to work in her favor. She’d lost a lot over the past few months. Her police family, Macy, her job. She might not be able to do anything about the first two, but earning back her badge would be a start toward building back her life and she was determined to show everyone why she’d earned it in the first place.