by Jet MacLeod
He watched her go, muttering under his breath the entire time. He knew that he couldn’t stop her. No one made Del do anything that she didn’t want to do…well, except maybe Angie. He’d hoped that the fiery lawyer had finally broken thru the walls of ice around Del’s heart, but he’d been wrong. Maybe no one could. He didn’t know, but he did know that he wasn’t ready for the fall out that he was about to witness with Angie and Sanchez.
“Well, I hope you think that this flight will give you enough of a head start, LT. We both know that it won’t though. That woman loves you and she is willing to fight for you, I bet. Stupid, stupid woman. You’re worse than me,” Cole mumbled as he walked back to the car in short term parking.
He looked at his watch. Angie had told Sanchez that they’d be back at the condo just before midnight. It was only nine thirty. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 59
She walked thru the Queen Anne neighborhood and up to the front door of the condo she was currently renting. She was glad that the plans for the house near Deception Point were in full swing. She had fallen in love with the area when she and Angie had been here earlier in the year. It wasn’t too cold. It wasn’t too warm. It was perfect for Del’s brooding mind. She could lose herself her and find her peace.
She walked in the condo and went straight for the fridge. She grabbed a beer and twisted the top off, throwing it at the trash can. She took a long pull and then looked around the place. It was huge. She could afford it, but it was full of books and new furniture. She could only wonder at what the neighbors thought about her moving in so quickly. The condo had only been on the market for a week. She was just glad that she had procured it while she was still in that tiny apartment in Queens.
Del walked around in the condo. She couldn’t believe how quickly Cole had procured her furniture and other things to make it actually look like she lived there. She hadn’t expected him to work so quickly. But, then again, she wasn’t sure where she was going to end up when she told him that she was going back out West to settle down. She knew from their previous conversations that he had been getting stuff together for her. He knew that she would change it to how she wanted, but at least she would have something to start with. It would make her transition easier, even if it was sooner than they both wanted it to be.
She was starting to unpack the boxes of books that he had sent when her phone rung. She stared at the wall mounted portable white phone. She gave it a quizzical look as she crossed her new living room to it. She picked it up and held the receiver to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey ya, Girlie. How’s life in Seattle? Get settled in, yet?” Cole asked.
“Still working on it. I cannot believe that you got all the stuff for just me. I am not going to be here that long. The house out near Deception Point is almost complete.”
“I know, but you still needed stuff. It’s what I do; I get stuff. You know that. Plus, you can take it with you. You didn’t have anything. Now, you do.”
“Thanks, I think,” she replied as she started going through the boxes in the living room.
“You called her yet?”
“Called who?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Kid.”
“Angie?”
“No, I haven’t. She stayed in New York. It is where she belongs. She is happy there.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“She told me that, many times. I cannot stay in the City. You know that. There are too many people. I need the quiet. I like it here. It’s quiet. I get everything I want,” Del told him.
“Except Angie,” he told her.
“Except Angie, yes.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“So, you’ve told me,” Del replied.
“You know that she likes you.”
“That may be true, but it would never work. She needs the hustle and bustle of the City. I don’t. I can’t turn off my training. You know that. You can’t either. You’ve booby-trapped your own farm. How am I supposed to live in the heart of civilization and not hurt someone? Besides, how can she like me? She doesn’t know everything about me. She only knows what I was like with her. That isn’t the real me. I don’t even know real me. How can she?” Del asked him.
“Because she is a woman in love,” he answered.
“You have no idea what you are talking about, Cole.”
“I don’t, huh?”
“No, you don’t. We’re friends and nothing more. Anything that may have happened while we were together for the mission was just a release. There wasn’t any real emotion behind it. There couldn’t be. I never gave into the feelings that I had for her. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let her hurt me like that, again.”
“Damn it, woman. Open your eyes and realize that she isn’t Yulia. She is a hot blooded woman that wants you, darkness and all. She doesn’t care what you did or what you do as long as she can be there with you and for you. I cannot believe that you have wasted this perfect opportunity with her. You are a fucking fool,” Cole told her.
“What do you care what I do?”
“Because it is my job to care about you, Lieutenant.”
“Why?”
“Because you are the closest thing to a daughter that I will ever have. I am not going to let you throw this away. You need to go to her. You need to tell her that you love her. Stop pussy footing around it and admit it, because I know that you do.”
“Yeah, and how is that?”
“Because you went back to the one place that you stayed with her the longest.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, Cole and you know it. I like the area. I get the mountains and the ocean. I get the peace and quiet I want. I can dig in and be paranoid if I want and no one will question me. I found my home here, Cole. Just like you did in Anita. Don’t cheapen it for me,” Del stated angrily.
“I am not cheapening anything, Del. You are. Get your head out of your ass and call her.”
“I don’t have her number,” Del lied.
“Really?” Cole asked, the surprised evident in his voice.
“Really. I left during the trial, remember? When the FBI told her that there was no longer a threat against her life, my services were no longer needed. Gregor and Albrecht released me. I went back to the condo and waited. She never came back for me. She went to her home and out with her friends. Her decision was clear, Cole. I was a distraction for her and nothing more. I let her go. It was her choice,” Del explained to him.
“You think that you are so smart, don’t you?”
“What are you hinting at Old Man?” Del asked.
“Did you ever think to go find her place and talk to her?” Cole questioned.
“Why would I do that?” Del asked confused.
“Did you ever think that she was taken there by her local friends? She hadn’t been home for over three years. You were with her for almost a year of that. You kept her safe and took care of her. She was grateful for that, you know? By the way, you do know that she has called me, personally, right?”
“Why would she be calling you?” Del asked him suddenly very curious.
“Because she is looking for you, you dolt.”
“Why?”
“I think that we have already discussed that.”
“Because she loves me?”
“Ah, I see that you are catching on…now,” Cole teased her.
“I don’t have time for this.”
“Make time then and call her,” Cole commanded.
“Cole, I am more worried about getting the house completed so I have somewhere permanent for once to lay my head at night. If she found you, she can find me. I know that you would have given her my number and whereabouts, anyway. She could have come here. She could call me, if she really wanted me as bad as you say she does.”
“You are so fucking stubborn,” he stated.
“That is why I have stayed alive so long. And, who are you calling stubborn? Have you looked in the mirr
or lately, Cole? You gave up everything for that farm and your ‘peace.’ Why can’t I have mine?”
“Because you don’t need to be alone like me, Del. You deserve some happiness in your life. You deserve a life, period. There are still things that you can do. You could have a real life, Del. You are still young enough to enjoy it. All you need to do is want it,” Cole explained.
“I understand that, Cole. But, I don’t know what I want from life anymore. I want quiet and peace. I didn’t think that was too much to ask.”
“It isn’t.”
“I understand what you are trying to tell me. I do. Trust me on that. I would love to be able to spend the rest of my days sharing this place with someone. I don’t see that realistically happening. I am not exactly the friendliest of people. I keep to myself. It is safer that way, lonely but safe. You know that, too. You understand what I am talking about.”
“Why can’t you just call her?” Cole asked her almost begging.
“Because I can’t,” she answered as the doorbell to the condo rang. “Hold on. There is someone at the door. Let me see who it is.”
Del made her way to the door. She checked the peep hole. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was no way that it was really Angie on her doorstep. Had Cole planned this phone call? She shook her head. He had to have known that Angie was coming though.
“Cole?”
“Yeah?” he asked with hope in his voice that he was right.
“I’ll have to call you back.”
“Who is it, Del?” he questioned, still hoping that their plan had worked.
“Angie,” she replied, hung up the phone and answered the door at the same time.
Del stood in the doorway, stupefied. She gripped the phone tightly as she surveyed every inch of Angie standing before. Her restored blond hair was slightly damp with the constancy of the overcast days of the Pacific North West. Her clear blue eyes were as piercing as ever. The small smirk that her mouth made when she smiled at Del, mostly shyly, still got her blood pumping faster. She didn’t move. She couldn’t. Her mind was overloading with prospects of a future that she didn’t dare to contemplate because she didn’t believe she could have it, but there she was…at her door.
“Angie?” she asked, her voice breaking a little bit.
“Hi,” Angie replied with a shy shrug of her shoulders.
It was so out of character but Del was still in shock. She just couldn’t believe that Angie was there. It was like the sight of Angie short circuited her brain. She just gave her a blank look.
“You going to invite me in?” Angie asked her.
“Yeah,” Del answered backing out of her way.
“Nice place,” Angie stated as she made her way into the living room.
“It’s just a rental for now. I’m still building up at the Point,” Del told her and then shook her head. “Not that I am not happy to see you, Angie, but what are you doing here?”
“I figured it would be obvious if I made my way all the cross country just to see you.”
“You came here…to see me?” Del questioned full of surprise.
“Don’t do that. You told me you would try and you didn’t. You left as soon as Burkholder wrangled you the wrong way. He has that way about him.”
“I told you that I wouldn’t stay.”
“You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“I couldn’t,” Del told her truthfully.
“Why not?”
“Because you were happy.”
“So, you just left without talking to me?” Angie asked.
“It was better for us both,” Del answered.
“You mean it was better for you. You didn’t have to confront your feelings for me. You didn’t have to wonder what you’d done wrong. You didn’t have Burkholder wondering what you were thinking about every day for weeks while you moped around the precinct. I hope you know he wanted to come out here and kick your ass,” Angie told her.
“I’d like to see him try.”
“That right there is the reason I’m here. I love you, damn it and you just left. You didn’t give me a chance. You got worried because I was back in the City and you ran.”
“You were happy there. I told you that I couldn’t stay there. I won’t go back.”
“I am not asking you to.”
“Then, what do you want from me?” Del asked, defeated like a child.
“I want you to admit that you love me.”
“I still love you, Angie. I couldn’t stop if wanted to, but I wasn’t going to stand in the way of your happiness. I couldn’t make you happy there.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to. I love you, too. Did you forget that I told you that I could live anywhere? New York hasn’t really been home for over three years. The City hasn’t changed, but I have. I needed you to be there with me.”
“Angie…”
“I wanted you to be there when I told them that I was leaving for good this time.”
Del eyes shot up to Angie’s. She studied her entire being. What was Angie trying to tell her?
“I love you, you idiot. I was coming here in hopes that I could move in with you. I love you and I want to be with you. I want to build a life with you, if you’ll let me. Will you let me share in your peace and quiet?” Angie asked as she neared her.
She stood a hair’s breadth away from Del. She could feel her breath on her face. Her eyes kept flickering from her mouth to her dark mahogany eyes and back again.
“Del?”
“Yes, Princess,” Del replied and kissed her hard, gathering her in her arms and mentally promising to never let her go again, as they made their way to Del’s bedroom.
About the Author
JET MacLeod is a South Carolina native, born and raised. She is also a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in English. She is proud to say that she served our wonderful country in the Army for over six years and was deployed for Operation: Enduring Freedom. A Gold Award Girl Scout and Black Belt in the TAI Karate System, she is proud to say that she has done more in her thirty plus years than some have done in fifty.
Never being one to follow traditions very well, she and her partner got married in Atlanta at Pride on Halloween, by a Rabbi. They have a daughter and a son. They currently reside in the Capital Metro Area and are readjusting to the “City.” When she doesn’t have a book in her hands, she is furiously working on her next work.
She can be reached at [email protected] and now Twitter at @JetMacLeod.
Be sure to look out for her next work in her “Rainbow Cove Series” WHITE HOT.