Kennedy 01 - Into the Shadows (35 page)
angered him enough and distracted him enough for us to manage a shot at him.’
Jill fetched the bottle and refilled her glass. She was about to fill his.
‘I’m driving,’ he told her, ‘so unless I can persuade some lovely young lady to give me the use of her sofa for the night …’
‘Just don’t wake me when you go. My plane doesn’t leave until the afternoon and I’ve promised myself a lie-in.’
Smiling, she refilled his glass.
Something had changed, and Max didn’t know what. He liked it, liked it a lot, but he felt as if he was on stage with the wrong script.
‘Don’t suppose you fancy a quick shag, do you?’ he murmured.
She gave a burst of laughter, as she always had. It was a sound from long ago, a sound that brought a lump to his throat.
‘Don’t push your luck, Trentham. You might have saved my life, but if you were a half-decent detective, my life wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place.’
‘Given the help of a psychologist - one without a penchant for inviting maniacs into her home for late night coffee and chat - I might make a half-decent detective one day.’
‘Ha!’ She punched him in the ribs before giving another sigh of contentment.
‘So how are the boys?’ she asked. ‘And the dogs? Is Holly settling in? Oh, and did I tell you I’m coming back to work next month?’
‘No. Really?’
‘Yup. I’m getting this book of mine finished, then I’m back on the job.’
‘That’s great.’
‘Yeah. So how are the boys?’
As he drank his wine, he told her about Harry and Ben.
He talked of Fly and Holly.
‘Holly’s doing great,’ he said. “I think, thanks to her, that Fly is finally learning what fetch means.’
Jill hadn’t heard. She was fast asleep.
Max wasn’t sleepy. He was busy thinking how good life was. His sons were happy and healthy, he had a job he enjoyed for the most part, Valentine was gone from their lives, and the woman he loved was sleeping nearby. Life couldn’t be better.
Well, it would have been better if the wine bottle hadn’t been empty but, hey, a man couldn’t have everything.
The End.
