“Avoiding the question’s usually answering the question in the affirmative. Cop 101. How’d it go?”

“Do I ask you about your sex life?”

She waved a finger, signaling a pause in the conversation while she swallowed. “Yes.”

“Only because I’m older and wiser.”

“Yeah, right.” She snagged a second bun, not only because they were incredible but because she knew it would annoy him. “If we let you slide on the older and wiser bull, then we’ll agree I’m younger and more cynical. Are you going to do a deeper run on her background?”

“No.” Deliberately he opened a drawer, dropped the bag of buns inside, shut it.

“If you’re serious about her, and knowing you, you are, you need a handle on it, Zack. She didn’t drop out of the sky onto Three Sisters.”

“She took the ferry,” he said coolly. “What’s your problem with her? I thought you liked her.”

“I do. A lot, as it happens.” She eased a hip onto the corner of his desk. “But for reasons that often escape me, I like you a lot, too. You’ve got a soft spot for the troubled and wounded, Zack, and sometimes, through no fault of their own, the troubled and wounded can bite right through the soft parts.”

“Have you ever known me not to be able to take care of myself?”

“You’re in love with her.” When he blinked, stared, she pushed off the desk, paced restlessly around the office area. “What, am I blind and stupid? I’ve known you all my life, and I know every move, every tone, every expression on that dopey face of yours. You’re in love with her, and you don’t even know who she is.”

“She’s exactly who and what I’ve wanted my whole life.”

Ripley stopped in the act of kicking the desk, and her eyes went soft and helpless. “Aw, damn it, Zack. Why’d you have to go and say something like that?”

“Because it’s true. It’s the way it is for us Todds, isn’t it? We go along, go alone, then pow, it hits and it’s all over. I’ve been hit, and I like it.”

“Okay, let’s just back up a little.” Determined to stand up for him whether he wanted it or not, she slapped her palms on the desk, leaned over. “She’s got trouble. She’s managed to break free of it, at least temporarily, but it’s there. He may come after her, Zack. If I hadn’t been worried about you, I’d never have asked Mia about it. Rather saw my tongue in half with a rusty kitchen knife. But I did ask her, and she’s not clear on it.”

“Honey, what you said before about knowing me, that’s true. Now what do you think my reaction is to what you just said?”