“Yeah.” His voice was tight now, probably with pain. “I’ll be fine.” Indeed she could hear the engine roar to life. She realized she was rubbing her chest where it had pulled tight like a fist. “I’m sure I’m just fine,” she said.

“I’m sure you are, too, though we’re going to talk about why you’re there alone.” There was a slight edge to his fire marshal cool now. Temper, though not aimed at her. Okay, maybe some aimed at her.

“Where are you with the books?” he asked.

He was trying to keep her calm. Distracted. “Not far enough. I brought the stuff with me.”

“How long until you have a list of everyone who made a deposit with missing cash?”

“Maybe never,” she admitted. “I’m discovering that there’s often no way to tell who made what deposit, and on the days everyone was at work…”

“You can’t even guess.”

“No. Because everyone goes to the bank, it just depends on who feels like it.”

He was silent a long moment. Thinking. God knew about what.

She voiced her fear. “I’m thinking I’m hitting a nerve with someone.”

“You certainly have a knack for it, Were you sleeping when the call came in tonight?”

“Dreaming,” she said. “Joe—”

“Yeah?”

I missed you. I miss you so damn much. “Nothing.”

“Jesus, Red. Just say what you’re thinking. It can’t be that hard to level with me.”

It never had been, but now there were new and fairly terrifying feelings on the line, and she hadn’t exactly dealt with them.

“Let me cut you a break since I figure you could use one,” he said quietly. “I miss you. Is that anywhere in the ballpark of what you wanted to say?”

“You always could read my mind,” she said shakily.

“I miss your smile,” he said quietly. “I miss your laugh. I miss the way you make me laugh. I miss you teasing me, making sure I don’t take myself too seriously. And I miss having you touch me at night. I really miss that.”

“You have all the words,” she whispered, her throat tight. “I don’t know how you come up with such things.”

“Just open your mouth and let it roll out.”

“I’m not sure where to start.”

“You could have called the police. You could have called Kenny. Or anyone. But you called me. There’s a reason for that, Red.”

“I wanted you.” The words were on her tongue and out her mouth before she realized it. “I got scared and you were the only person I wanted. I miss you too. Thanks for doing this, coming out here in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t thank me, I haven’t yelled at you for being alone yet. There’s a bunch of no-parking signs posted on your street.”

“They’re going to repave or something.”