“Shit, why did you ask him?” He looked disappointed and she laughed at him.

“Because I don’t trust you, and you just lied about it, which proves I’m right. Do you want to rip all your stitches open?”

“Hell, I was shot. I deserve some TLC and cheering up.”

“You can have all the TLC you want, but no wild, crazy sex for two weeks.”

“I’m having withdrawals,” he complained.

“We can play cards and watch TV, and go for walks,” she said, handing him the room service menu.

“And take cold showers.”

The doctor had said that he could go out, as long as he didn’t do anything strenuous or exercise, so the first time they went out, they went back to the diner and had a good time. Patrick went with them and sat in a separate booth.

Mike took her to his apartment just to see it, and it looked even worse to him than he remembered.

“It looks like a computer lab,” she said, frowning. “I’m not even sure decorating would help. All you have is office furniture.”

“Courtesy of Goodwill and the Central Intelligence Agency.”

“You get an F in decorating.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

When they got back to the hotel, she told him she wanted to meet his sister, if he was willing. He looked sheepish when she said it.

“I never told her I’d been shot. She worries about me, that’s why I don’t have her on my emergency list. She thinks I’m invincible.”

“So do I, but shit happens,” Theo said calmly, grateful beyond words that he’d survived. She had been terrified he wouldn’t.

“She’s going to be shocked to see me at this hotel. That might shock her more than my getting shot. She’s kind of an oddball, but I love her.”

“We can meet her at a restaurant if you want.”

“No, let’s do it here. She thinks being poor is admirable. She’s suspicious of rich people.” But he called her anyway, he wanted to see her too. When he called, he told her he’d been injured but he was fine now, and he was staying with a friend at a hotel uptown. She was visiting from Paris, and he wanted them to meet.

“Is she French?” she asked suspiciously.

“No, she’s American, but she lives in Paris.”

“Are you getting married?” Fiona asked him, while Theo was at her desk in the living room of the suite. Her office had been sending her work by email every day, ever since Mike was better. She was struggling to keep up with it, after being away for three weeks.

“No, I’m not getting married, but she’s important to me. And so are you, and she wants to meet you.”