“ ‘She told us the day Pug was killed,’ ” I read out loud. “Then, okay, I’ll cross her off the suspect list.” I held up my hand and made the motion. “You seem to know her pretty well,” I said, eyeing him. “Did you ever date her?”

“Couple of times, about twenty years ago.” He shrugged. “She’s nice enough, but I’m not sure she knows how to laugh.”

I felt a pang of pity. The poor woman. There were days when the only thing that saved me from spiraling down into a dark hole was laughter. And lots of it. “And you, too,” I murmured, reaching out to pat Eddie’s head.

“What’s that?” Rafe asked.

“That I love you.” I leaned over and gave him a huge smack on the cheek. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Maybe you were really bad in a previous life.”

I tipped my head to the side, resting it against his shoulder. “Possible.”

He reached up and stroked my hair with his non-popcorn hand. We sat like that for a moment, our breathing and Eddie’s snoring the only sounds. I held the moment in my head, in my heart, storing it away forever.

Finally, I said, “Do you know why I insisted on watching Buffy tonight?”

“Because you want to be prepared for vampires.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if I said yes? But, no. That’s not it. I wanted to watch this tonight because it’s the movie I saw the night I signed my first student loan.”

“You’re saying you’re going back to college?” Rafe asked. “What degree? No, don’t tell me. Has to be one of two things. Veterinary science, so you can figure out what makes Eddie tick, or criminal justice, so you can start your second career in law enforcement.”

As if anyone would ever be able to determine what went on in Eddie’s head. And I wasn’t sure I’d be a good candidate for law enforcement. I understood the chain of command and all that, but I didn’t always keep my mouth shut when I should.

“Wrong and wrong,” I said. “Today I got written confirmation that my last student loan has been paid off.”

“That’s great!” Rafe wrapped his arm around me. “We need to celebrate. What night? Tomorrow? If The Blond is still pregnant and not a mom, let’s do something with those two. It’ll all be different as soon as that kid comes out, you know? And maybe Ash will come along. And Josh and Mia, right? How about my parents?” He pulled out his phone and started texting.