My head tipped back to look at his shadowed jaw in the dark room. “You didn’t see your kids or family for a year?”

His head tipped down and I felt his eyes on my face. “I didn’t see it taking that long but it did, so another, bigger reason for my Statue of Liberty play with Darla.”

“Oh,” I whispered, thinking that now definitely made sense and it made sense before. It was just that now it made more sense. Then I asked, “Does that happen often?”

“I’d had to take undercover work before, not often but it happened, and it was another reason Olivia made my life a misery.”

This, I had to admit, made sense too.

“She didn’t like your job?”

“Olivia likes attention and if she doesn’t get it, she wants other shit to make up for it and that other shit costs money, lots of it, far more than I made. She also isn’t real big on bein’ a mom so bearin’ the brunt of raising two sons was not her favorite pastime and she regards it as a pastime, no joke. So she wasn’t doin’ cartwheels that she didn’t have a man dancing attendance on her and she didn’t have what she felt was restitution for being denied that.”

Oh man. This didn’t sound good. Any of it, but especially the part about Olivia not big on being a mom.

“But what you do is important,” I stated.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“And dangerous,” I added and his arm gave me a squeeze.

“Yeah,” he repeated.

I tipped my head down and pressed my cheek against his chest processing the fact that he had a job that meant he might disappear. I was also wondering if I’d be like Olivia, not too happy about that, acting out when it happened, and thinking, uncomfortably, since I knew from experience I’d miss him if he was gone, I might.

“Lease is up on this place next month and I’m already lookin’,” he announced into my thoughts and my head tipped back again.

“Sorry?”

“Things are hot for me here. Last job before the Heller gig exposed me to some folks I don’t wanna know where I work but now they know where I work. This cripples what I do for the DEA, which means deskwork, which means, since I’m a field man and deskwork would be like certain death, I put in for a job with the DPD. I interviewed, got it, and resigned from the DEA three weeks ago. I start at the DPD in the homicide unit in a week. This means more stability, total exposure, and if some slimeball follows me home and home happens to be a decent place, they won’t ask questions. So, I’m lookin’ for a new place.”

I was blinking and processing this new information but having difficulty with it.