Angel's Dance by Heidi Angell Read Free Book Online Page B

felt like most of them were off limits. Such
as the ‘it’ that had happened after their last case, the ‘it’ that
had happened in her living room, the ‘it’ that had happened in the
hotel room, the ‘it’ that was the reason they were on this trip in
the first place.
    Swallowing her completely masticated
scraps of apple, she coughed. “Which ‘it’ are you referring to?”
she asked as delicately as possible.
    “ There’s more than one?”
he arched that eyebrow at her and she had a sudden urge to rip it
off. Groaning, she turned away.
    “ We don’t have to. I was
just offering,” Grant grunted.
    “ There are plenty of ‘its’
to talk about.” Clear pointed out, starting with the safest it.
“For example the ‘it’ where I didn’t even know you had a daughter.”
She sighed looking out the window. When he didn’t respond, she
looked back at him. He was staring very sternly out the window. She
figured he wouldn’t answer that and she had even hit him with a
relative softball compared to all the ‘its’ running through her
head right now.
    After several more moments he replied
through clenched teeth. “And when exactly was I supposed to tell
you that I had a daughter? During the case while we were tracking
down a madman? Or when I found you lying in a puddle of blood?
Maybe when I shot the guy who was trying to kill you?” There was a
long pause. He ground his teeth and took a deep breath. “Sorry, it
just didn’t come up.”
    Clear thought
‘ It could have if you had
called’ . Then she slapped herself
mentally. She took a deep breath. “Was there another ‘it’ you
wanted to talk about?” she asked, carefully keeping the bite out of
her voice.
    Grant eyed her warily. “I was thinking
of the ‘it’ that had you almost hypothermic in the shower,
‘it’.”
    Clear glanced out the window. Funny
how that was not even remotely on her mind anymore. She shrugged.
“I had a vision. I got caught up in it. Nothing more to talk
about.” She sniffled as unbidden tears pricked her eyes.
    “ Well, it wasn’t nothing,”
Grant insisted. “You were obviously upset. I don’t… well..” he bit
off what he was saying and Clear glanced at him. There was a
softening around his eyes, despite the fact that his lips were
clamped shut.
    “ I’m sorry if it upset
you. You’ve got a lot on your plate right now,” Clear responded,
immediately needing him to feel better.
    He gave her a half smile. “For what it
is worth… I don’t like to see you sad… or upset… or.. hurt,” he
seemed to struggle with the last part.
    Clear gave him a sardonic grin.
“Nothing you can do to stop that.” She wrapped her arms around
herself. “It is just a part of who I am.” Yet she couldn’t help
thinking that he hurt her a lot by not calling. Of course, he
couldn’t see that, so she supposed it didn’t really count
then!
    “ But it might help to talk
about it,” Grant offered again. “Talking can sometimes help chase
the demons away.”
    Clear scoffed, “Says the expert on not
much to say!”
    They sat quietly in the
car for a few moments. It was an awkward quiet. Finally Clear
sighed and told him what had happened. He sat patiently and
quietly, nodding at the appropriate moments. When she was done, she
realized that it did feel much better to tell someone about it. He sat quietly
digesting what she had told him.
    “ And there was nothing… to
tell you who or where she was?” he finally asked.
    She shook her head. She decided not to
mention that if he had left her alone for just a minute longer she
might have been able to get more. She also might not have. No point
in bringing that up.
    “ I can see how that would
be… difficult,” Grant muttered, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
“And this sort of stuff happens to you pretty much all the
time?”
    “ Well… not all the time,”
Clear amended. “This is actually the first time I nearly died from
exposure in a room!” She felt better,