Deadly Blessings (43 page)

I lifted an eyebrow at him.
“You
are
tired.
And delirious. That almost sounded like an apology.”

He gave a weary chuckle. “Yeah, well. Tell
anyone I admitted that and I’ll deny it.”

“
Thanks, Bass.”

“
I should have stuck to
what I know.”

“
You mean …” I couldn’t
resist, “You should have remained faithful to your
regulation?”

He shot me a look of dripping disdain as he
stood. “I’m outta here.”

* * * * *

I packed it up just after nine o’clock. Shut
down the computer, and tugged the pull switch of my lamp. Dragging
on my brand new down coat, I locked my office and headed out.

Almost as though he’d been waiting, William
met me at my door.

“
I lost this one,” I
said.

“
No,
we
lost it. All of us. It was a group effort.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

We walked through the shadowy darkness of
the quiet newsroom toward the doors. What a couple of weeks it had
been. I glanced over to William. Had I only known him two weeks? I
blew out a breath. Two very full weeks.

“
So … what do you have
planned for the weekend?” he asked as we pushed open the newsroom
doors to enter the brightly lit hall. Our security guard wished us
both a good evening and moved to lock up behind us.

“
Visit my sister. I need to
catch up with her.”

“
Sister, huh? She live
nearby?”

“
No. Pretty far, actually.”
I gave a wry smile. “Lucy lives in a home for … special folks, in
southern Illinois. I’m heading down there in the
morning.”

“
How long will you be
gone?”

“
I’ll be back at work
Monday. I’m just planning to stay there overnight. Take her out. Do
a few things.” I pressed my lips together a moment. “I’d hate to
think that if something ever happened to me she wouldn’t know how
much …” I let the thought hang. I’d been given another chance to
avoid regrets. I didn’t want to look back, ever, and wonder, “what
if …?” But I stopped myself, shaking off the melancholy with a
shrug. Time to stop being consumed by the past. Time to look to the
future. Even if I never found out who my birth parents were, I had
my family, and they meant more to me than the world. “Maybe make
plans to have her come up here one of these days.”

William nodded. “You’ll be gone all weekend,
then?”

“
Pretty much.”

We both headed for the stairs. His question
was friendly; nothing in his tone, nothing on his face conveyed
more than polite inquisitiveness.

I wondered if he was considering asking me
out.

Another missed opportunity?

We continued to the bottom of the stairs in
silence.

Then again, maybe he harbored no romantic
feelings for me. Maybe he would be shocked by any overture on my
part, and politely decline. Maybe I would then have to work with
him for the rest of my life feeling the sting of embarrassment from
his courteous but pointed rebuff.

But maybe I needed to sail away from my safe
harbor and take a chance, for a change.

“
Will,” I said, touching
his arm.

“
Yes?”

“
Would you like to go
somewhere tonight? Talk about all this?”

When he smiled, my stomach did its
responding flip-flop.

“
You know,” he said, “I’d
like that very much.”

THE END

Connect with Julie Hyzy
online at
www.juliehyzy.com

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http://juliehyzy.blogspot.com/

Books by Julie Hyzy

Artistic License

Alex St. James series

Deadly Blessings

Deadly Interest

White House Chef Mysteries

State of the Onion

Hail to the Chef

Eggsecutive Orders

Manor of Murder Mysteries

Grace Under Pressure