Chapter Seventeen #3
He laughed. “Believe me, I understand. I can’t tell you how many times I was working a case, and I had an instinct about something, and I knew I was right, and instead I got tied up in bureaucratic bullshit.
It was beyond frustrating. But that was the system we had to work within.
We did our jobs, and we followed the rules, and sometimes we’d catch the bad guys.
“I always envied that about you—the fact that you got to be your own boss and make your own rules. It seemed like a much more efficient way of doing things. It’s one of my favorite parts of having my own business now.”
“True,” Margo replied. “I can’t imagine working with all that red tape.
It would frustrate me beyond belief. That said, there are some perks like having access to databases that would be useful when I’m trying to track things down.
And it must be nice to feel like you’re part of a team, to have other people working alongside you. ”
“There is that.” He shrugged. “It has its benefits and challenges like any job.”
“It suits you, though.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment,” he joked.
“It is. You’re smart and you’re tenacious. You have a way of getting to the heart of things, which isn’t surprising, considering you’re good at pretty much everything you do,” she teased.
“Are you serious?”
“I am. I was always a little intimidated about that with you. It seemed like you never took a wrong step.”
“Oh, I take plenty, believe me. Just ask my ex-wife and ex-girlfriends. Work is easy. Personal life, much less so.”
“I don’t think that’s a reflection on you. Relationships are hard. Especially when your job is complicated. Are you happier now? With work?”
“With work? I suppose I am. I’ve built a business that I’m proud of.
There are six of us doing investigations.
I’m not the only one who used to be a detective and burned out on the job.
I like the work I’m doing. This fraud case I was investigating seemed like a straightforward insurance scam, but the deeper we dug, the more we realized they were using the art as a front for smuggling.
It was challenging. And rewarding to disrupt a network like that. ”
“I’m glad. I’m glad you’ve found something you enjoy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you,” Margo replied.
Silence filled the space between them.
And then Luke broke it—
“Is that what happened? What you said before about things being complicated. Was everything too complicated?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you—do you think there’s a chance things might be uncomplicated? That maybe neither one of us is who we were back then, that we could do better now, considering all we’ve learned?” he asked her.
Her heart thundered in her ears. “Maybe.” She said the word so softly, the only way she knew he heard her was that his body stiffened beside her.
Margo swallowed, unable to meet his gaze.
“Thank you for being here with me. For all of it. It’s nice knowing that you have my back.
I love being in business for myself, love the freedom it provides, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that sometimes it gets lonely being on your own all the time.
I have Bea, but she works for me. It’s not quite the same as having a partner, someone in the same industry that I can confide in and bounce ideas off.
It’s not the same thing as having you in my life again. ”
Luke moved closer to her, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders, and she sank into the curve of his body.
“I’ve missed this,” Luke said. “Just talking to you. You were my wife, but you were also my friend. And sometimes I’d have a hard day, or read a funny article, or a memory would pop in my mind, and you would be the first person I’d want to call.”
“I’ve missed that, too.”
There was so much more that she could say, so much more that she wanted to say, but things were still too new and too fresh between them for her to tell him all of it, for her to trust him with that much—for her to trust herself with that much.
This had always been the problem with Luke—it was too easy with him.
Too easy to talk to him, too easy to care about him, too easy to lose her heart to him.
Luke glanced at his watch, reluctantly releasing her. “I’m going to grab a book for the flight. Do you want anything?”
Margo shook her head, still not trusting her voice enough to speak. She could tell by the way that he wouldn’t meet her gaze that he was embarrassed to have shared so much, to have been so vulnerable with her.
“I’ll be right back,” Luke said.
Margo watched him walk away, trying to unfurl all the emotions swirling inside her.
There was no point in pretending—she still loved him.
Of course she did.
She had never stopped loving him.
Probably would always love him.
Did he still love her?
Margo checked her boarding pass, rising from her seat and moving into the main walkway. They had ten minutes until they boarded, but there was already a group heading toward the gate. She and Luke were in the first boarding group.
A man walked past her gate, weaving his way through the crowd.
Her phone slipped out of her hand, hitting the ground with a thud.
Margo crouched down and grabbed the phone.
The man was looking around now, his gaze scanning the passengers with an urgency that made her heart pound.
She stayed where she was, gripping her phone in her hand, the throng of people surrounding her hopefully keeping her obscured from his gaze. He turned—
Her breath caught.
The man pivoted now, moving away from her, farther into the airport terminal.
Someone jostled her from behind.
Margo rose slowly from her stooped position, offering a mumbled word of apology for the businessman who’d bumped into her.
The man was nowhere to be found.
“Are you ready to board?”
Margo jumped at the sound of Luke’s voice as he walked up beside her.
“I just saw the guy,” she hissed, nudging him, her gaze searching.
“What guy?”
“The one who was following me in London.”