26. Gabe
26
GABE
Shaw tips his chin at the woman in front of us. “Hey, Arden. Gabe and I had a little bonding session. Did you know he’s all soft and sweet inside?”
Arden smiles. “Is that so?”
Shaw punches my stomach. “He’s a total teddy bear. He was telling me that I’m his best friend.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re such a dick. I’ll go back to telling you that you’re a dick. Now get out of here, you dick.”
“Nope. I’m not a dick. You love me. You fucking love me.”
“I love it when you leave. See you, man.”
He salutes us. “I’ll let you two lovebirds catch up.”
Arden raises an eyebrow as he heads back into the station. “Why did he say ‘lovebirds’?”
“I cannot account for anything that knucklehead does.” I hope that little white lie does the trick.
She exhales as if she’s erasing Shaw from her head. “Dashiell Hammett. I know what your grandpa was talking about with the schnauzer.”
She shows me a paperback— The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.
I give her a questioning look.
Her face brightens more. “The two married detectives have a dog. A female schnauzer named Asta. In the movie, the dog was changed to a male wire fox terrier. You said your pops liked hard-boiled detective books.” Her smile radiates as she keeps going. “I don’t think he was misremembering his collies. I think he was talking about this book when he was telling you about a female schnauzer. He was saying he wanted the female schnauzer because he didn’t like that the dog had been changed from the book. That’s what he was meaning.”
The cogs turn in my head, clicking into place. A sense of wonder bordering on awe spreads through me as she solves the puzzle of his strange dog comments that weren’t so strange after all. “That was it. Holy smokes. I think you’re right.”
Smiling, she hands the paperback to me. “It’s a gift for him. From me to him.”
My heart kicks around in my chest. I want to tell her that this detective work makes me fall a little more for her, because this means so damn much to me. I don’t say those words exactly. Instead, I tell her in a way that shows how much she matters. “Would you like to come with me tomorrow and give it to him yourself?”
Her eyes light up like sparklers. “I would love to meet your pops.”