3. We'll Be Together

The water pattered at my scalp and back, warm and refreshing. Hobson's shower with its awesome water pressure was exactly what I needed after yesterday. Crappy informant. Crappy failed bust.

At least today was my day off.

I smoothed the cucumber-melon body wash along my arms and torso, breathing deeply. So soothing.

"Brigatti!"

So much for soothing.

Hobson could wait.

"TONI!"

Or maybe he couldn't. "Hobson, I'm in the shower," I shouted. "You know, your amazing shower? The one you just told me to relax in?"

"What?" He poked his head in the door and immediately covered his eyes. "Sorry. Sorry!"

"Hobson, we're sleeping together. You're allowed to look."

He peered through his fingers, smiling wryly. If he were capable of it, I would have thought one corner of his mouth had a slightly feral curl. "Oh, I do enjoy that." He took in the view for a second.

My cheeks pinked from more than the water. I would never understand why the attention of this man in his stupid plaid shirt was so captivating. It was infuriating. There was only one way to deal with him. "Did you need something, Hobson?"

"Right. My paper-"

"Of course."

"Have you seen my paper?"

"I'm in the shower, Hobson. Do you see your paper here?"

"Right." He smiled, half annoyed, half sheepish, all adorable, then left.

"Adorable," I muttered. "I'm with someone who's 'adorable.' What the hell is wrong with me?"

I finished my shower, toweled off and smoothed on lotion, but Gary was nowhere to be seen. I shrugged and picked out a pair of light capris and a fitted, short-sleeved knit top. It was supposed to be warm today and cute, flat sandals were a nice change from practical work shoes.

"Hobson?" I called down the stairs, pinning back my hair as I went. "Gary?"

"Well, maybe the paper wants you to have a nice day with Toni," Marissa was saying. "Maybe that's why it came here, so you wouldn't get caught up."

Hobson and that paper.

"But there has to be more going on than nice weather!"

"What's up, Hobson? Don't wanna spend a nice day with me?"

Marissa grinned.

"No-"

"So you don't wanna spend a nice day with me?" She raised an eyebrow. Hobson was even more adorable when he squirmed.

"It's not that, it's just."

"Gary," Marissa said, "just go out to the lakefront. Take a walk. Do something calm for a change. If something were going to happen, the paper would say so."

Gary made a sound like a growling chuckle. Even that was adorable, God help me.

"All right." Hobson narrowed his eyes at the paper. It was as much warning as suspicion. "I'll just...go. Upstairs. And change." He forced a smile at Toni. "You decide what you want to do."

I watched him ascend the stairs. The view was definitely nice.

Marissa patted a bar stool next to her.

"I don't know if Gary's explained the paper."

I almost snorted. How embarrassing.

"I didn't think so." Marissa shook her head. I wondered how long she'd known Hobson.

"But I figured it out."

"You did?"

"Well, I am a police detective...and former U.S. Marshall. Give me a little credit, girlfriend. Gary's newspaper...somehow it tells him...things that need to be taken care of."

"Hmmm." Marissa sipped her coffee.

"And that stupid cat is somehow involved."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. After we started seeing each other...the cat wasn't gone, but I've stopped sneezing. Something's always been...odd about that cat." I paused. "And odd about Hobson, too, but, well, it keeps things interesting, doesn't it?"

Marissa grinned over her coffee cup. "Certainly kept you interested long enough to figure out what a good guy Gary is."

I laughed. That was true. If he hadn't been so mysterious, I'd have dismissed "adorable" in a hot minute. I got up, grabbed two cups, and poured coffee. "Can I warm yours up, Marissa?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Gary's urgency was what did it, you know. He was so earnest, so agitated if he couldn't get to something. At first I thought he was just nuts...but once I realized he wasn't, well, it had to be something important. Really, really important. And that was when I realized how alike we are. This paper, it's like he's a cop, just with a different boss."

"Well, Brigatti-Toni," he said from right next to me, "sounds like you don't think we're so different."

I jumped so hard I spilled my coffee all over the bar. "You," I growled, grabbing napkins as Marissa passed me a cloth. I held up the paper. "Can't let your precious paper get..." I blinked. The paper had changed. No more sunny beach scene, instead there was a building on fire. "Oh my God." I knew it changed. I knew it. I'd seen his face when the paper had changed. I'd just never seen it myself. I couldn't catch my breath and fell back onto the stool. "Oh my God."

"Toni? What's wrong?"

"What is it?"

They were both asking, and I could only point.

"Marissa, turn on the TV," Gary said quietly.

Stupid morning news shows blared with perky blondes and tanned frat boys, grinning their caffeinated inanities. It lasted only seconds before they cut away.

Everything went silent and I stared. I don't know how long my heart was still, how long I didn't breathe, only that suddenly Marissa grabbed my hand and was holding on tight and I was crying.

I never cry.

I shook myself.

"I've gotta get to work."

Gary had sunk onto the stool beside me. He pointed at the paper. The picture now showed two burning towers. "Toni, there's nothing here for Chicago."

I flipped through the paper, searching. He was right, but I snapped at him anyway. "Yeah, well, five minutes ago, there was nothing here for anywhere!" I was shaking and hating myself for it. Marissa was like a rock. Maybe this was why Gary depended on her.

He was shaking too. "Toni, neither of us can do anything. It's what we do, but on the day it matters most, and...there's nothing. Stay with me? Please?"

I nodded slowly.

"When there's something we can do, we'll know," Marissa said quietly.

Gary called his parents and reassured them that he was fine, that Chicago was fine. He squirmed a little as he said, "I love you too, Mom."

I flipped a page of the paper. "Oh my God. The buildings are going to fall down. I have to call my Nonna," I blurted. "She lives all alone. I have to-"

Gary set the phone in front of me. I dialed mechanically. It was the first phone number I'd ever memorized.

"Nonna?"

"Tonina! Tell me you are safe, Tonina."

I laughed. "I'm in Chicago, Nonna. Are you safe?"

"All the way across the river in the Bronx? Of course I am. No one will come to our neighborhood. There is nothing worth it. Already my neighbors have checked on me."

I could not stop crying, but I was laughing too. "I love you, Nonna. Just...stay inside, okay?"

"Of course, my Tonina, but you stay safe as well. My beautiful police granddaughter. Don't worry for me. I am fine. Ti amo, my dear."

"Ti amo, Nonna."

Gary rubbed a hand across my back, and I wiped my face and took a deep breath.

The television commentators grasped for words, repeating the same things, re-playing the same footage, talking to eyewitnesses. There was nothing they could say, and I could hear it in their voices.

After the second tower hit pancaked into dust, I flipped through the paper again. Something could still happen in Chicago.

The articles only talked about New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Brief mentions were made of safety measures taken in other areas, but they were listed as cautionary only, ultimately unneeded. A couple of dozen pages of horrific photos in, one tiny image caught my eye.

"Gary."

"Toni, what is it?" Marissa squeezed my hand. She hadn't let go all that time.

"Gary...are there papers in other cities? Papers like yours?"

"Yeah, why?"

I pointed.

"Lorena Ramos." Gary cleared his throat. "Uh, 'Ramos was last seen in the South Tower, directing people toward the northwest corner Stairwell A. Survivors say her certainty and urgency kept them moving toward safety.' She's...there's a picture here, Marissa. Of her and her cat."

Marissa's tears were silent, but she smiled. "The paper takes care of what it can, Gary."

I bit my lip, determined not to cry again.

The newscasters paused, listening to their headsets. "This just in. Chicago PD reports that the Sears Tower has been evacuated. The FAA has grounded all flights until at least noon tomorrow. Both Midway and O'Hare are closed until further notice."

"What about all the people there?" Marissa asked.

"It'll probably be just like in a blizzard or weather event. They'll break out all the cots and turn it into a campground."

"Well, that's just not okay."

"What else do you want them to do, Gary?" Marissa asked.

"I...I..."

"This is what we can do," I said. "Marissa, you know a bunch of other restaurant owners, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll get in touch, and we'll reach out. We'll make sure people aren't alone."

"Yeah." Gary sat up straight for the first time since we'd turned the TV on. He leaned in and kissed me. "Toni, you are brilliant. Let's get the van and your car. We can pick up at least 10 people...that's two or three families who won't be alone. Marissa-"

"I'll spread the word and send others out after you. We'll show them what Chicago hospitality is like." Marissa's smile was the first genuine one in hours. She reached for the phone.

Gary bustled me out the door and kissed me again, only letting go of my hand as we separated to our vehicles.

"Hey, Toni, on the way back, can you get some more of that cucumber stuff you left in my shower? It's really soothing. I think folks could use that at a time like this."

I grinned. "You bet."

~o~

end

~o~