She turned away and sipped her wine, avoiding his eyes. He watched her with interest and wondered when she would finally give in to the moment and to him.

"Heads or tails?", Dempsey said unexpectedly, rolling between his fingers a coin he found in his pocket.

"What?"

"Come on, heads or tails?"

"I don't understand..."

"You don't have to understand everything, heads or tails?"

"Heads"

"Ok, you wanna play a game?"

"What game?"

"A good game"

"Dempsey, don't give me riddles"

"Ok, I toss the coin if it's heads you can ask me any question you want and I have to answer it"

"What if it's tails?"

"Then you have to answer my question"

"What if I don't?", she asked.

"You have to"

"What if I don't want to"

"You're chickening out?", he teased.

"No!"

"Ok, let's do it. ready?"

"But..."

"There's no 'but' – tails", he smiled happily.

"Let me see', she looked at the coin. "ok" she sighed resigned

"So ... ", he said and looked her in the yes. There were so many things he wanted to know, most importantly if she loved him, but he couldn't utter that so he finished, "if you weren't a cop, who'd you be?"

"I don't know"

"Wrong answer. You've got to say something more specific"

"Oh, I don't know ... a lawyer maybe?", she said.

"A lawyer", he echoed. "Like your ex"

"Well, I said maybe", she replied and took the coin from him. "My turn now"

To her astonishment it was tails again

"What is the nicest thing someone gave you?"

"This is silly", she laughed.

"What is?"

"This game. I'm not playing it"

"You can't back out now", he said seriously.

"Yes, I can"

"You accepted the rules"

"And who keeps telling me it's ok to break them?"

"But not this time"

"Why not?", she asked amused.

"Come on, Harry. You've got to answer this", he said. "What's the nicest thing someone gave you?"

"A rose"

"A rose", he echoed.

"Yes"

"Just one rose", he looked at her doubtfully.

"Yes"

"You're kidding me"

"Give me the coin – my turn now"

"Not so fast. I wanna know more"

"There's nothing more"

"I don't believe you. One rose and that's all?"

"Yes"

"Who was it from?"

"That's two questions, not one", she smirked.

"But it's connected"

"No, it's not, give me the coin"

She took it from him and tossed it

"Heads", she smiled satisfactorily. "So ... if you were ever to choose between your job and a woman, what would you choose?"

"Woa", he thought. "That's a good one"

"Depends", he said.

"On what?"

"On the woman"

"What do you mean?"

"Not every woman would be worth it", he smiled.

"I guess NO woman would be worth it, knowing you", she giggled.

"Would you?", he looked at her seriously.

"Would I what?"

"Give up your job for a man"

"I did", she said mechanically and then bit her lip.

"Yeah? When did you do that?", he looked at her questioningly.

She returned his stare amazed he didn't remember. She gave him the coin, wondering if he was really that blind or just pretended to be.

"When did you give up your job for a man?", he repeated his eyes still fixed on hers.

"Your toss now", she said.

"Tails", he said.

"Tails?, she was surprised "I don't believe you"

"You see?", he showed her the coin. "So? Who did you give up your career for?"

"Dempsey…"

"Harry, you've got to answer that"

"I thought I didn't have to"

"These are the rules"

"No, I mean I thought you knew the answer"

"Me?"

"Yes", she said and after a moment of hesitation she added, "You"

"I don't know the answer"

"I've just told you"

"I haven't heard it"

"Then you're not only blind but also deaf", she smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You figure it out and I toss", she said. "Heads"

She looked at him trying to decide which question to ask. She took a gulp of wine to give her courage and spoke out, "Has a woman ever given up her job for you?"

"How should I know?"

"I do"

"You do?"

"Yes", she said.

"So?", he asked. "What's the answer?"
"The answer is 'yes'"

"How do you know?"

"I just know it"

"So I guess you know who it was as well?"

"I do"

"Who was it then?"

"Me", she said.

"You?", he looked astonished and remembered the only time she had resigned from the force. They never really talked about that.

"Why did you?", he asked.

"Because you're a deaf blind idiot, Dempsey", she replied and finished her wine. He looked at her for a while trying to think of what to say. Then he looked at the dice and at her again. He opened his mouth but closed it and tossed the dice instead.

"Tails", he said. "Who was the rose from?"

She raised her eyebrows surprised by the question. She didn't expect him to go on playing this stupid game.

"I won't tell you"

"Why not? Who was he?"

"Why do you think it was a he?"

"It must have been since one rose made such a big impression on you"

"It didn't make any impression on me"

"Oh no?"

"No, I thought it was just ... nice"

"Nice? The guy who brings you just one rose can't be nice. He's mean with his money", Dempsey remarked knowingly. "If he had brought you two dozen of roses that would be nice"

"They wouldn't let him in", she said.

"Let him in where?'

"Hospital", she said and then frowned, realizing she'd revealed too much.

"Ok, that's enough", she said quickly trying to hide her uneasiness.

"In hospital?", he wasn't going to give up that easily. "When was it?"

"A long time ago"

"Don't be so secretive", he said. "Just tell me about the guy who brought you a single rose when you were in…"

He stopped talking and his eyes widened as he started to remember something.

"I remember him", he said snapping his fingers. "Didn't he belong to something like pro-floral movement?"

Harry looked at him and laughed.