Chapter 33: Heart-To-Heart

"What about Delilah?"

"Too timid." I criticized.

"Katie?"

"I didn't like her attitude."

Cody gave the total 40 applicants' packages a second glance before he sat back in the chair. He sported his usual security guard uniform, complete with flashlight and a baton, which he'd been mindlessly twirling on his right for the past 10 minutes.

"You're not going to find someone as talented as Ally." He implored. I gave him a look and he held up a hand in surrender, adding, "I'm just being frank."

I tossed 20 of the packets into the trash saying flippantly, "Don't you have some doors to guard?"

Cody smirked. "You miss her, don't you?"

"Of course, I do. She was a hard worker."

"If you offered her a pay raise, she might come back."

I reclined back in my chair, taking a sip of coffee in response.

Allison was too busy being a manager for a classy diner downtown. She'd been happy with her promotion, her new digs; having her come back just to play assistant wouldn't be doing any favors for her and I wasn't going to be the one to pull the rug from beneath her feet without any extra incentives for her return.

"She's not coming back."

Cody said helpfully, "I could try to convince her."

"Don't." I shook my head. "She's made manager in her early 20s—she doesn't want to come back and work for me. Even if she did, I wouldn't want her to."

"She's living it up over there; Meanwhile, you're here, fussing over the smallest discrepancies in applications."

"One of them had a felony." I pointed to the garbage bin. "That's not a 'small' discrepancy."

"Like you haven't accidentally walked out of a mall with lip gloss in your pocket?"

"It wasn't one tube of lip gloss. It was a whole tub."

Cody raised his eyebrows and muttered, "Never mind. I thought it was only one lip gloss."

"Nope; it was more like a 100, plus $900 from the cash register."

"Shoplifting? Well, at least she was charming. Which one was that—Stella?"

"Stella." I confirmed. "And her rap sheet was a mile long."

"I didn't know you could do detailed background checks."

"Well, I can't but those are the perks of dating a detective."

Cody said calmly, "I'd have never think she was a career thief."

"She's not a career thief."

"She stole $900 from a cash register, took 100 tubes of lip gloss—I mean, criminal charges aside, I'd say that's pretty impressive for a 21-year-old."

"It'd be more impressive if she didn't get caught."

"Well, at least she was charming. Charm works in a place like this."

"So, she's a charming thief. That's not doing anything for anyone—particularly me." I tossed my disposable coffee cup into the trash can right along with the other similar applications, getting to my feet and stretching.

Cody hooked his baton to his belt as he stood, leaning over the desk with a small smile: "You're worried about who's going to be taking care of the restaurant while you're out on your honeymoon, aren't you?"

I crossed my arms on the desk and leaned forward with a sarcastic smile, "You know you get paid to guard the restaurant, right?"

"Oh, come on, Boss. You know you don't have to worry about this place. Lee and Dee are taking care of the bar; Brady's got the kitchen. Catalina's got the whole greeting thing; if anyone's got a complaint, I'll just kick them out."

"I know you all are good. But running a restaurant is more than just what you see at face value."

"What am I missing?"

"Well, for one: The logistics of it all."

"Which includes?"

"Scheduling conflicts, not to mention keeping the books above board."

"You could always make Cat an interim manager." Cody offered helpfully. "She's been with you since you opened the place, right? Her and Brady? She'd know what's needed done by the end of the month, the paperwork and stuff. She and Brady could hold down the fort while you find a replacement for Ally, not to mention while you're gone on your honeymoon."

"Brady doesn't like people."

"What about Cat? Lord knows she likes talking to people."

"Catalina likes working with people. She doesn't like managing them."

"What's the difference?"

I snorted, "Once you get up in rank, you'll know."

He said playfully, "Are you offering me a promotion?"

"Sure." I gestured to the door. "You're now head of security. Enjoy the promotion."

"You don't have a head of security."

"I know." I said impishly, winking at him.

"If you got enough security guards, I might be."

"Two guards are enough for the restaurant's capacity."

"Paul is alright and everything, but don't you think you should get more?"

"Why do I need more guards? This is a restaurant. A classy one, but it's still just a restaurant."

"Because…security reasons."

"You just want to be head of security. I put that thought in your head and now you're trying to manifest it into something practical."

Cody stepped back, flourishing his baton as he said poignantly, "I'm looking at moving up in the world, Boss. Gotta negotiate sometimes to grease the wheels."

"Is that what they're teaching you in the academy now."

"Well, mostly how to deal with difficult people. Personally, I've never had to talk anyone down off a ledge or convince someone to lower their gun or something like that."

"I hope you'll never have to. There are officers who've been in for 20 years who've been lucky enough to not even draw their weapon."

"Well, I want to at least draw my weapon. Even if just for a warning shot."

I cocked my head to the side, saying, "You're literally asking for trouble."

"I'm not saying I'd want any situation to get to that point, but I'm also not saying that I don't ever want that to happen. Just like you're hoping to find someone who's capable and competent enough to take Ally's place, but you're not trying so hard to find someone as good as her, holding onto a small hope that she'll come crawling back." Cody hooked his thumbs in his belt with a smug smile: "Whatever your morals are, you really want her to."

I flipped through another application and without looking up at him, I said carefully, "You're trying to get inside my head, Officer. And that's a dangerous place to be."

"I know I'm right."

"Well, take comfort in knowing you're right as you turn around and leave my office—I still have a lot to do before I leave today."

Cody gave me a polite salute before he said respectfully, "Yes, ma'am" and did as I asked.

After he did, I pushed the applications to the side, putting my head down on the desk as I let out a deep sigh. Searching for someone like Ally was like finding a piece of hay in a needle stack; it was a prickly task and painful as fuck.

I had plenty to do, alright. I was supposed to get my wedding dress fitted in the afternoon after running by the bank to deposit last week's profits, and drive to the pharmacy before it closed to pick up my father's painkiller, all to be done after I preferably had chosen a few applicants to try out—and here was where I was stumped.

Meanwhile, Dad was back at my house. It was easier for him to spend a few nights at the house and be readily available to attend the wedding ceremony than worrying whether he'd be alert enough to drive the two hours to the church and two hours back all in the same day. According to his sixth phone call in the past five hours, he was watching one of the movies I had on the bookcase.

"Alexis?"

I startled, glancing up. Angelina stood in the doorway, wearing a paisley blue long-sleeve shirt and white skirt with matching white flats, holding what looked like takeout in one hand and a drink carrier in the other. Her smile could light five worlds in a single second.

"Oh, hey…" I said embarrassingly. "What are you doing here, is everything okay?"

Angelina's smile widened as she sat in the chair that Cody had previously occupied, placing the bag on the desk as she giggled, "You sound just like Mark. A friendly visit always seems to warrant that initial gut-punch reaction that something evil is afoot."

"Evil has one foot."

"More like 666."

"Tempting fate." I teased. "What brings you here?"

"I thought we'd have an impromptu lunch date—Mark said you'd be at your restaurant for the better part of the morning; I hope I'm not intruding."

"No, no, not at all." I pushed the other things on my desk to the side as she eagerly withdrew out five different items from the Chinese restaurant two blocks away. "I was just going through applications."

She placed a plastic plate in front of me, as well as the matching plastic dining ware, and opened the various dishes.

"Any luck?" She asked sincerely. "I know it must be hard trying to find someone like Ally; I don't know her too well, but she seems like a smart woman."

"Smart, competent, professional," I listed off.

Warily, she gave the stack a once-over, as well as those that had been dumped into the garbage bin with little care as she said evenly, "I'm guessing those people didn't measure up."

"Most of them had felonies or had a history of being canned."

"You're expecting Ally's replacement to be reliable and honest; you're already going down a rabbit hole."

"Isn't that the truth. It's been a nightmare."

"Seth works in civil suits," She said obligingly, taking a drink from her soda. "He's a lawyer, does a lot of stuff with civil cases. I'm sure he knows people who would perform as well as your former assistant."

"No thanks." I gathered some chicken and rice to one plate. "I've had my share of civil suit lawyers."

"From your tone, I'm guessing they've not been relatively positive experiences."

I thought of Richard Cline who had tried acting on behalf of Martin's wife in suing me for what happened to her husband.

"All negative," I assured.

"Well, Seth is different."

"Is he?"

She cocked her head to the side, recognizing my skepticism. "I know he didn't give you the best impression at the Halloween party, but he's not that bad."

"In hindsight, there is no circumstance where he'd have made a good impression with me. I'm naturally catty about anyone who's dating someone I care about. I get it from my father."

Angelina grinned understandably. "Well, at least that's something else you and my brother have in common. You don't like Seth for the same reasons, apparently."

"Not inherently. Mark doesn't like Seth because he thinks your boyfriend is possessive, psychologically abusive, and takes your kindness and empathy for granted. I don't like Seth because he thinks by being your boyfriend, he's permitted to grab at you when you're just having fun and after being called out, he tackled me to the ground. While the reasons are similar, they're not the same."

She leaned back in the chair, turning her straw in her cup as she said thoughtfully, "You're really blunt about everything, aren't you?"

"I tend to be, yeah."

"Have you ever lost friendships because of that?"

"I've lost several. Some people want that friend who'll tell them they're right when they're wrong. I am not that friend."

"Has anyone been a good enough of a friend to tell you when you're wrong?"

"It doesn't happen often."

Angelina said coolly, "You know, Seth can get angry at times, but you don't know what he's like when we're together."

"You're right." I nodded. "I don't know what he's like when you two are alone. And I'm sure I wouldn't want to know."

"Why not?"

"Because I think that part of him is a mask. What he's really like is when he's with other people."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a narcissist." I said bluntly. "It's easier to appear charming to one person than to a whole group. He's sweet and amiable when he's with you because you're his means of manipulation. When he's with a group, he's too busy trying to fool everyone else, he forgets he's supposed to be pretending for you as well. Particularly when he gets mad over the stupidest shit."

"You antagonized him. That's why he got mad."

"No, he got mad because he didn't know how to respond to a woman who stood up to him."

Angelina shook her head slowly, clear disbelief written on her face. And in that moment, I realized just how deep Seth had his hooks into her. She loved him. She believed what he displayed back at the party was due to a social injustice, which had no doubt been exacerbated by alcohol and (if I was right) drugs. Everything I said was deflected, none of it seemed to be getting through, which I'd expected, but it was still hard to see and accept.

"Did he ever cool down?" I asked curiously.

Angelina shrugged, "I'm guessing he did eventually. I didn't go home that night; I went to Denise's."

"That was probably for the best."

"It is when he gets mad like that." She gave me a cursory glance. "Mark talks to you about this stuff, huh?"

"We've discussed him once or twice," I placated, taking another bite of Kung Pao chicken.

She leaned forward, food officially having been forgotten as she drawled, "See, I find that interesting."

"Why?"

"He doesn't open up to a lot of people, or let people know what he thinks or believes. I thought it'd be long after your wedding before you two started discussing my love life."

"I don't see how. He talks about you a lot." I informed softly. "He cares for you."

"You're not the first girlfriend of his I've talked to that observed the same thing."

"Is that a fact."

"They've only known my brother well enough to get a sense of who he is, but never well enough to really understand him."

"You mean, they've only liked the idea of dating him, but never got to know the real him?"

Her eyes widened. "Yeah…How did—"

"He told me." I took one of the crab ragoons from the plate, taking a bite without so much as a second thought. "It's pretty tricky, all things considered."

"What is?"

"Dating a cop. It's all good and dandy on the surface, but not a lot of people really see past the badge…or the handcuffs."

I thought of how we'd used those handcuffs in the past and an involuntary pleasurable shiver ran down my spine. It certainly had its advantages dating a detective: Mark was ready and willing to run background checks on people who'd be spending most of their time around me while I was at work, and those handcuffs…Mm-hmm, Mama like.

"Dating a cop means dating his career too." Angelina declared factually.

I agreed. "Not a lot of people realize it's a package deal. The long hours spent away from home, never knowing if they're going to come back from a call. Dreading the day when he leaves and it's the police captain knocking on the front door."

Angelina smiled again, this time it was a lot brighter as if she'd recognized something although I couldn't be sure what that 'something' was.

"How well would you say you know my brother?"

I drank from my soda cup; after I said curiously, "Are we having the protective sister talk now? You know he's getting married tomorrow, right?"

"Just answer the question."

"I'm starting to see the resemblance between you two more and more. But yeah. I'd say I know him pretty well."

"Would you bet your life on that?"

I mimed pushing all the poker chips towards the center of the table, saying proudly, "I'm all in."

Angelina crossed one leg over the other. "Do you mind if I test that confidence?"

"I didn't know there was going to be a pop quiz."

"I'm being serious."

I shrugged one shoulder. "So was I."

The smile tugged on the corner of her mouth as if she were trying her hardest not to giggle at my response. With the solemn wares of a stone-faced card dealer, she took out one of the empty plates from the bag, setting it in the center and placed sugary, sweet rolls on it.

Her questions fired out like the metal balls from a cannon.

"Do you know what happened to our parents?" She asked.

"Your father died from a heart attack. Your mother had a pulmonary embolism."

"Did he tell you what he wanted to do before he was a cop?"

"That's a trick question. He's never wanted to do anything else."

"Very good," She praised.

"You know, I don't mind a trivia challenge that's centered around Mark, believe me, I could go all night. Having lunch was a nice pretext, but I really think you had another reason for coming here."

Angelina glanced at her hands as if she'd find a valuable excuse there, having been caught within her own eager agenda.

"I just wanted to be sure about you."

"Regarding what?"

"That you're not trying to undermine his feelings for you."

"You mean in the way Elizabeth did." I guessed.

She smiled sadly. "Yeah…"

"Out of morbid curiosity, did he figure out that she was trying to use him for inside information or did you?"

"I did."

"And he listened to you the first time you mentioned this to him?"

"Not at first." Angelina said shyly, "At first, he thought it was just some kind of sibling rivalry because I'd recently been dumped, and he had this new girlfriend and all. But I saw her. The real her. I had to expose her for what she was before he finally saw through the love shades and mirrors. He was with her for two years. She almost ruined his career, outing information she had no business knowing."

"Well, he seems grateful. When we talked about it, at least."

"I just wish he'd have listened to me a long time ago."

"Maybe he's hoping you'll do the same."

Angelina peered up at me inquisitively. "Seth isn't like Elizabeth."

"Only because he hasn't been exposed." I countered. "Frankly, I could spend the next two years trying to tell you why and how Seth is a bad match for you, but I know you won't acknowledge me any more than Mark had been willing to listen to you about Elizabeth the first handful of times."

Angelina sniffed, "How did we end up back on the conversation about Seth?"

"I never dropped the conversation. I just took a detour for a little while."

"So, what's the deal here? Anytime you see Seth and me together, are you going to try to prove that he's an asshole?"

"You don't need to convince a jury when the evidence is damning."

"Meaning?"

"I think you already know how much an asshole he is. A part of you might like that. Girls fall in love with assholes all the time and I'm not excluded. But I had to be thrown down three flights of stairs to realize just how much of a bastard he could be; I was lucky to get out of that situation alive." I curved around the desk, hugging her. "I hope you see the light before the same thing happens to you."

"Seth wouldn't hurt me." She sounded so certain about that as she comfortingly patted my arm.

"For your sake, I hope not."

We were silent for a moment before she appreciatively smiled as if passing down her final judgement, "I'm glad you're marrying Mark."

"Are you."

"Yeah. He deserves to have someone like you."

"Aww. Stop it, you're going to make me fucking cry."

She laughed, "Do you ever take anything seriously?"

I kissed the top of her head. "Only where it counts."