Chapter Eight
Too Little Too Late?
It was nearly time for the hiring committee to make a decision. Gains had announced the city of Boston would have their next chief of police by the end of the week. And tonight was Thursday.
Jordan sighed and pushed her hair back out of her eyes as she sat at her desk finishing her paperwork. In a few days, it looked like she would be heading back to New York, but not to stay. Now that she had returned to Boston, and renewed old acquaintances, she found she was loathe to leave again. She realized just what her morgue family meant to her…She had spoken to Garret. If for some reason, Woody didn't make chief of police, she was going to remain in Boston. If he did, to avoid any embarrassment for her husband, she would relocate to right outside of Boston…maybe Cambridge or Springfield…somewhere far enough that Woody wouldn't be bothered by her presence, but near enough Garret, Nigel, Bug, and Lily that she could see them regularly. And unbeknownst to Woody, she had already faxed her resignation to the New York morgue. All that remained was for Gains and the committee to announce their decision and for her to go back to her New York apartment and pack up her few belongings.
She was so lost in thought, she didn't hear a knock at her door. "Hi," a voice said. It was Woody.
"Hi yourself," she replied, giving him a crooked grin. "What brings you to this end of the woods? A case?"
"No." He shook his head. "I just wanted to stop by and thank you one more time for coming back to Boston for me. I just got word that Jim is definitely out of the running for the chief's job. That means it's between me and Tony."
"Then you'll get it. Tony's almost too close to retirement to be considered."
He shook his head again. "I don't know. But regardless, I did want to thank you. Could I take you out to dinner tonight as a token of my appreciation? Somewhere really nice?"
"Just us?"
"Yeah…just us."
Jordan thought about being alone with her husband again…just the two of them. They had gotten along well…polite…courteous…but sometimes when Woody looked at her, she could feel the underlying passion that was still there…they had reignited it that night in the kitchen and it had been slowly smoldering ever since. She knew it.
And he did, too. She could tell by looking at him when he was looking at her. But it could be now or never, she contemplated. "Okay, where and what time?"
"Rigianno's. Seven?"
She nodded. "I'll be ready.
The evening was … different. There was no one there they had to impress…it was just Woody and Jordan. The food was excellent…as was the wine…Riagianno's wasn't a fancy place, not like the Grange was. She and Woody had never really ever been comfortable at places like that. Woody said if the eating joint had more than two forks, it required too much thinking and you couldn't enjoy your time there.
Riagianno's feel somewhere in between elite and casual. She put her hair up and wore a short, black dress with black hose and heels…something she hoped would be softly seductive. To her dismay, Woody didn't seem to notice. He kept the conversation light…but his cell phone remained turned off. A fact she was grateful for.
"How much do you think your life will change once you make chief?" she asked after the salad but before the entrée arrived.
Woody wrinkled his forehead. "In some ways a lot. Instead of having a division of men and women under me, I'll have all of them. It's a lot of responsibility. But in other ways my life won't change a whole lot. I'm already used to the hours."
"Something Tony isn't."
Woody nodded. "That's true. I work twice as many hours as he does."
"That's why I think Gains will give you the position. You're used to the demands. That, and you're qualified as hell."
Woody looked down at the table for a minute. "Thanks. I appreciate your vote of confidence. Although it's almost too little too late."
Jordan nearly choked on her water. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, where was that confidence in me three years ago when I was busting my ass then?"
Jordan took a shaky breath. This is not the way she meant the evening to go, or she would have never agreed to come. "I had all the confidence in the world in you, Wood," she replied softly, seeking some sort of understanding in his blue eyes, "you just stopped having time for me."
"I was working for you…for us…so we could have the means to do whatever we wanted…after the…the…"
"Miscarriage? Yeah, I can say the word now…without breaking down." When had he stopped wanting children and decided things were more important? I missed that one…
She wondered what else she had missed. "I'm sorry if you thought all I wanted was things…money…after we lost the baby. I admit, it took me a long time to deal with the loss. But if you thought 'means' was what I was looking for back then, you were wrong. It was you…only you were never home."
"So you took off to New York to make things better?"
"I took off to New York to try to get your attention." They were interrupted by the waiter who brought their food. Woody ate…Jordan pushed her food around on her plate, taking only an occasional bite. Her appetite had been forfeited by their argument. They finished their meal in silence.
And the drive back home was just as quiet. Too little, too late; too little, too lateThe words kept ringing through her mind all the way home…as they pulled into the garage and she let herself in the house…Woody following her. He went to check his messages downstairs…while she headed up to change out of her unsuccessfully seductive dress. She pulled it off her and hung it up. Then clad in only her bra and panties, donned her robe and began to take down her hair and brush it out.
A soft rap at her door caused her to turn around. "I'm sorry," he said. "What I said to you earlier was uncalled for. I apologize."
Jordan threw her brush down on the dresser. "What are you apologizing for? The way you felt? You can't apologize for feeling the way you do about me anymore than I can apologize for the reasons I left you to go to New York. They're both valid."
"Valid?"
She nodded in response.
"Tell me…what is so damn valid about my wife being in New York and me being here? Alone?"
"All you did was work…it seemed that was all you wanted …. You didn't want me. Hell, Woody…do you know how long it had been since we made love before I left? How was I supposed to feel?"
"Grateful," he said forcefully. "At least you wouldn't risk getting pregnant and miscarrying again…did you ever stop to think how hard it was for me not to make love to you?"
So that was part of it. Her head was still reeling from his admission when he pulled her to him and kissed her…as if he was making up for more than just that lost night in the kitchen…this time it was as if he was making up for the time they had lost over three years ago.
And she didn't fight it. She let him …his tongue and teeth dueling with her bottom lip so that she would open her mouth…which she did willingly. It was only then that he softened his kisses…coaxing more of response out of her as he swung her up in his arms and carried her back to the master bedroom…their bedroom…and laid her gently on the bed.
He turned up the heat of the kisses again when he began to untie the belt on her robe…pulling back to look at her, dressed only in her lacy black bra and scanty matching underwear…and losing his breath at the sight. She sat up to meet him, sliding his tie from around his neck and unbuttoning his shirt…running her hands up his chest, then gently kissing his neck…and hearing him moan for a change. She continued re-exploring his body…a body that used to be more familiar than her own…circling his nipple with her tongue and biting down on it softly. She smiled against his chest when she heard him swear softly as he tried to undo the hooks of her bra.
When he was finally successful, he pushed her back down on the pillows, kissing the hollow between her breasts before he turned his attention to one and then the other…softly cupping them in one of his hands before his lips trailed over each peak. She sighed in contentment. This is how she remembered the way it used to be between them…so long ago. So there was no protest from her when he hooked a finger in the front of her briefs and slid them down and then off her legs.
Woody stopped long enough to look her in the eyes to see if there was any hesitation. There wasn't…just the smoky look of desire that she used to wear…and lips swollen from his kisses. He kissed her again…long and slow….then left a trail of kisses again between her breasts….to her navel….he gently circled his tongue around that indention and continued to kiss her even lower….whispering how much he had missed her…and this…
Jordan felt herself arch against him…suddenly and acutely aware she was no longer in control of her body…he was…and Woody was eliciting responses from her that she had thought were long forgotten. He continued to caress his way down her legs, pausing only long enough to remove his pants, shoes, and socks…taking his own sweet time. Then returning his attention to her lips.
He pulled back one more time…making sure she hadn't changed her mind…then slid into her with one thrust. She arched against him and met him movement for movement…murmuring his name in his ear…and softly sighing when it was over. Woody pulled the covers up closer around their cooling bodies and snuggled her head back down on his chest….dozing off to sleep until morning.
And the last coherent thought in her head wondered if what had just happened between them was enough to restablish their relationship or was it too little too late, too.
