The Bitterest Pill

Twenty-two

When Jesse got back to his condo, he found his son in his default position — on the living room couch, watching something from one of the streaming services Cole paid for.

“Hey,” Jesse said.

Cole hit pause. “Hey. Late night.”

“A meeting and then work.”

“About the dead girl?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Getting anywhere with that?”

“Yes, but not sure where. Once I find where she got the drugs, I’ll have a direction to pursue. For now, it’s hit and miss. Welcome to police work.”

Cole laughed. Jesse thought maybe a little too loudly.

“I say something funny?”

Cole shook his head. Jesse changed the subject.

“I’m not spying on you, but I’ve been by Daisy’s. You’ve missed a few days.”

“With Daisy’s blessing.”

Jesse held up his palms like he was on traffic duty. “I know. She told me. Also told me if I was curious that I should ask you about it.”

“Are you asking?”

“I am.”

“It’s not like a secret,” Cole said. “But I’d like to tell you in my own time. Okay?”

Jesse thought about pressing the issue, then remembered what Molly had advised. She’d told him to back off and let the kid come around by himself.

“All right. When you’re ready to tell me, I’ll be here. Did you eat?”

“Yeah, but I could eat some more.”

“Omelet work for you?”

“Sounds good.”

Jesse had never been good at small talk, and he was even worse at it with Cole. There always seemed to be an eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room sitting between them that neither of them could quite bring themselves to talk about. Jesse had tried talking baseball, but Cole wasn’t a big fan. No doubt that was part of Cole’s resentment over the father who he had grown up believing had abandoned his mother and him. Cole’s presence made Jesse very conscious of his own limitations. Jesse hated politicians and politics, so they didn’t talk about that. He didn’t drink anymore, so he avoided that as a subject for discussion. Whenever he tried raising the subject of Cole’s life with his mother back in L.A., Cole shut down. And, frankly, Cole’s job at Daisy’s didn’t exactly supply a lot of material. The one thing that Cole seemed genuinely interested in was when Jesse discussed police work. Of course, that was the one subject Jesse wanted to get away from when he was home. But as they sat there eating their omelets, Cole broke the silence.

“So, are you dating this Maryglenn woman?”

That took Jesse by complete surprise. He literally sat up from his food. “I guess Daisy must have mentioned it.”

Cole nodded.

“Dating? I’m not sure dating is the word.”

“Sleeping with?”

“Let’s use the word seeing.”

“Are you seeing her?”

“I am. Why do you ask?”

He hesitated but answered. “I don’t think Daisy likes her very much.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said, “I got that feeling, too.”

“Did you ask her about it?”

“Did you?”

“Are you kidding me? Daisy would bite my head off.”

“Any guesses?”

“This may sound a little weird, but Daisy almost sounds a little jealous.”

Jesse chewed on that for a minute before saying something. “Maybe protective more than jealous. We’ve always kind of watched out for each other.”

“I don’t know. You two are close. I get that, but it seemed more like jealousy to me.”

Jesse wanted to dismiss what Cole was saying, but recalling the looks on Daisy’s face and on Maryglenn’s, he just couldn’t.

“I’m beat and it’s going to be a long, hard day tomorrow,” Jesse said. “I have to interview the dead girl’s parents.”

“Good luck with that. I’ve got to get up early. Back to work for me in the morning.”

Jesse went to wash the dishes, but Cole told Jesse to get to sleep.

“Old folks need more rest,” he said, smiling at Jesse.

Jesse laughed and felt closer to his son than he had at any time since he visited him in the hospital after the old meetinghouse explosion. Maybe, he thought, Molly had a point.