“Jack,” Beverly asked as she stood to refill her cup, “do you want me to talk to you like a supportive friend or a realistic one?”
“I already know what you’re going to say, Bev, he said. “You’re going to tell me that it’s too soon to know how I feel and even if it wasn’t I can’t get involved with a victim in an open case.”
“Well, actually,” Beverly said, “I was going to tell you that you’re falling for her because she’s the exact opposite of Kelly.”
“You think it’s just a rebound thing,” he said flatly.
“No, but I do think you’re falling for the woman you want this Bennett woman to be. Jack, you can’t possibly have feelings for the real her because you don’t even know the real her. You only know the drugged-up, needs-you Paige Bennett. What you need to think about is what’s going to happen when the adrenaline of the case wears off and she doesn’t need you anymore? What happens when she doesn’t need you to make coffee for her in the mornings or drive her around like Miss Daisy? What are you going to do when she doesn’t need you to save her anymore?”
“But that’s not what she’s about, Bev,” he said. “She doesn’t want me to save her. And besides,” he added, “you haven’t talked to her like I have. You haven’t read some of the stuff she writes . . .”
“No,” Beverly said firmly, interrupting him. Her voice held no apology. “Look, Jack, I did talk to her. And I have a lot of respect for what she’s done with her life, especially considering the kind of childhood she had. But that doesn’t change how I feel about you. That guy that you think is you is just a character in a book, Jack. He’s not you and Paige Bennett doesn’t have any secret insight into your mind. She knows how to write the kind of men that women want to fall in love with. It’s what she does for a living. That’s it.”
Jack rubbed his face with the palms of his hands and looked at her. “You’re right. I know you’re right. You’re exactly right.” He stopped and looked down at his shoes. “So if I know you’re right, why do I have a big hole in my chest right now?”
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