Something Else

After a ragged silence on the phone with Stevie, Jon asked, "So, what about Bellardi's wife and kid? Who's taking care of them?" "Patricia is with her mother in Redwood City until the elections," Stevie explained. “Trouble in paradise?" Jon asked. "No, just stress," Stevie explained, parroting the party line.

"And the boy?" Jon asked. "He's a young man, really; twenty years old. Lives at the ranch. I think they assigned a security cop to him yesterday." Stevie was momentarily revisited by her maternal feelings for the boy—he seemed more boy than man to her also—who reminded her so much of Dougie. She decided not to say any more about Wes.

After a pause, Jon spoke with hesitation in his voice. "Steve, there's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about, if you have another minute." "Sure," she answered. "What is it?" From a distant dark corner of her mind, one thought rushed to the front of her brain. Jon has a girlfriend. He's going to tell me he's dating someone. Why else would he sound so tentative about something he's been meaning to talk to me about? He has a lot of nerve saying he's so worried about me and then popping this kind of a surprise on me.