An Adrien English Mystery: The Dark Tide Read Online Free PDF

how much I'd missed him after he'd left. Funny how someone could be a major player in your life for years—and then be little more than a stranger.
    Was that how it would be between me and Jake one day?

    16
    Josh Lanyon

    To fill that suddenly empty place inside me, I spoke quickly, bringing him up to speed on the last three years—the general release, not the director's cut. By the end of it he was very nearly goggling.
    “I can't believe I never heard any of this.”
    I could believe it. Mel's family hadn't been thrilled at our relationship. Polite but cool was about the most I'd got from them. When it had ended between us, they'd been only too delighted to close the doors—and change the locks.
    “So you're like a…an amateur sleuth?”
    “God no. I'm more like the hapless guys in those film-noir flicks we used to watch. I keep getting tangled up in bizarro events.”
    “Oh yes?” His eyes lit with enthusiasm. I was speaking his language now. “Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential or William Hurt in Body Heat ?”
    “I was thinking more like Woody Allen in Play It Again, Sam .”
    “No. You'd be one of the classic lads. Farley Granger or Monty Clift.” The fond appraisal in his eyes took me aback. Maybe he was viewing me through the rose-colored glasses of the past. “The funny thing is, you always were as curious as a cat. And you loved a puzzle. You used to read about murders in the paper and theorize who the killer was.”
    “I did ?” Now that was something I did not remember.
    “I don't remember you ever being right,” he admitted.
    I laughed. Tried not to wince at the inevitable yank of stitches and wires.
    “So,” he said slowly, “is it you and this ex-cop or you and this nutty professor?”
    “Apparently I'm attracted to nutty professors.”
    “That hurts.” He was chuckling, though.
    I'd skimmed over a lot of the parts that had to do with Jake—old habits. I guess Mel knew me pretty well. Even after all these years. Maybe not so surprising, given that we'd been together five years, by far the longest I'd been with anyone. And we'd have still been together if he hadn't dumped me.
    “It's nobody at the moment. I'm just…”
    “Sure,” he said with immediate understanding. “You've been through the wars.” I could feel his hesitation before he asked, “And the doctors are sure that you're going to make a complete recovery? Your heart's okay?”
    Once, this had been an area of discussion fraught with peril. Maybe after all this time it was only a tender spot for me. I said shortly, “They were able to repair the valve instead of having to replace it, which was the best-case scenario. So, yeah, everybody seems to think I'm going to be feeling better and stronger than I have in years.”
    He automatically rechecked the empty breadbasket—expecting further miracles?—and said, “Adrien…”
    I didn't say anything. I knew what was coming.
    “This is way overdue. I want to apologize for how things ended between us.”
    Mel met my eyes, looked away again. “I'd like to plead age and ignorance, but that's really not an excuse. I was…afraid.”

    An Adrien English Mystery: The Dark Tide

    17

    I shrugged. “We both made mistakes. We were young.” Not that it hadn't hurt like hell—
    and still did sometimes—but I'd had a lot of time to come to terms with it.
    “I know. I know you couldn't care less at this point. It still needs to be said.” His eyes met mine, veered away. “It wasn't… You were so sure you wouldn't…” His lips tightened. “You took it for granted that you were probably going to die before you were fifty, and I was young enough and dumb enough to think you were probably right. And I…cared for you. You know that. And I couldn't handle the thought…”
    “It's okay, Mel,” I said when he seemed at a loss for words. “Fifty seems like a lifetime away when you're twenty. I wasn't very realistic about my health or the future either.”
    I didn't bother