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“I should be going.”
“Have a seat,” she repeated, standing between me and the door. “I have a story to tell you.” When I sat down on the pew opposite the one she’d pointed to, she laughed. “That’ll do.” She walked up to the altar and lit the candle next to the one I had. “I’m a little older than you,” she began. “But you and I have something in common.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re both in love with Sumner Copeland. Wanna know what we don’t have in common?”
I nodded, willing my eyes not to fill with tears.
“Cope doesn’t love me.”
“He doesn’t know who I really am.”
“Do you really think that’s going to make a difference?”
“I do. Besides, assignment’s over, like I said. Time for me to go home.”
“If he asks, what do you want me to tell him?”
“I’m not going to ask you to lie, if that’s what you think.”
“I did some digging. You’re a good writer, Jennifer Cavalleri. You could be a damn good reporter.”
“How’d you know it was me?”
“I already am a damn good reporter. One of the best, in fact. So, why’d you quit?”
“The CIA made me an offer that was hard to turn down.”
“I read your book. It was really good.”
The book Stella referenced was an exposé on rampant corruption in the State of Illinois. I’d written it while I was still at Northwestern and hadn’t known at the time that the department chair of the school of journalism, a woman who was also my mentor, had sent the manuscript off to an editor she knew at one of the remaining big five publishing houses. By the time they offered me a contract, I was already employed by the CIA. It didn’t thrill me that Stella had linked me to it, since the publisher guaranteed there would be no link to me and that’s what I’d assured the agency.
“Hey, Stella. I didn’t know you were here,” said Cope, coming in the chapel door.
“Just keepin’ Ali company while she waits. How’s Irish?”
“They said he looks a lot worse than he is, but they believe he’s going to pull through.”
“I’d ask you for an exclusive, but my guess is Ali will get it before I do.”
Cope rested his hands on the back of the pew. “It isn’t over yet, Stella.”
She nodded, and I wasn’t sure how I’d missed it before. It was so obvious now that she was in love with him. I wondered if Cope knew.
He held out his hand to me. “Ready to go home, baby?”
My eyes met Stella’s, and I waited. “Have a good night, you two.” I stood, and she followed us out to where Buck and Rock waited.
Cope pulled me back into the corridor. “I want you to ride back with the guys. There’s one more thing I have to take care of tonight. I’ll meet you at my apartment.”
When he bent down and kissed me, I wrapped my right arm around his neck. “Don’t be too long,” I whispered.
“When I get there, I want you in bed, naked. Understood?”
“Understood.”
He started to walk away, but then turned back and pushed me up against the wall. “There’s something I need to tell you.”