Page 98 of No Cap

And was I even allowed to be hurt by him not telling me?

I want to be your favorite place when you have a bad day.

—Quincy to Hollis

QUINCY

I arrived back in town with Taite DeRosa under arrest.

After booking him, and fully expecting him to lawyer up, I made a call to a contact in New Hampshire where it was said that Alana El Dorado was holed up and asked him to take a look into her for me.

After finishing up, I saw that my desk was surrounded by my brothers, as well as a mostly empty bakery box that said ‘Pie Hard’ on the side of it.

My lips twitched as I saw it.

“You got anything you want to tell me, bro?” Gable asked curiously.

I looked up to find him with a cookie in his hand, staring at me curiously.

I frowned. “Like what?”

“Like when you decided to ask your girl to marry you.” He took a bite of his cookie.

My mouth opened, and then closed. “Um, what?”

“She was buying a wedding cake sampler when I saw her at this bakery that just opened up down the road from our apartments,” he said.

I shook my head. “I regret to inform you that we’re not getting married.”

He grinned. “Then why was she buying a wedding cake sampler?”

I had no idea, but I intended to find out.

Right after I finished looking through my notes for the case I caught this morning.

“I might have pissed her off, though,” Gable said. “So maybe she’s not thinking about marrying you anymore.”

My brows rose. “How did you do that?”

“Well, first, I told her you flew to Kentucky. And she was surprised because you didn’t tell her, or leave a note, or text or anything. When I said you were probably busy, she smiled sadly. Then I commented on how you had a lot of your shit out of your apartment already, and how your house was coming along, and she looked at me so hurt. I’m guessing you didn’t tell her you were building a house, either?”

“No,” I admitted. “But to be completely honest, we’re still really new, and there really hasn’t been time. There’s a lot of stuff that’s been going on.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t communicate with her that you’re leaving,” Quaid pointed out.

He was right.

I should have at least done that.

But I hadn’t.

I sent out a text telling her I was home from Kentucky, but still had a few things I needed to do at the station, then looked into the bakery box to find nothing but crumbs. “Y’all didn’t save me a single thing?”

My phone pinged.

Hollis:

**Thumbs up emoji**