She Watches Him

Colleen nodded and fell silent. Jennifer listened to some of the other conversations and longed to talk of simple things, like the weather and politics. She wasn’t very good at small talk.

A thin, gray-haired woman, next to Sean, engaged him in conversation. This gave Jennifer the opportunity to study the detective.

Laugh lines radiated out from his eyes, but they were the only sign of age. She estimated him to be in his late thirties or early forties. The rest of his face was smooth except for the obvious shadow of a beard. His smile made his light gray eyes twinkle and revealed straight white teeth despite his smoking habit.

She admonished herself for kissing him back. As far as he knew, she was burying her fiancé soon and she should be in mourning. The fact that she hadn’t been in love with Ken for some time didn’t matter. Guilt brought her to New Jersey.