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It was nice seeing Ms. Fey back at work. Dick could understand why she’d been away, of course, between the Fawles trial ending the way it did and that Armando guy getting poisoned, but…well, who was he kidding? He liked seeing her, even if he knew she wasn’t interested. It was a treat just to look at her.
Even better than looking at her was seeing her work. The way she believed in the truth, in her job…now that was a woman who cared about justice as much as he did. It sort of reminded him of Mr. Edgeworth, in a way, except Ms. Fey was a whole lot nicer about it. She was also the enemy, technically, but anyone who got her for an enemy must’ve been the luckiest person on Earth.
So when she started acting friendly to Dick, he could hardly believe it. Every smile she offered him felt like a thousand butterflies in his stomach, and it took him months to work up the nerve to make a move. But finally, he did, and somehow, they ended up at a table together at the nicest restaurant he could afford.
“So, Dick,” she began, once they’d gotten settled in and ordered. “What’s your story? How’d you get into the detective business?”
Dick chuckled, scratching his neck. “Well…I guess it all started when my ma got sick. I’d gotten a football scholarship to Rutgers, but, well, I had two little sisters, and she couldn’t take care of them herself anymore, so…that was the end of that. But once they were all grown up, I moved out to California and started looking for a job, and, well, I wanted to be a policeman when I was a kid, so I thought hey, why not?”
“How old are your sisters?”
“Let’s see, uh…” Dick scrunched up his face to do the mental math. “Kathy’s twenty-five, and Meg’s twenty-four. At least, I think.”
“So you had to take care of teenagers?” Mia said, raising an eyebrow. “That must’ve been interesting.”
“Well, they could take care of themselves pretty well at that point. I just had to put food on the table and make sure they weren’t sneaking guys in at night.”
“And did they try?” Mia asked.
“Meg was a real goody two-shoes, but Kathy…not so much.”
“She prepared you for the force, then.”
Dick laughed heartily. “Yeah, I guess so. Always making sure she stayed in line. I had to play the bad cop more back then, though.”
“Yeah, I’m lucky we’re from such a remote little village. My sister would have a hard time finding a boy her age to begin with.”
“Oh, where are you from?”
“Up in the Sierras. You wouldn’t have heard of it.”
They talked for a while, about their families and careers, about law school and the police academy, about how awful the traffic was in LA. It was all just small talk, really, but Dick hung on her every word anyways. It was something about the way she said them—you could hear how smart and passionate she was even if she were just talking about the weather. The food was pretty good, and when it was all over, she let him pay and walk her out to her car. Then she turned to him with an expression that was hard to read.
“Thanks for dinner, Dick. I had a great time.”
“Oh, w—well…thank you! I mean, you’re so wonderful, I didn’t even dare to dream about something like this!”
Mia smiled and took his hand. “Why not? You’re a great guy yourself.”
“Aw, shucks.” Dick was sure he was blushing like a tomato. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Who says you have to say anything?”
“You—you mean…”
Before he could finish, Mia leaned in and kissed him, and he thought he might die right then and there and didn't even mind. It was like heaven and then some, the way her lips felt, the way she held him…he couldn’t imagine anything better. An electric current seemed to run through his veins, into his heart, making it beat like crazy. This was what it had ached for, ever since the first time he saw her.
But something was wrong. She stiffened, then pulled away and let out a sob. “I—I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I can’t do this.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry.” She turned and rushed towards the car door.
“W—wait!” Dick cried out. “Mia!”
By some miracle, she looked back.
“Did—did I do something wrong?”
“No! No, it’s not you…”
Dick reached out towards her. “Hey, it’s okay, pal. You don’t—it’s okay.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Dick. I can’t…”
“It’s okay. Can—do you want a hug?”
To his surprise, Mia stepped forward and buried her face in Dick’s chest. “Thank you…”
“No worries, pal. I got you.”
So it really was too good to be true. Of course he didn’t blame her one bit—whatever was going on must’ve been pretty bad, from the way she was crying into his shirt. But he should’ve known it wasn’t meant to be. She was too angelic for him to ever really touch her, except as a good pal, holding her just for comfort. Although who was he to complain? Here she was relying on him, trusting him. When they first met, that would’ve seemed impossible too.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and let go of him, wiping her eyes and nose. “Th—thanks, Dick. I really am sorry.”
“I told you, it’s no problem. Do you wanna tell me what’s up?”
She sighed. “It’s just…well, you know what happened to Diego.”
“Diego…oh.” So they’d been together. He’d wondered, a couple times, but of course he would never have asked her.
“You’re a great guy, you really are. I…I hope you can find someone who understands that. But I…I just can’t.”
Dick nodded. “I get it. Or…well, not really, I guess. But I know it’s gotta be hard.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you in court sooner or later. ’Til then…you have a good night, Ms. Fey.”
“You too, Detective Gumshoe.”