“How are things going with Uncle Joe?” Tiffany questioned as she and Seven sat on the porch of the farmhouse.
“I’m really not sure. I haven’t heard from him in a couple weeks since we went to Miami. He said that he was gonna look into some things and give me a call.”
Seven chose not tell Tiffany everything about the Miami trip, most notably the theft of evidence from the police department. It bothered him somewhat that he was keeping something from her, but he assessed that Joey had a very particular way of doing things and chose to keep some things, a lot of things actually, private, just between the two of them. Seven sensed that Joey D. lived his life like that. Just a series of very personal relationships where information is kept private and rarely shared with anyone without a need to know. Seven assumed that it was, in fact, his ability to maintain and regulate confidential information that allowed Joey’s career as an undercover detective to flourish. He managed information like a currency. He knew when to keep it in his pocket and when to throw all the chips on the table.
Tiffany had become a regular at the Thomasville farmhouse. She and Gran had developed an attachment and the old woman found herself anxiously waiting for the weekends to come so she and her new best friend could enjoy a couple days of shopping, cooking, and planning for the day that Tiffany became a permanent part of the family. No one could ever replace the Colonel in her life, but Patty took comfort in Tiffany’s presence. It was nice to have a woman around the house with shared interests. Seven also felt comfortable and at ease when Tiffany came to visit. It felt right for him to have the two women he loved in the same dwelling. He questioned when the right time would be to move the relationship to the next level. There was no doubt in his mind that he had found the perfect woman, companion, and friend. His biggest fear was that he could somehow foul things up by pressuring her to