Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“What about dinner with your folks this week?”
I open my mouth to lie, but he continues.
“I ran in to Robin at the grocery store two days ago. She promised that tonight she’ll stick to a tried-and-true recipe.”
I chuckle because that’s what’s expected of me, but I feel a little bulldozed right now. I can’t heal and allow some scabs to form over that part of me that let myself imagine a life with this man if people in my life keep interfering.
“I’ll see you tonight, then,” I say. “I have cold stuff that I really need to get back to the bakery.”
It takes everything I have to fight tears when he leans over and presses his lips to my temple.
“See ya soon, Ads.”
My vision is hazy with tears all the way through town, but I have to keep the car straight because he follows me all the way back to the bakery, flashing his lights for a few seconds before driving away.
Chapter 29
Cash
I’m not exactly a helpless man, but I’ve always looked forward to the meals I share with Adalynn and her family. Not only do I get to spend time with her, but I’m less inclined to cook for myself. I’ve eaten mostly sandwiches and cereal these last couple of weeks.
I knew Adalynn was avoiding me, but I’m over that shit. When Robin invited me to dinner, I only hesitated, to give Ads the space she clearly wanted, for a second. I figured it was fate stepping in and reminding me that what we have is special even if it won’t include all the extracurricular fun we were allowed for a little over a week.
I’m doubting fate just as quickly when it’s almost time for my shift to end and Chandler stands in the doorway of my office.
The look in his red eyes tells me everything. The man had to bring his father home from the hospital on hospice in the middle of last week. His cancer returned almost two months ago, and there was just nothing that could be done.
I’m a strong man, but when he clears his throat to unclog the emotion lodged there, my own eyes burn.
“He’s gone,” he whispers. “I just couldn’t stay home. The funeral home came and got him, and it was just too quiet.”
I nod as I walk across the room to him, forgetting all the bravado that men are supposed to have. Bruce Jacobs treated me like a son the second Chandler started working at the police station. If I had to explain my chosen family, the Jacobs men wouldn’t be very far behind the Tates and Adalynn’s stepfather, Charlie Gibson.
He wraps his arms around me, his chest shuddering with a sob.
Much too quickly, he takes a step back, swiping an angry hand at the tears on his cheeks.
“He’d be pissed to see me so upset.”
“He wouldn’t,” I quickly argue. “He’d know how much he’s loved.”
“I need to work,” he says, but I’m quick to shake my head.
He may need to stay busy, but it wouldn’t be fair to him or the citizens of Lindell if he made the wrong choice while on duty. We deal with life-and-death situations, and those require our full attention.
“Why don’t I have the SO cover for us and we head to The Frog instead?”
He nods in quick agreement.
“Give me a few minutes to set it up, and then you can follow me to my house. I’ll play designated driver tonight, and then you can crash on the couch.”
“That sounds perfect.”
If the man doesn’t want to be in the same house where he was raised, that has now become the house his father passed away in, then it’s nothing for me to offer my place while he deals with his loss.
He gives me a little privacy in my office as I call the sheriff’s department to let them know that we’ll need some help tonight. All of our emergency calls go through them anyway since we don’t have a dispatcher of our own.
They’re quick to agree. Mike let me know that they’d already fielded the call from the funeral home about the transport of Bruce Jacobs’s body.
I fire off a text to Adalynn to let her know that I wouldn’t be making it to dinner tonight, and I hate the simple okay I get when she responds.
Eastyn has already left for the day, and I was only sticking around the office, waiting for dinner at the Tates’ house, so I make sure to lock the office up behind Chandler and me when we leave.
I keep darting my eyes to his truck in my rearview, but he seems to be driving okay. I’ve dealt with a lot of death in my time as a police officer. There have been vehicular accidents, old folks in town passing away. The town collectively dealt with the news of Hux Kennedy’s death as well as the shooting that happened nearly two years ago, but this may very well be the first person I’ve lost that I would consider myself close to.