“Tell Cupcake to leave you alone, Miss Daisy.” Garrett scratched her chin, sending her eyes to rolling back in her head.
“Christ, man, please don’t call me Cupcake in front of my cops.”
Garrett gave one of his deep belly laughs. “I’ll try to resist.”
“How’s Derrick?”
“Lovely as ever. He’d be perfect if he’d stop trying to keep bad guys out of jail.”
The man had actually sighed at hearing his husband of six years’ name. They
were as different as night and day. The two of them—Garrett, the hard-ass cop and Derrick with his public defender’s liberal heart—should be like oil and water, but somehow they made it work. Derrick reminded me of the actor Henry Cavill, but with the most piercing green eyes I’d ever seen.
Garrett, on the other hand, looked more like a pit bull and had the tenacity of one. He worked out every day, had the body to prove it, and had the face of what I thought of as an MMA fighter’s—strong jaw and chin, almost black eyes that could snare you in their glare, and leathery skin that could take a hit without splitting open.
“Now that we’ve gotten my love life out of the way, let’s talk about yours. You still doing the celibate thing? Not good for you, man.”
“There’s someone.”
Not surprisingly, he went into pit-bull mode on hearing that, plying me with questions. I told him about Jenny and her dream to see the world.
Garrett glanced behind him. “You seeing what I’m seeing, Miss Daisy?” Daisy gave him one of her doggy grins.
“What?” I said when he winked at my dog as if the two of them shared a secret.
“Your eyes light up when you talk about your Jenny. You’re in love with her.”
I glanced at him. “I guess I am, or at least getting there. Nothing will come of it since she’s leaving soon.” And I had to figure out how to put a stop to wanting more than she was willing to give.
“You need to romance the hell out of her. You know, sweep her off her feet until she forgets about taking off on you. Either that or quit your job and go with her. You got plenty of money to see you through a life of leisure.”
I didn’t admit that I’d briefly considered doing just that before dismissing the idea. First, Jenny had never indicated she wanted me tagging along on her travels, and second, I had a contract to honor… if I still had a job after all was said and done.
“It’s really pretty here,” Garrett said, glancing around as we exited the interstate. “If I ever get Derrick to take time off, we should come here for vacation.”
I snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“Yeah, the man’s gonna end up dying at his desk, which is really going to piss me off.”
“Maybe you should try kidnapping him.”
Garrett’s eyes lit up with unholy glee. “Damn, Cupcake, that’s a great idea.”
And it wouldn’t at all surprise me if Garrett did just that in the near future. I pulled into the department’s parking lot. “Well, here we are. You have no idea how much I don’t want to do this.” All my officers’ cars were in the lot as I’d told them there would be a short meeting before the shift change.
“Chin up, my friend. Out of the three people involved, you were the only one innocent of any wrongdoing.”
That wasn’t true. I was guilty of turning my back on Christine when she’d needed me the most. But Garrett would argue with me if I voiced my regret, so I only nodded.
“Anyone going to have a problem with what you’re going to tell them?” Garrett asked as we walked toward the door.
“One for sure. Moody, my captain. I’m working on kicking his ass out the door. Other than him, I’m hoping not.” We stopped outside the entry while I filled him in on my issues with Moody.
“He definitely needs to go. You can’t have him going behind your back, attempting to undo all you’re trying to accomplish”
“I know. It was on my list to deal with today. Then Jack showed his lovely face.” The last thing I wanted to do was to walk into that building and talk about Christine to my cops. Daisy inserted herself between us, her doggy gaze locked on me. She whined, apparently picking up on the tension radiating from me. I put my hand on her head, letting her know that whatever happened, she was mine.
We walked into the lobby, and all my cops gathered there fell silent. My stomach decided this was a good time to act up, and I wished I had some antacids. The speech I’d prepared deserted me at seeing the people I’d come to care for waiting to hear why they’d been called to a special meeting. I’d come here wanting to be the one to make them proud of being a Blue Ridge Valley police officer, but I was about to be their biggest disappointment.
