“I will.” She slipped out of my arms and turned to leave, but not before I saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Tell Daisy I’ll really miss her.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, that message was meant for me. I watched her walk away, the ache in my heart growing with each step she took.
“Good-bye, Jenny Girl,” I whispered.
Christine’s ghost returned.
“Hello, Dy.”
I groaned at hearing the voice in my mind. “I thought you were gone for good.” I pulled my pillow over my head, but she was still there.
“I thought so, too, but I came back to help you. Why are you letting her slip through your fingers?”
So now my dead wife was giving me love advice? Weird.“Now you sound like Garrett. Are you talking to him, too?”
She laughed. “Maybe I’m channeling him.”
Oh, joy. Both of them in my head at once? “Get out of my mind, Christine. I’m not going to talk to you about Jenny.”
“You’re a fool for letting her go, Dylan.”
That was probably true. I struggled up from sleep, annoyed that when troubled, my mind was still conjuring up my wife’s voice. It had been a long day. Wary of my mood after I’d returned from the hospital, my officers had kept their heads down. Even Daisy had anxiously followed my every move, her worried eyes never leaving me.
“Stop watching me,” I snapped at seeing her sitting a few feet from my bed. When she whined and hung her head, I sighed. “I’m sorry, girl. It’s just that I’m having a hard time right now. Nothing you did.”
That seemed to placate her. She barked in answer, then returned to her bed. An hour later I gave up trying to go back to sleep. Was I making a mistake letting Jenny go? She’d all but said she’d stay if I asked. I didn’t know the right answer. My hesitation was because I couldn’t get past one thing. If she loved me, I wouldn’t have to ask her to stay. If she loved me, I would be more important than the dreams of two young girls. So I wouldn’t ask, and she wouldn’t stay. End of story.
The weekbefore the wedding I spent the days getting my station in order. To keep my mind off Jenny, I was in my office early and still there late. I rode with each of my uniformed officers, observing how they handled calls, and then discussing ways they could improve. They seemed to appreciate it. Doing evaluation rides had been a part of Moody’s job description, but I’d learned he’d never once ridden with any of them.
Sarah was promoted to captain, and Kim was just as excited to be promoted to junior detective status.
There was an air of pride in their department from my officers these days that had been missing when I’d arrived on the job. Their new uniforms had arrived this morning, and they hadn’t wasted any time changing out of the puky-green ones. Dressed in the black cargo pants and dark blue Henleys, even their posture was straighter.
“Do I look badass?” Tommy asked from the doorway of my office.
I let my gaze travel over him. “Do you even have to ask?” He was getting ready to go out on the late shift, and like the morning people, as soon as he saw his new uniform, he’d headed for the locker room to change.
“Just making sure my eyes weren’t lying.” A big grin crossed his face. “I never thought we’d get cool uniforms. As far as all of us are concerned, you’re a rock star, Chief.”
With that, he walked away. I stared at the empty doorway as a strange combination of contentment and a sense of loss enveloped me. I’d known when I accepted the position as chief of police that I would do a good job. I’d come here expecting to do just that, although I’d thought it might take longer to win my officers’ loyalty. What I realized now was that they had been desperate for guidance and discipline. That I’d been able to give them what they needed was thanks in large part to Garrett and how he trained and treated his cops.
Picking my phone up from my desk, I put my finger on his name in my contact list to give him a call.
“If you ask nicely, I’ll give you your job back,” he said in greeting.
“Demote myself from chief to detective? I don’t think so.”
“Then why are you calling me, other than because you love me?”
“That I do.” I leaned back in my chair. “I’m calling because I decided it was time to thank you. Something I should have done long ago.”
“For what?”
His gravelly voice would always be one of my favorite sounds. “For making me the cop I am today. Not to get mushy on you, but I was thinking about that just now, how you took a green kid and made him into something he could be proud of.”
“Fuck, Dylan, you’re gonna make me cry.”
I smiled at my phone. “When’s Derrick going to get you to clean up that foul mouth of yours?”
