She would have answered with something sarcastic but saw his father staring at them. She blushed three shades of red, especially when Jimmy chuckled and said, “Yep. Mack’s a real chip off the old block.”
Chapter Nineteen
Mack thought dinner had gone well. He ignored Xavier’s pointed stares throughout the meal and didn’t act put out that despite all the sports and wedding talk, the family once again settled into cop talk.
A major case James had worked on. Alec’s exciting work in SWAT followed by Xavier’s thoughts about the officers in his precinct, which had Cass chiming in, not afraid to state her opinion.
Usually, all the talk about a profession he wasn’t a part of had him feeling left out, but hearing Cass chime in didn’t bother him. At first.
Xavier added something about a call Sasha had taken.
“Oh yeah,” Sasha said with a grin. “That big fight involving a family reunion at Wing Luke Elementary? That was something.” She turned to Cass. “Weren’t you on the scene of that one?”
“We both were,” Cass said with a nod at Mack. “It was a mess. Family fighting, half of them drunk, over a football game.”
“Well, I mean, it’s football,” James said.
His wife poked him. “Not thatyou’dever get in a fight over a silly game.”
Cass and Mack looked at each other, and Mack mouthed,Slide tackle.
She coughed. “We had three cars there to handle the rowdy players. Mack showed up to patch them up.”
“Brad and I were on call,” he said.
“Did you kiss all their booboos?” Xavier smirked. “Band-Aids and they’re all better?”
“You know, it’s not just a rumor. You really are an ass,” Cass said, which shut everyone up.
“Rumor? Who said that?” Xavier glared at Mack.
Cass continued as if she hadn’t just insulted his brother. “One guy lost his front teeth. It was gross. Right, Mack?”
“We had a few sprains, broken bones, and a pretty bad concussion,” Mack added. “All over a family reunion gone wrong. I guess that shows you we should skip the one next year,” he said to his mom.
“Nice try.”
His dad cut in, “So Cass, you’re a patrol officer, yes?” At her nod, he said, “Have you thought about what you’ll do after patrol? Or do you want a career right where you are? Nothing wrong with serving the community on patrol to retirement.”
“I’m not sure. I have the best partner right now, but we’re both at that period where we can make choices. We’ve talked about becoming detectives, maybe.”
James nodded. “It’s definitely better hours. More nine to five. What shift do you work now?”
“Third watch. 1930 to 0430. It’s not bad, really, but I wouldn’t mind not working through the night.”
Try 24/7 several times a month,Mack wanted to say. He hadn’t known Cass had thought about shifting her duties. Then again, they hadn’t known each other that long, which felt wrong to him because he’d swear he knew her so very well.
But maybe not because she grew more animated with his family. They seemed enthralled with her, which he could understand. But the more she talked, the further she drifted from him.
While they questioned her about the job, leaving Mack and the rest of them to talk among themselves, Mack turned to Dean and asked about any available training slots in his schedule. He could use some more arm workouts to enhance his endurance on the job. Plus, Dean happened to be one of the best trainers in the city.
He noticed Ashley and his mom talking about dinner and recipes, but the rest of the table dug into the cop life, bantering, laughing, and acting as if everyone else didn’t exist.
The dinner finally wrapped up, and he’d had enough, sitting through an excruciating pumpkin pie while his brothers told stories about what a loser he’d been as a kid. So small and helpless. He laughed where he was supposed to and pretended being teased and taunted while growing up had been fun and not so often demoralizing.
Finally, he and a laughing Cass said their goodbyes, easing out the front door after being told to return, and soon. Yep, they’d loved her, as he’d expected. Unfortunately, they’d loved her a little too well.
He said little as they walked toward the car, only to be stopped by Xavier, who raced out after them.
