“Yeah, it’s great advertising. I tell everyone who walks through the office.”
“You work at a dentist office.”
She shrugs. “Yeah, they have to eat too.”
“But…” I form the objection in my head but let it die on my lips. It won’t do any good anyway.
“Either way, girls.” Katy stands between Tabitha and me putting her arms around our shoulders. “Between the three of us we’ve got a lot of future to live.”
Tabitha flashes me a look. “Is this where we fade out into the sweet sentimental moment? Ride off into the sunset?” she asks.
Katy squeezes my shoulder harder. “Yes, and you’re ruining it. There’s no sunset, or horses, but we’ve got a big ass glass window and our aprons. I’ve got so many plans.”
EPILOGUE
* Bennett *
I swipe my thumb across the print scanner and, when it beeps, open the door. The heavy steel door opens with a squeak. Behind it Ridge’s private office. The one he doesn’t show anyone else. This is where the real action happens and where he keeps all his private files on our high profile clients.
“I thought you were gonna do something about that?” I ask taking a seat in front of the large desk in the middle the room. Papers and manila folders are stacked in tall piles on either side of Ridge.
He looks up from whatever he’d been working on with flattened lips. “The door? I’d have time to take care of the door if I wasn’t always chasing someone’s girlfriend around.”
“Hey, Anessa was not my girlfriend when this whole thing started. And the first time it was your girlfriend.” I laugh, stretching back in the metal chair. He can complain all he wants, but the truth the matter is Ridge lives for the kind of excitement we’ve had the last few months. We all do. “Doesn’t your dad own a hardware store? Ask him to help.”
“Riley’s been ‘borrowing’ supplies from my dad for years. It’s a touchy subject.” More than once he’s walked to his garage to grab a tool only to find it missing.
You don’t go in the navy and become a SEAL because you want a quiet life back home. No, that happens after years into service. After all the bloodshed, fighting, long days, and longer nights.
“I’ll get somebody on the door.” He closes the flap of the folder without even reading it and tosses it on top of the large stack to his left. “How is Anessa doing?”
“Surprisingly well.” For a woman who’s been kidnapped and shot at more than once over the last few days, she really hasn’t had any major breakdowns.
It’s definitely hot.
A woman who can stand up for herself and handle problems in a crisis — basically the woman of my dreams. Not that I’m ready to admit it any time soon. I’m a package deal. Whoever takes me has to take Liam as well, and while right now Anessa seems like she’s all on board, a child is a huge responsibility. I want to give her plenty of time to realize how crazy my life isn’t and let her back out while she can.
“The whole thing just pisses me off.” Ridge pushes a few files to the side in anger. “How the fuck did we lose Kevin? We were right there.”
“He’s out there somewhere. We’re going to find him.”
He grabs a folder at the top of his pile and tosses it my way. “We better hurry up. It’s making us look bad. Ridge Jefferson can’t find one two-bit criminal in a county with a population under 10,000.”
“Don’t worry. I have leads looking for him. The only way he could stay under our radar is if Frankie picks him up. And he be better off in our custody because you know how it will end up if Frankie finds him first.”
Dead. He doesn’t need to say it out loud. We both know.
“Until we find him, I want somebody based inside the bakery at all times. I’m not letting anyone have the chance to pull this kind of shit again.”
I flip open the case file and see a mug shot from nobody connected with the current case. “I’ve already warned Anessa that Spencer will be a permanent fixture for a while.”
“Good.” Ridge dumps another folder in the trash by the desk. “He asked for time off in October to attend some bachelor party, but before that I’d like to get him more involved with regular cases. He’s been around long enough to know how we work.”
I like Spencer. He’s laid back and somebody I trust with my ass in a life-or-death situation. “We’ll need to hire more guys.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And probably a receptionist.”
