Devon focused on her again and smiled. “Where’s Caleb today?”
“Working.”
“Good. He said he might get back to it, but I wasn’t about to rush him. You two take all the time you need.”
Lori rose and went back to pouring herself a glass of juice. “Sweetie, he wants to work. It makes him happy, and he knows the company needs to get back on its feet.”
“I should get over there myself, but John said the chief wants to see me.”
Lori lifted a brow at him. “About what?”
“It’s apparently personal. Maybe she wants to threaten me into treating her daughter with respect.”
Lori laughed at that. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall.”
“I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing, Lori.”
“I know Caleb gave you advice, and for once, I agree with him. He isn’t a total buffoon. If something ever happened to me and he was left to raise Maisie alone, I’d expect him to move on.” She narrowed her eyes. “Now, if he found some eighteen-year-old before the grass grew over my grave, I’d come back to haunt his ass.”
Devon laughed. “I think we can agree I let the grass grow over me.”
She tilted her head in contemplation. “Maybe, but you had to be ready. I’d struggle, Devon, if I was in your shoes. I wouldn't know what to do.”
He shrugged. “It’s not easy to think I could come to love Chloe when I feel married to someone else, even if she hasn’t been here in five years.”
“There’s room in that heart of yours, Devon. If you had another child, you wouldn’t love Hailey less in order to love the new one.”
“Don’t you think that’s apples to oranges?”
Lori sipped her juice. “Maybe.”
Still, it gave him something to think about when he left. He drove to the police station with some small sense of trepidation. He wasn't in the mindset to defend himself to someone’s parent, or to explain what he couldn't even put into words. It would have been a better idea to meet the chief in a different capacity.
“Devon McMillan to see Chief Hemsworth,” he told the person behind the desk.
“Just a second.”
Devon sat down in the closest plastic chair. The entire building was brown, from the walls to the chairs to the carpet. It almost had a log cabin feel to it.
“Devon,” he heard, and looked up to see the chief coming toward him.
He stood and held out his hand. “Hello, Chief.”
“Come on back,” Chief Hemsworth said after they’d shaken hands.
Devon vaguely remembered the scene in John’s office months before and found himself feeling twitchy. He followed along down the hallway until they reached a door withPolice Chief Rebecca Hemsworthwritten on it.
Devon took a seat again as Chief Hemsworth sat behind the desk crowded with paperwork and old pictures of Chloe.
“Devon, thanks for coming. I know this might be a little awkward, but I just wanted to chat with you unofficially.”
“I understand.” He wiped sweaty palms on his jeans.
“Chloe tells me you two discussed Leo to some extent.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t have to call me ma’am, Devon. Rebecca is fine.”
