He caught it. “Listen. I do need to tell you something.”
Her smile fell. “Oh no. What? You’re not coming back to the police department.”
He stilled. “What? Do you think I shouldn’t?”
“What—no. Of course I don’t.”
“Because you miss me.”
“I ... I mean, everybody misses you—”
“You’re a little lost without me.”
“I am not lost.” She reached over and took back the thrown oven mitt. “I barely notice you’re gone. I look around, oh, where’s the guy who’s supposed to bring me coffee?”
“I never brought you coffee.”
“You did. Twice.” She fitted on the oven mitt and retrieved the next pizza.
“You did, Daws. I was there.” Axel glanced over at him, grinning.
He rolled his eyes.
She turned, still holding the pizza, set it on a cutting board, then looked at him. “Fine. Maybe I miss you a tiny bit. The kind that happens when you have the flu—you get to miss three days, but you’re miserable the entire time.”
“Oh, that hurt.”
She grinned. “Pizza?”
“Fine. No, I’m not coming back—at least for now. Caspian and I are going to do a little service dog refresher course, and he’s going to work at the hospital.”
“Really. Caspian has ajob?”
“Apparently, he’s a PTSD dog. Or, at least, according to Vic, and I made some calls to Midnight Sun Service Dog Organization. They have refresher classes, and they’ll train me to be a handler.”
“Good. Because you need all the help you can get.” She cut the pizza and dished a piece up for him. “Can he sense when you’re being an idiot too?”
His mouth opened.
“It’s been a week since Keely left, and you still haven’t gone after her.”
He blinked, and she held up a hand. “She’s not my favorite after what she said to you at the cabin, but the fact is, youdohave a hero complex, and youdoalways have to save the day, and maybe that is a little bit annoying.”
He just stared at her.
“And yet still loveable,” Axel said.
“Really?”
Axel shrugged, all grins.
Flynn rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying that I saw the woman in Starlight Pizza later that day, and she asked about you. Seemed a little broken up that you’d left Copper Mountain—”
“But I hadn’t—”
“I know. But I thought you were getting a ride with Moose. I didn’t realize you were going to have some sort of family reunion.”
Neither did he.
