“Who’s we—oh, ofcourse,” Coop sighs. Lola looks up towards her owner and smiles wider. “You act like I never give you any love or attention, which isn’t true. I give you all the pets I can when we aren’t working and you know that.”
I chuckle at how he talks to his dog like she’s a human, continuing to give Lola the attention she’s vying for.
“Hey, Hanna, nice to see you again,” he says to me with a wave. I’m impressed he remembers my name since I’ve only met him once.
“Hi, nice to see you too. Rae told me you called her. She was awfully impressed by you,” I say, standing from where I’m petting Lola. She decides to get the love she wants elsewhere and trots over to Ivy who slips her a piece of egg from the skillet.
“I was impressed by her. She’s a wealth of knowledge and resources. I’m glad I called her; the situation was so much better handled with her help.”
“She’s good people,” I say, nodding my head knowingly.
“You think she’d be open to doing a workshop or something at the station? It might be nice to get her insight on how to handle things from the social worker side. Sometimes these calls really need a level-headed professional on site more than a cop,” he says heavily, pushing out a breath like a heavy weight was on his chest.
“I’m sure if you asked her, she would be totally open to talking details.” Something about his demeanor has my senses tingling. I can feel the heaviness he carries with him as if it’s sitting on my own two shoulders instead of his. What is it with the men of this family taking on the entire world on their own?
“I’ll call her and set something up.” Coop nods. “Where’s my sister?”
“Not here yet,” Miles answers, slipping a piece of sausage off the plate Ivy had set out. She quickly slaps his hand and scowls at him and I have to bite back my giggles. “Carter isn’t here yet either.”
“Huh, not like those two to be late,” Coop ponders,sinking down into a chair at the dining table. Almost as if on cue, the sound of the front door closing comes from down the hall. Lola takes off to investigate and it isn’t long until a high-pitched voice can be heard.
“Hello, my little Lola bean. I missed you, yes I did, I missed you so much. You’re the cutest little deadly puppy I’ve ever seen.” The woman is speaking to the dog like she’s speaking to a baby and I can hear Cooper groan from the table.
“Pleasedo not talk to my professional working dog like that. It messes with her brain,” he snarks.
“No, big brother, I think it messes withyourbrain. I think you secretly want someone to baby your big macho ass in your free time,” the girl quips, giving Cooper a once over. His only response is to roll his eyes and huff out a breath.
“Hey, Mom, sorry we’re late,” Carter says, stepping around the younger girl and leaning in to give Ivy a hug.
“No worries, my son. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he responds like he’s out of breath.
“Did you two come together?” Miles asks, raising a brow at them.
“What?” Carter asks hastily, looking like a deer in headlights. “Oh, you meantdrivehere together. Yeah, we did. I picked her up.”
“Why?” It’s Cooper who speaks this time.
“Because we did, big brother. I asked Carter to pick me up so he did,” she says, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Are you wearing a Firehouse Nine shirt?” Miles asks, reaching over and pulling at the navy blue shirt she has on. I noticed it when she first came into the room alongwith the alarm bells going off in my head but I wasn’t going to be the one to say anything.
“Why are you all giving us the third degree? Jesus lord have mercy,” she huffs, rolling her eyes at the others. Then she turns and faces me with a smile. “Hi, I’m Willow.”
“I’m Hanna,” I reply, taking the hand she’s offering me and shaking it. As I look at her, I notice how bright her red hair is and wonder if it’s natural. Based on the emerald green of her eyes and the way a couple dozen freckles dance across her nose, I’m going to assume that it is.
“Are you the girlfriend?” She tucks her chin into her shoulder and gives me a half smirk as she asks.
“Willie,” Carter sneers under his breath but I still hear it. She shoots him a glare.
“I sure am,” I say back, matching her energy.
She squeals and then pulls me into a hug. “Finally! Another girl to come to breakfast. I was getting tired of these boys. They’reso annoying,” she sneers, dragging her gaze back to Carter.
“Ungrateful pain in my ass,” he mutters under his breath before moving to grab a glass out of a cabinet.
“What was that, sweetie?” Ivy asks, raising a brow at him.
