Page 54 of Smitty

Without a doubt.

Can’t remember the last time I had one.

Brooke:

We’ll have to rectify that.

Me:

Please do.

Brooke:

You’d have to share with Anslee.

Me:

Wouldn’t have it any other way.

She’s perfect, Brooke.

Perfect wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t enough. There weren't words big enough for what I felt looking at her or her mother. My thumb drifted over the picture again. Eighteen months. All because I'd gotten in my damn head and was worried about being good enough. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes.

I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

Even now, just thinking her name made my jaw tighten. I’d been working with Cyrus for over six months when she first showed up at the shop, and from the second Cyrus introduced us, she was on me. She was constantly touching my arm, laughing at stupid things I’d say, and finding reasons to show up.

She was Cyrus’ granddaughter. I couldn’t be a dick. So, I played it off and did what I could to ignore her without being rude. I figured she would eventually get bored and move on. And she did, but it wasn’t until after Brooke saw her kiss me.

It was hard to discover that keeping the peace had cost me a hell of a lot more than a paycheck. It had cost me Brooke, and it cost me the first year and a half with my daughter.

The sound of voices coming from down the hallway caught my attention. I stood and peered out the door just in time to see Drifter coming out of Stone’s room. His expression told me everything I needed to know. His brother was alive but seeing him lying up in that hospital bed had hit him harder than he'd expected.

He scrubbed a hand over his beard as Ace walked over to him. They talked for a moment, then they started in my direction. I stayed where I was, pretending to be more interested in my soda than their conversation. Drifter came over and asked, “You good?”

“About to ask you the same.”

“Better now that I had a minute with Stone.” He motioned his head over to the guy in the corner. “We were just about to see if Mercy’s found anything on the guys who did this.”

“Mind if I listen in?”

“Absolutely.”

I followed him and Ace across the room to where Mercy was sitting. He was still hammering away at his computer and didn’t even notice when we walked up. Ace nudged him with his knee. “Any luck?”

“Getting there.”

“Gonna need more than that.”

“Got into the city’s network, and I was able to track down the camera footage.” He looked up at Ace as he told him, “It’s a tough watch.”

“Let us see.”

After a few keystrokes, Mercy turned one of the monitors so we could see the screen. Seconds later, the footage started rolling. There wasn’t much traffic, so it was easy to spot Stone’s truck sitting at the red light.

Mercy moved to the next frame where a blue Mercedes came into view.

Another click, and he points to the screen. “You can see here where their window comes down.”