Page 52 of Tied Over

“Huh.”

“He has a little sister,” Bodhi told her. “And he practically raised her.”

“Oh, that’s what it is.”

When we were growing up on the ranch, my Aunt Roz was really good to us, but maternal she was not. I had to mother Lisa, and I had. It was how I was made, a bit parental, which was why I had been the person new deputies always got paired with. It was how I originally got Bodhi. The difference was, he stuck. I’d never met another person, ever, who soothed me just by being around. He felt like home, and that had been the case from the beginning. From the first day we met, it was like, oh, there you are. Old friends, not new ones. Too bad I’d missed that it could have been more, but that was okay because I knew in my heart he deserved far better than me. And also—and the thought was really petty when you got down to it, but honestly—as my partner, he would always spend more time with me than anyone else. No way around that. Hayden would never be rid of me.

Checking the rest of the kids, telling them they all passed, I ordered them to grab a blanket and a pillow and get back to their seats. The chairs were all recliners, and Bodhi and I got up and reclined them all, made sure everyone was situated, and if they needed to be propped up higher, we got them more pillows so they could see before we started the next movie. It was supposed to be Bambi. I gave that a hard no, and we ended up watching Zootopia, which I didn’t mind since it had a law-enforcement component. I had watched it with Lisa’s kids years ago.

“You’re really going to stay down here and watch this movie with the kids?” Angie seemed utterly stunned over this development.

“Yeah, why not?”

“But…” She pointed up. “Drinks and snacks and game night.”

Zach scoffed. “Not game night. That’s not gonna lure anyone away.”

She looked from me to Bodhi and back. “I just don’t want to take advantage.”

“Beat it,” I told her, and she grabbed hold of her husband’s hand and left.

“What’s wrong with you?” Bodhi asked once the movie started.

“Nothing. Be quiet. Backstory is important.”

Leaning sideways in his chair, he gestured to me. I met him halfway. “What?”

“Listen, Stella and her dad, that’s not your crap to fix, yeah?”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know, not in your heart. I know you, and I know that look on your face, and I know what you’re thinking.”

“Lotta knowing in there.”

“Be serious.”

“I am.”

“I understand precisely what’s going on in your head.”

“You do not.”

He scoffed. “You’re thinking, I could fix this. How can I fix this?”

It was possible I was thinking about that. And about him because, of course, I always thought about him.

“He’s her dad,” Bodhi reminded me, shooting me a look meant to make me use my brain. “She won’t feel like this forever. She’s seven. It’s just, at the moment, her whole life was shaken in a horrible way for several days, and then you show up and voilà, all fixed up. I mean, c’mon, Jed. You saw her, you listened, give her a minute to work it all out.”

“I get it. You know I do.”

“You do and don’t, because you’re the king of downplaying the whole knight-in-shining-armor thing. I don’t understand why you do that, but you always do.”

“Watch the movie.”

“Really?” He shot me a look. “Orders?”

I groaned.