Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I think they give you twelve hours, but we ran way over that today. We were out about fifteen hours or so. I told my sister we wouldn’t be back until nightfall, though. When she’s working, that’s okay. When she’s not, we need to get you back here in twelve hours.”
“We?” I asked.
He turned the oven on and then started taking down bowls.
“Flour?”
I pointed to the bottom cabinet.
“Eggs?”
I pointed at the same spot.
“We?” I prompted again.
“Yes, we,” he confirmed. “The only way you get to come out is if you’re with someone who has agreed to chaperone your excursions. That’s me or your brother when I’m working.”
I bit my lip.
“My brother’s not going to agree to chaperone me so I can go out,” I told him. “He doesn’t particularly like me and avoids spending time with me.”
“That’s up to you and him to work out,” he said. “But I wouldn’t count your brother out just yet. Just…trust me.”
I got the feeling he knew something I didn’t. But it wouldn’t be until the next week that I learned what that was.
And to say I was surprised would be an understatement.
Chapter 11
I lost one pound this week. Time to reward myself with a hamburger.
-Aspen’s secret thoughts
Drew
“Remember to take your sister out tomorrow,” I told Downy.
Downy nodded. “I’m not going to forget, you fucker.”
I flipped him off and got into the fire truck.
We’d been on our way to go get something to eat when I saw Downy getting out of his SUV, his K-9 officer at his side.
After giving Mocha a scratch between the ears, I turned my attention to Aspen’s wayward brother, who had forgotten about his sister earlier in the day, and I had to call my sister to have her change Aspen’s day from today to tomorrow.
“Seriously, man,” I said. “If you forget tomorrow, she’ll be stuck in that house for another week. My sister can only pull so many strings here.”
Downy nodded and turned his back on me without another word, and I jogged to the engine and climbed back into the driver’s seat.
“What was that about?” PD asked me.
I sighed.
“Downy and his avoidance of anything to do with his sister,” I muttered darkly as I pulled out into traffic.
I made my way into the left lane, which was where we were supposed to drive at all times, and headed to Chili’s, the one and only place that was open at this time on a Friday night.
We were in the middle of cooking dinner at the firehouse when we had to abandon it to go out on a call. When we came back five hours later, it was a congealed mess and no one was up to cooking anymore.
So, instead of hitting the grocery store for more food to cook, we were on our way out for dinner.
“He forgot about her?” PD asked incredulously.
I shrugged.
“I don’t know for sure,” I hesitated. “He got a SWAT call about two hours before he was supposed to pick her up, and it ran into her scheduled time by a couple of hours. Then, when he was done, I think he forgot, but he blew me off when I asked him about it just a minute ago.”
“Maybe he was stuck doing paperwork,” Tai chimed in from the back seat.
I tossed him a look over my shoulder that clearly said, ‘I don’t think so.’
Tai grinned.
“My wife wants to meet your woman,” Tai mentioned. “She’s apparently a legend, you know.”
My brows rose.
“Why?” I asked.
“Everyone in town’s been talking about the scorned cop’s girlfriend who went all Carrie Underwood on his car. When Mia heard you were dating her, she told Masen, and that’s all I’ve been hearing about since,” he explained.
Masen was Mia’s best friend, and Booth’s wife.
The two of them together were twin tornados. Add Aspen into that mix, and I feared for the safety of everyone in this town with the antics I could see them pulling if they, and we, weren’t careful.
“She still mad at you?” PD asked, his eyes going over to Naomi who’d been sitting quietly the entire time.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Won’t even give me the chance to get close to her before she shies away.”
My eyes went to Naomi’s, who quickly looked away before she could make contact too long.
“That’s understandable,” PD said. “She didn’t know you were married.”
“I’m not fucking married,” I spat. “I’m fucking divorced. My ex just likes torture me by prolonging the inevitable.”
“No,” Naomi said quietly from the backseat. “You just reminded her of the very thing that her parents did. If my memory serves me right, she told you that Danny cheated on her. She also told me she told you about her mother and the situation with her father. She doesn’t do cheating, and you let her do that without her even knowing it, whether you see yourself as divorced or not.”