AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m not ready for this. Then a thought occurred. “If Connor’s my new partner, what’s happening to Howard?”
“He’s retiring, too. Captain told me. He’s met a lady.”
“In baking class?”
“Yes, actually. She was taking the class with her daughter, but the woman lives on the East Coast and was only visiting.” His smile dimmed. “I heard that Howard snapped yesterday when he was watching those videos you found in Driscoll’s backyard. Said he was done. The lady wanted him to move back east with her, but he was waiting till fifty-five. The videos changed his mind. He submitted his resignation yesterday. Said life was too short.”
Kit sighed. “Lots of changes, and that means new people. It’s gonna suck, Baz.”
“You’ll survive. You always do.” His gaze shifted and his face lit up. “Gotta go. My granddaughter’s here. We’ll talk soon.”
He ended the call and she sat on the hay bale, staring at her phone.
He was leaving. Really leaving.
“Hey, Kitty-Cat.”
Kit looked up to find Harlan standing in front of her. Hay clung to his work pants and he had a block of wood in one hand, his carving knife in the other. The stall door was open. “Were you here all along?”
“Sorry. I should have said something.”
“Nah. I would have told you anyway.”
He sat next to her on the bale. “Big changes,” he murmured. “You gonna be okay?”
She shrugged. “I have to be.”
“Change is scary, but it can be good.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you driving at, Pop?”
He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to her with a wince. “Best you see it now.”
She stared at a phone screen for the third time in less than an hour. This time at an article. “Tamsin Kavanaugh,” she seethed. The photo the woman had taken was a little grainy, but Kit and Sam holding Rita was still clear. At least Rita’s face couldn’t be seen because she and Sam had their arms around her.
But Kit’s face was pressed into Sam’s neck and they looked cozy together. Intimate.
“Fuck,” she whispered.
And I have a date with him on Sunday.
“You gonna bolt?” Harlan asked mildly. “Because you look like you’re gonna bolt.”
Kit shuddered out a breath. “I might.” This wasn’t okay. “But if I bolted, I couldn’t get revenge on Tamsin Fucking Kavanaugh.”
Harlan pressed a kiss to her temple. “You should be pitying her. Her mother was awful to give her that middle name.”
Kit laughed, but it came out as a sob. Her life had completely spiraled out of control. Navarro was on leave, Baz was retiring, Connor was her new partner, her damn photo was online looking cozy, and she had a date with sincere Sam Reeves.
“What am I gonna do, Pop?”
“What you always do, Kit. You’re going to live. And I’m going to help you any way I can.”
The tears spilled. “Pop.”
He put his arm around her. “It’ll be okay, Kitty-Cat. I promise.”
“Don’t go anywhere, okay? Please.”
