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“What do we do?” Luke asked. “What can we do from our end?”
I glanced away from the side of Hayes’ face and looked at Luke.
His eyes flicked to Hayes and then back to me, a question in the depths.
I ignored the wordless question and answered his verbal one.
“I think the school board needs to be let in on what’s been going on,” I said. “They have a meeting scheduled in a few weeks. And, unfortunately, I think that the multiple stand-ins for our real resource officer needs to be stopped. We need full-time. They need to be able to count on him. And working between three officers, sometimes four, isn’t what they need.”
“I can’t come back,” Smitty sighed. “Not yet anyway.”
He patted his chest, and that was answer enough.
“I don’t want to work there full-time,” Toomey admitted. “I hate it there. And it shows.”
It did.
“At least you’re honest,” Lock said.
“Do any of you others want full-time?”
The other three officers that were there when Toomey wasn’t shook their heads.
“So we need to find someone that wants to be there full-time,” Luke said. “And I have a few people that I think might work for that position. One’s a new mother. She’s been asking for different hours.”
“Parsons?” my dad asked.
“Yeah, her,” Luke confirmed. “She actually wanted a desk job until she stopped breastfeeding. I think that it might work out for her at least temporarily if she doesn’t want it full-time.”
Dad nodded.
“Okay,” Luke said. “I can have that full-time officer there hopefully in the next week or so. Toomey, you good finishing out the week?”
Toomey nodded.
“Then let’s dismiss.” Luke stood.
The room emptied out fast after that, leaving only my brother, Luke, Hayes and me standing there.
“Now tell me honestly,” Luke said, eyes on me. “What do you feel, gut instinct?”
“I feel like something needs to be done now, or we’re going to regret it later,” I admitted. “I think a few visits, every day, for a couple of weeks from officers would be a good thing for the students to see. Especially the asshole seniors.”
Luke made eye contact with me.
“The SWAT team can make an appearance,” he said. “We can also do a school drill. One like we did last month at the elementary.”
My belly tightened.
Even the thought of having to ever reenact those kind of protocols made my gut boil.
“I can talk to the men,” Hayes paused, looking as if that sounded like the worst thing in the world.
I had a feeling that it wasn’t that he didn’t like his new SWAT team. I just didn’t think he liked talking. He liked being a part of the team, but not the focus of it.
Luke laughed at his obvious discomfort.
“I’ll talk to them tomorrow,” he said. “Or, more accurately, I’ll talk to Foster.”
Hayes blew out a relieved breath. “Thanks.”
Luke nodded his head, dismissing us with a sweep of his hand.
I didn’t stay behind to talk more.
I was exhausted. My feet really were starting to hurt.
And I had a hot dog calling my name at the Weiner Express.
“What’s your hurry?” Hayes asked as I practically sprinted out of the hall.
Oh, only that I don’t know what to do with you, and you make me incredibly nervous while also setting my blood on fire.
“I’m trying to get out of here before five o’clock so that I can hit up the Weiner Express for a foot-long chili cheese dog before everyone else does the same,” I said
His eyes narrowed as he pushed open the door that led outside.
“You’re not going to wait for your family?” he asked curiously.
And have them ask me what the hell was going on with Hayes and me? I think not.
“No.” I shrugged. “They’re busy doing work things.”
His lips twitched, as if he knew that I was lying, but he thought it was cute.
“Listen,” he said, catching my hand before I could get two steps out of the door. “I need to…”
“Yo!”
Hayes’ eyes narrowed and focused on something over my shoulder, causing me to blow out a ravaged breath.
Shit.
What had Hayes been going to say?
And why did it feel like the end of the world that he didn’t get to say it?
I looked over my shoulder and was unsurprised to find Ryan there.
He always knew the best time to ruin a conversation.
“Ryan,” Hayes said. “What are you doing here?”
Ryan hitched up the boy in his arms. A boy that finally looked clean for once.
He also had a riot of curls just like me.
“I was hoping that I could get you to watch Raj for a couple of hours,” Ryan said, eyes bouncing between us. “I have a date with my fiancé that I planned a while ago.” He narrowed his eyes. “And you’re not answering the phone.”
Hayes immediately shook his head no.
“No can do,” he said. “My shift starts in an hour. One of my buddies on the SWAT team had to go home because of his kid being sick. I agreed to cover his shift.”
