“You sure about that? He was at your house a couple of times in the middle of the night.” I don’t know why I’m surprised he knows this.
“So are you the reason my electricity got cut?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe, maybe not. What difference does it make?”
“It makes a huge difference,” I hiss at him. “If they think I did it, they’re going to charge me.”
“Oh, please, they can’t do shit. Besides, it looks like this guy can take care of you.”
“Stop following him,” I snap, and he leers at me. “He’s just a friend.”
My father is about to say something else when Roman comes out. “Everything okay here?” He looks at me and then at my father.
“Everything is just peachy,” my father replies. “Paying a visit to my daughter is all.”
“Well, we have to get going,” Roman declares, even though we haven’t gotten a call out yet. He moves with me to get the gurney into the ambulance, and when I look up, my father is gone.
I let out a sigh, but there’s no time for more than that because we get another call.
By the time we pull into the station at the end of our shift, it’s after two-thirty, and I’m ready for a fucking nap.
I undress and grab my lunch box from the fridge, excited to eat the food once I get home. “Thanks for today,” I tell Roman.
“I got your back, Collins,” he assures, and no other words are spoken, because what words can be said to describe my parents?
I walk to my car and am opening the door when I notice the front tire. “What the fuck?” I swear. I look up at the sky and put my hand to my head, fighting off the headache that feels like it’s coming on.
“What’s going on?” I see Hudson coming my way.
“I got a flat,” I tell him.
“You’ve got more than one flat,” he nods to the back tire, then the front. Frowning, he bends down for a closer look. “Collins, someone slashed your tires.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THEO
“Wow,” Burke says as he steps into the garage, still in his sheriff’s uniform. “Holy—” His eyes roam the room. “You guys did not mess around.”
“We did not,” I agree as I move the nail gun down the baseboard. “It’s still rough.”
“Still rough?” He puts his hands on his hips. “It was bare last week. Now it looks like a living space.” He walks over to the middle of the garage, where we put up a wall to separate the bedroom from the small living room/kitchen area. He’s going to have enough space to put in a stove and a small fridge with a bit of counter space.
“We’re going to be putting in barn doors to close off the bedroom from the living area to give it a bit of privacy.” I point to the wall in the back. “We wanted to put in a shower/tub combo, but the space is tight, so it’s just a standing shower.” He nods as he checks out the bathroom in the corner of the room, next to the bedroom.
“I think that will be fine,” Burke says. “If the nanny really wants to use a tub, there’s one in the house. They can always use that one. I have overnight shifts, and they will have to stay in the main house with Asa anyway, and can use it then.”
“Sounds good. We just placed an order for the appliances, and they should arrive sometime next week,” I tell him. “If everything else goes smoothly, we should be done in about four days.”
“Two weeks and you guys transformed it.” He smirks. “No wonder everyone is hiring you guys.”
“I guess that’s a good thing,” I laugh. “The only thing you need to do is choose colors for the paint and the couch and stuff, but that is with our office manager, Mikaela.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not good at that, I trust you guys to do your thing.”
“Got it. I’ll tell her, and we’ll get you a couple of choices, and you can at least see.”
“Sounds good.” His radio goes off, and he listens for a moment. “I have to get going. Good work. If you know anyone who is looking for work this summer as a live-in nanny, please let me know.”
