“That sounds great. I hate paperwork.” Miles stamped his feet, then sighed. “I need to get changed. I can smell things, and I don’t want to know where they came from.”
“I didn’t want to say anything about the smell. As for the paperwork, I know how much you detest it because you mess it up every time and I have to get you to redo it.”
“I joined to serve the people of this town, not sit at a desk for hours at a time filling in useless forms.”
TJ understood. They all spent far longer filling in forms than they should. His officers joined to serve Robinson, not sit spending most of their shifts going through forms and documents. It was a necessary evil of the job, and one TJ hated with a passion. “I get you. I really do, but we have to do them. Look I’m going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Miles nodded and saluted TJ, which caused him to chuckle. Waving at Dee, TJ left the station and headed over to his truck. Man, he could feel his body dragging him down. Back-to-back fourteen-hour days were kicking his ass, but now that Taylor was returning, some of the work could be passed to him and TJ could drop to twelve-hour days. He still needed at least one additional officer, but there were no funds at present. Something he’d been told for years.
“I need more staff.” But he needed to budget for them, and right then, he didn’t have the money. Maybe a fundraiser would help, but that would mean taking away what little free time he had.
As he was about to pull away from the station, his phone rang, and he smiled when he saw his mother’s name on the screen. “Hey Mom.”
“TJ. When are you going to have a day off?” Mary Jane asked. “You work far too hard.”
“Soon, hopefully. We were a man down but he’s due back tomorrow so that will take some of the pressure off me.”
“I called to let you know your father and I are going away for a two-week vacation to Las Vegas. We both want to see it while we can.”
TJ snorted. “Don’t say that. You’ll outlive me. When are you going?”
“Tomorrow.”
TJ stared at his phone then asked, “Is this a surprise booking or something?”
“It came up as a cheap deal, so we decided why not go.”
“Have a great time.” TJ wanted the same relationship with that special someone that his parents had.
“We will. Hug the children for us and don’t work too hard.”
“I won’t, Mom. Love you. Say hi to Dad for me.”
“I will. Now go home and get some rest.”
“I will.” Smiling, TJ put the phone down then ran his hands over his face.
Pulling away from the station, TJ drove home, listening to the blues on the radio. Humming along, he pulled into his drive and sat with the engine idling as he stared at his house.
He needed to mow the lawn, or he could get one of his kids to do it. He had them this weekend, and he had Macy too, Toni and Carter’s daughter. Yes, she wasn’t his, but he wasn’t going to take his own two and leave their half-sister behind. He had a great relationship with his ex-wife, and Carter only thanked him every other month now for setting up their blind date.
They were happy and his kids were in a great home with a fantastic stepfather who happened to be one of TJ’s friends. Not all divorces ended as well as his had, and for that TJ was grateful. He got to see his boys whenever he could and not all fathers had that luxury when a divorce ended acrimoniously. Then again, some fathers walked out the door and never returned.
Toni must have felt her ears burning, because a second later, her name appeared on TJ’s phone. “I was just thinking about you.”
Her soft laugh came over the phone. “Macy has asked if you want to take her to see the horses.”
“She knows how to get around me. Your daughter is a menace.”
“Takes after her dad, the man you introduced me to.”
“Ah, so some of the blame is mine.” TJ smiled. “I can accept that.”
“I called to let you know I popped over and left some food in your fridge.”
“Toni. You don’t need to do that, but thanks.”
“Pfft. We all know how hard you’ve been working, so let us take care of you for once. Oh, here’s Carter. I’ll speak to you later.” TJ smiled when he heard them murmuring. “TJ. You up for the game next week?”
