Page 29 of Falling For You

I laughed. "Yeah. That sounds about right."

She smiled.

"Get back to work, Brooks."

"Yes, ma'am."

I walked back to the engine.

Two hours of smoke and Sergeant Hollywood, and thirty seconds with Andy Walsh undid all of it.

CHAPTER 10

Lingerie

ANDY

On a four-ten rotation, weekends off came around every few weeks. When one landed and the weather cooperated, Diana invited me to their family picnic at the park. The kids chased each other across the grass while Doug held court at the picnic table.

"—so I'm coming around the corner of this building, full sprint, and this guy sees me and tries to cut through the parking lot. I close the gap, I get my arms around him, clean tackle, we go down. Textbook."

"He did not tackle the guy, Diana." I pointed my fork across the picnic table. "He tripped over a curb and fell on him."

Doug looked at his wife. "I made contact with the suspect and brought him to the ground. That is a tackle."

"You tripped."

"Still counts."

Diana laughed. She was sitting across from me on the picnic table. Lemonade in hand, legs tucked under her, completely at ease in a way that puts you at ease too. Doug lit up every time he looked at her.

"Well, you caught him," Diana said, reaching over to wipe frosting off Doug's cheek. "That's all that matters."

Doug smiled, satisfied. I let him have it.

Diana started inviting me to family dinners after the domestic call that left the scar beneath my shoulder blade. A round came through a wall. I shoved Doug out of the way and caught the edge of it. It was a graze, not a hit. Diana showed up at the ER an hour later. She'd told me once that she'd been worried when Doug was first assigned a female partner. I understood. Any wife would be. But after that night, she told me she was grateful he had me. The dinners started the following week.

Doug told everyone I got shot for him. I corrected: grazed. We'd been having this argument at every family gathering since.

"How's the new place?" Diana asked. "Are you settling in?"

"Getting there. The neighborhood's good. There's a bar nearby that's becoming my second home."

After Doug left the table to chase the kids across the grass, Diana leaned forward.

"How are you really doing?"

"I'm fine."

Diana rested her chin in her hand. "When Doug told me you were moving, I asked him why. He said he didn't know."

I laughed. Of course he didn't.

"Was there a special reason for the move?"

I turned my glass in my hands. The condensation was cold against my fingers. "I went through a breakup."

"Ah." Diana nodded slowly. "I had a feeling." She reached across the table and put her hand on top of mine. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."