Page 7 of Abandoned

Zara pivoted to see a woman around her age with highlighted blonde hair cascading in ironed curls across her shoulders. Zara had seen her at the fire last night. Extending her hand, Zara introduced herself.

“I’m AJ. Firefighter. You’re the new cop that’s been riding with Logan, right?”

“I am.”

A brief shadow seemed to cloud AJ’s eyes, but her smile cast it away. “Welcome to Hazel Hill. I’m glad you came tonight.” AJ slid her arm around Zara’s and directed her to the youth room. “The kids are gracious enough to let us older people crash their little pad. But they have the comfy couches and all.”

Once they arrived, Zara saw some familiar faces. Of the few cops she recognized, Megan strolled over and welcomed her.

Emily Bennett, the EMT who had taken the baby from her arms, joined them. “How are you feeling today?”

“Still coughing a ton, but I’m fine. I checked on Baby Phoebe before I came, and she’s doing well.”

“Oh good. That was so scary.”

AJ nodded. “I still can’t believe you ran in there.”

Zara shrugged. “Did I really have a choice?”

Emily shook her head. “Any longer and Phoebe might not have made it. Her little lungs struggled as it was.”

Zara shifted on her feet. She hadn’t run in for the baby to get any accolades.

Another woman, also a police officer on her squad, raised her hand and whistled for everyone’s attention. The room of maybe twenty women hushed and turned their attention to the woman.

“To those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jenna Bennett. I’m so glad you’re all here. We’ve got dinner, then AJ was in charge of tonight’s event, so no crafts or spa night tonight.”

A small section of the ladies cheered.

AJ said, “You’re welcome.”

Zara stepped closer to AJ. “I think we can be good friends.”

AJ laughed. “She hasn’t said what we are doing tonight.”

“Well, the two biggest things I feared aren’t happening, so I’m happy.”

AJ said, “I wanted to go ax throwing, but Jenna didn’t like that idea.”

“Then you and me, we’ll do that one of these days.”

AJ wound her arm around Zara’s again. “Yes. Yes, we will.”

The new friends laughed together.

Later that night in the briefing room, Zara took her normal seat for roll call. She’d had a great time at the girls’ night and had really connected with AJ and a few of the other ladies as they had played Ticket to Ride. It was exactly what she’d needed before heading into her final night shift before a well-earned four days off.

Will and Logan still hadn’t showed, so she found herself watching the door.

Jenna leaned forward from the table behind Zara. “I’m glad you came tonight.”

“Me too. It was great.”

The guys walked in and took their seats on either side of Zara.

Will bumped her knee with his. “Did you go to the ladies’ night at church?”

“I did. Jenna and I were just talking about it.”