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“I hope so.”
I was too tired to talk after that. Michael Bublé sang quietly on the radio about a white Christmas with a little Shania accompaniment. The sweet duet watered me up again.
I hoped we had a happy Christmas.
More than anything, I just hoped there was an us at the end of all of this.
Twenty-Five
Sleep was for pussies.
That was what I kept telling myself as I worked my second straight twelve-hour day. Between the fire and a rash of sickness spreading like wildfire in the station, I didn’t have a second to think.
I’d even managed to hire a new deputy. Brady McNeill was a single guy transplanting to New York from Connecticut. He had a solid background in small and metropolitan cities. I had a good feeling about him, and God willing he didn’t turn tail and run when he heard about the folktale status we were entering with the baby boom.
I also had to deal with the investigation into the fire. It hadn’t exactly been foul play, but it had required more than a quick inquiry or hand off to code enforcement. In the end, it had been faulty safeguards in the building. Updates that Morty and Kathy had put on the books for their annual insurance review hadn’t actually been done.
And that meant they wouldn’t have the insurance money to rebuild. So instead, they’d sold off their property to Maitland, which made me uneasy.
Maitland Enterprises had been buying up any and all land or property they could in Crescent Cove. Our town thrived on the actual townspeople who loved it. Shopping small was a way of life here. I didn’t want it to turn into a place where rich people came in and changed things.
Now I didn’t mind their money in our shops. The condos on the lake brought in a lot more visitors these days. But the storefronts had been created by people invested in keeping our town special. I just hoped Maitland didn’t rent the space out to just anyone.
Or worse, that they were looking to expand with something that didn’t fit with the town. We had eclectic tastes here and liked it that way. Where else could you find a clothing store across from a yoga studio and then a horror-themed restaurant the next building over?
But all of that paled in comparison to the chill going on at my house. Each time I tried to talk to Bee about what happened the day Leo was born, she was either sleeping or rushing out the door. It didn’t help that Sami had been extra fussy in the middle of all of this.
Bee looked so exhausted I didn’t have the heart to wake her to have a discussion about it. Hell, I didn’t want to have it any more than she did, but I couldn’t go on with this heaviness sitting between us.
Today she couldn’t shut me down. I glanced down at my watch. We had an appointment with Preston Shaw to do the paperwork to finalize our part of the legal transfer of parental rights to me.
Samantha Mae would officially be a Brooks soon and nothing and no one would be able to take her from me. As long as Trina signed off on it.
I don’t know how she could have walked away from her, but then again, my mother had done the same. And not just me, but from another baby and a man who loved her beyond blind devotion. If my mother walked back into my dad’s life right now, I wasn’t sure he’d turn her away.
I could not say the same.
I held it against Trina to the same degree. You didn’t walk away from your family—period.
Especially not a helpless baby. A happy baby with nothing but a brightness inside her that made me smile every single day. The same brightness Bee had and shared with my daughter. I just needed to make her see that we were an amazing family. And that we were stronger together as a unit.
I didn’t think I’d ever find someone who matched me in every way. I should have known it would be her all along. Even with almost ten years between us in age, we’d always clicked better than anyone in my life save for my family.
I’d just been too afraid of fucking things up with her to step over the line from platonic to intimate. Now that it had happened, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“Sheriff?”
I looked up at our temp who was still covering for Bonnie. “What’s up?”
She twisted nervous fingers together. “You asked me to remind you fifteen minutes before you needed to leave.”
“Thanks, Esther. I’m heading out now. Has Christian checked in?”
“Yes, sir. He said he’s started patrol.”
“Perfect. If you run into trouble, Deputy McNeill is on call. I’ll be out of reach.”
“Yes, sir.”
