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“Did you mean to race her?” Duke arched an eyebrow. “I just saw you two barreling toward the gym. Wasn’t sure if it was intentional or like a last-minute thing, chasing each other.”
“He’s chasing her for sure,” Zoe said with a cackle. She laughed again, happy with her joke.
“It was a bet,” Sean admitted. Despite the silence that followed, he wouldn’t be giving them any more information.
“Uh-huh.” Zoe grinned. “Well, what now?”
The light feeling that Sean had gotten when he saw Delaney’s bike out front dulled. Even his win, near win or tie for today’s 5K wasn’t going to bring the feeling back. Delaney had made it very clear she didn’t want him staring at her, beating her in a race or even chatting with her about it after. Sean had gotten the message, loud and clear:leave me alone.
The chase was over, before it’d even begun.
Sean had just stepped out the bay when he noticed that Delaney was still in the parking lot. She wasn’t at her motorcycle, and was instead leaning in the driver’s side window of an old, beat-up four-door, her helmet at her feet. She made slight gestures, her facial expression going from knit, concerned brows to a small, encouraging smile.
It took Sean a moment to recognize the person behind the wheel. Small. Dark hair. Thin.Tabitha. The woman from the grocery store. And right there, in the passenger seat, wearing a seat belt and her camo vest, was Trinity.
Sean dipped back around the corner, not because he was spying but because he didn’t want the women to think he was spying. Even though, at this point, he was totally spying. He could only catch pieces of their conversation on the wind, just enough to figure out that they’d been stationed together somewhere. Delaney’s voice sounded encouraging, Tabitha’s frustrated. Sean got the idea that maybe Tabitha had come to the gym for the 0930 and hadn’t had the courage to actually go inside. Without saying it, Sean knew that the reason behind that lay with the incident in the grocery store. After another minute or so, Delaney said something like “catch you later” and then, maybe thirty seconds after that, the revving of her motorcycle filled the air.
“What the hell are you doing, Callahan?” Rhett was suddenly by his side.
“Back off, Santos,” Sean joked. “I’ve been whipped once already today.”
Santos clapped him on the back. It stung a little bit. “I think you’ll survive.”
Sean laughed and headed for his car. He’d just made it to the door and was fumbling in his bag for his keys when a soft voice came over his shoulder.
“Officer Callahan?”
He turned to see Tabitha standing there, Trinity by her side. Tabitha looked small and helpless, all knees and elbows in her gym shorts and tank top, but her eyes had a spark of hope.
“Hey, Tabitha.” Sean didn’t even pretend he didn’t remember her name. “Long time, no see. How you feeling?”
“Good.” Her voice wavered. She sniffed deeply, then let out a long exhale. Trinity inched closer to her body. “I just wanted to thank you again. I wrote you a thank-you letter, you know.” Tabitha had a strong Southern accent that suggested she’d lived farther south most of her life. All the vowels were dragged out and theronletterdisappeared. “But I was too chicken to mail it.”
“That’s okay.” Sean swallowed the urge to hug the girl. She seemed so sad and lonely, but an embrace might be misunderstood and so was out of the question. They didn’t know each other well and Sean needed to be one hundred percent certain he didn’t violate her boundaries. “You come to work out today?” He pointed at the building.
“We did.” Without pause, Tabitha referred to herself and Trinity as one unit. “But I was too chicken to go in. Guess I’m a chicken a lot.” She pursed her lips together and eyed the gym wistfully. “I didn’t used to be a chicken. I used to be strong. Confident.”
“You’re not chicken.” Sean’s words came out harder than he meant, but he didn’t dial it back. Tabitha’s brown eyes widened in surprise, so Sean pressed on. “You’re learning to live again. Nothing’s like it was before, is it?” Sean spoke on pure instinct, but didn’t wait for Tabitha’s answer. “So you have to relearn. That’s okay. Takes time. Be patient with yourself.” He glanced at Trinity. “And trust her to do her job.”
Tabitha swallowed deeply and stood a little bit taller. “Yes, sir,” she said. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” She glanced down the road, in the direction Delaney had disappeared on her motorcycle. Sean hoped that Tabitha would say something about her, give him details as to how the two knew each other. “Do you think I should go inside and tell the owner why I didn’t show up today? He was expecting me.”
Sean glanced over his shoulder. He couldn’t see Santos but he knew he was in there. Santos was salty as fuck and didn’t tolerate laziness, tardiness or excuses. But Tabitha was none of those things, and Rhett would treat her with rare kindness. Sean knew this without question. “You should,” Sean said. “Go talk to him. Then maybe you’ll be more comfortable next time you come.”
Tabitha nodded, and eventually smiled. Then, without warning, she dropped the leash and slipped her arms around Sean’s back. Sean froze, arms stuck out at his sides like a robot. She held him tight, head to his chest for a few seconds, before she pulled back and collected Trinity’s lead. “Thank you, Detective.”
“Yes, ma’am.” That was all Sean could summon. His throat had gone tight.
Tabitha had turned to go, but stopped and smiled. “I just ran into a lady I knew at Camp Leatherneck.” She pointed down the road. “Isn’t that funny? I come here. I can’t go inside. Then I run into her. Then I run into you. It’s like...” Tabitha trailed off, staring at the sunny sky for a second. “Serendipity.”
“Sure.” Sean’s brain scrambled to remember the exact meaning of that word. Something about good luck. Mostly, his brain had gotten stuck on the fact that Tabitha had known Delaney at Camp Leatherneck. And now, Sean knew just a little bit more about the wildcat than he had before. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad day after all.
“Thank you, Detective.” Tabitha disappeared inside.
“No,” Sean said, even though she was gone. He could still feel her hug. “Thank you.”
