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“And?”
Megan blushed and remembered the no lying rule. “It was really nice.” Until it wasn’t.
Ash looked up with that peculiar look she always got when there was more to the story. “So what went wrong?”
Sure enough, Ash always knew. She was the best listener. “He had this nightmare.”
As Megan laid out the story, Ash’s eyes narrowed and she nodded occasionally. “He didn’t get into it?”
“I don’t think he wanted to.”
“Given that he was deployed, it sounds like we can put the pieces together.”
“Yeah, I just felt so bad for him. I wished I could fix it, you know?”
Ash nodded. “It’ll take time. Maybe he should talk to someone. They do something similar at the police department whenever someone has to discharge a weapon, even if there is no injury on either party.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, shit like that can take a toll on people.”
“You still seeing Marj?”
“Yep. Every Wednesday. The offer stands if you ever want me to ask her for a recommendation or if she has an opening.”
Megan smiled but shook her head. “You’re so good at taking care of yourself.”
“I have to.”
“Being a firefighter isn’t the same.”
Ash raised an eyebrow, and Megan knew what she meant but didn’t want to get into it, which was precisely why she didn’t want a therapist right now. She was fine. She was good. She didn’t enjoy talking about her past. Even the idea of it was exhausting.
Ash shrugged and smiled, knowing they’d had this talk before and clearly taking the hint today. “You don’t want to…burn out.”
“Ha ha ha. Noted.”
“Tea and candles are great.”
“I have you to thank for both.”
“You’re welcome,” Ash said, nodding with a regal flair. “At least join me for yoga.”
Megan groaned. “You know how I feel about gyms.” She hated weights but fought through to meet the requirements for her physical fitness test. Her favorite thing was to put on some music and run. She wasn’t very good at it, sweated like a pig, and had to stop to guzzle water frequently, but still it was the lesser of the evils available to her. Sitting still in the same position for sixty seconds at a clip sounded like torture. She was just too twitchy.
“Which is precisely why you should come,” Ash said, slapping both hands on the table for emphasis.
“You are the most new-age cop there is.”
Ash tipped her all natural fruit smoothie in a toast. “You have to take care of number one.”
“And you do a great job of it.”
“I have to or I’ll go insane.”
Ash laughed, but the truth was it was how she was raised. On a commune in California, Ash had grown up with crystal-wearing, vegetarian parents who lived off the grid on a solar powered farm, with raised garden beds and meditation practices after homeschool lessons. How they ended up with their oldest of six kids leaving to go to the police academy was beyond Megan and Laura, but it somehow worked. Ash didn’t go home often but was friendly with her parents, calling home once a week and sharing a stellar tomato sauce recipe whenever she came back from a visit. Laura and Megan had been interested in visiting, but with shift work it hadn’t lined up very easily, but they all hoped to get together out there one day soon.
The bitterness in Ash’s voice caught Megan’s attention.
