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Chapter Six
Ethan
“What is your problem?” Cara asked me as I stared at the beer bottle in front of me. We had just finished our shifts, my last one at my local police station, and her as a pilot on our hospital medivac team. My sister had been a helicopter pilot in the Army, and when she decided to get out after ten years, she was lucky to get the job that she did.
Not only was she a pilot, but she was a paramedic too. She could pull double duty, behind the stick or on the patient. Out of all of us in the family, she was the one with the brains. She was also the one that pushed all of us to do our best while growing up.
“Nothing,” I replied to her.
“Oh, cut the crap, Ethan. You’ve been moping around since the party. She doesn’t love you. I know that hurts, but you need to let it go and move on. Obviously, Riley is not as worthy of you as we all thought.”
“I appreciate you saying that, Cara, but she is to me—or shewasto me. Not anymore, I guess. I’m glad I’m leaving town for a while. It will be good for me. I can focus on my career and forget about her.” Forget about the fact that it has been precisely twenty days since I last held her in my arms.
“You’ll never forget about her, little brother, but maybe you can put some distance between your heart and her.”
I inhaled slowly and released it. “I know.” I peered at Cara and smiled. “You know that is kind of the reason I decided to take the polygraph class. I’d never been interested in that kind of thing before, but what better way to put her behind me than twelve weeks away? Besides, it will give me a nice niche in the county.”
“Very true, but just don’t put the rest of us behind you once you become a big bad county detective.” She pushed her shoulder against mine as she chuckled.
“No way! I could never do that.”
“Well, you never know. You plan on moving closer to Stock Ridge?”
I took a drink of my beer. “Who knows. I want to get settled into my position first before I think about selling my place. I’m still in the county, so I’m okay for now.”
“Yeah, but you’re as far away from Stock Ridge as you can be. That will be a hell of a commute in the winter.”
She held her bottle out to me, and I tapped mine to hers. “True.”
“When do you leave for the class?”
“Sunday, June sixth. Class doesn’t start until Monday morning, but I’m flying in the day before to get checked in and ready.”
“Smart, are we going to do a big send-off?”
“No, I’d prefer a small dinner with the family. I don’t need a party, and I don’t want to travel on Sunday with a hangover.” I laughed as I told her. A big part of it was that I didn’t want another run-in with Riley.
“I think that is a good idea. You’ve grown up, Ethan Winston.”
“You’re like five years older than me, Cara. Sometimes you talk like you’re my mother.”
“God knows that I stressed enough over you when you were in high school, and I was overseas.”
“You miss it?”
“Eh, sometimes. I miss the adrenaline rushes from the intense training and the missions we went on. I don’t miss being shot at or some of the things that I saw.”
“Yeah, I hear that.”
“You will have your own war stories soon.” She grinned my way.
“Oh, I already have enough of those from ten years in law enforcement.”
“Yeah, but if you think the weirdos around here are bad, just wait until you get to see what the sickos in the rest of the county are like.”
I laughed. “That is true.”
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