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“Is Melody okay?” Frank interjects. His brain went from Emma’s bad day to Melody being injured, and I don’t know how he got there.
“She’s fine as far as I know. Why? You hear something? Because if you did, it didn’t come from me,” Emma warns.
We both blink at her in confusion. She shakes her head. “Never mind. I’m not all there today.”
“I’m going to check on Melody.” Frank reaches over and pulls Emma’s purse off her shoulder. “I’ll put gas in your car on the way home. And you”—he points to me with Emma’s bright pink purse shaped like some kind of oyster gripped in his hand—“you stay in the basement.”
I bust out laughing both at his ludicrous demand but also because he just looks funny as hell in his half-soaked navy blue T-shirt and the pink seashell purse waving at me.
Emma mutters a disgusted “Men” before heading toward the side door. I ignore Frank since I know his attention is distracted and catch up with Emma before she enters the house.
“Come on.” I capture her hand in mine. “Let’s go for a walk. Your momma is napping. She cooked all morning and then had to supervise Frank and me. It was tiring work.”
“I bet.” Emma heaves a sigh. “Fine. I should let off some steam before I go inside. I don’t want to worry Mom or Dad.”
“You can tell me,” I invite, tugging her down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. I don’t let go of her hand. It’s a new experience for me—walking hand in hand with someone. I like it. I like it a lot.
Emma’s silent for a long time, but I don’t speak. She’ll talk when she’s ready. We walk down the sidewalk under the canopy of trees that have grown big and thick over the years. Small ranch houses much like the Charles’ place sit back from the road. One has a flagpole out front. Another one has a basketball hoop in the driveway. Yet another has a profusion of flowers and bushes. Emma’s town is a nice one. You could raise a family here, pass dishes between the neighbors, hold cookouts in the backyard.
“What are you thinking?” she asks.
“That I’d like to live here. It’s quiet, but there’s still a lot of life in this town.” I point to the kid’s bike that’s lying on its side next to a pair of roller skates in the middle of the sidewalk. We make a detour onto the street and then back on the pavement. “I’m a city boy. I grew up in a high-rise. My playground was on the 14th floor where the pool and fitness center were. There was a game room, a party room, and even a movie theater, but there wasn’t any community there. No one used it. Everyone went to their private clubs and did their own thing. People here have connections.”
“Not all connections are good.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She clenches her jaw. “Wish I could but it’d be a violation of confidentiality. Plus, it’s a delicate situation. Just know it has to do with a bully.”
There’s only one man that I have run into that fits that description—Chief of Police Blake.
CHAPTER14
EMMA
Vincent idly talksas we walk. His life is so different from mine or my brother’s. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live in a big city. Part of me thinks that it might be exciting. I bet I’d be on the move at work then. There would be no sitting in parking lots waiting for calls. Then again, how many calls could I handle if today is weighing on me so heavily?
It’s crazy to me how lonely Vincent makes it sound to live in the city. I don’t think I could hack it. The more he jabbers on, the more I find myself relaxing. His voice is calming. There’s something soothing about the low masculine tone he uses.
“How’d you do it?” I finally ask, cutting in when he starts going on about some bagel place he enjoyed back home that’s super famous 'cause they ship in water from another state to make them. Sounds strange, but I know he’s looking for things to fill the silence 'cause he can see it’s calming me.
“You have to build a wall. I know it sounds cold, but you don’t have a choice if you want to do what needs to be done.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not, and sometimes when you least expect it something will pierce right through the steel armor you created.”
“That happen a lot?” I know he probably can’t tell me much. The same as I can’t really speak to him about what happened with Brittany today.
“Kids always get to me. When that innocence gets ripped away from them, it’s heartbreaking to see. But I’m luckier than most. I get to be in the sky. I didn’t have to face it the way the men on the ground do. The way you likely do.”
I reach over and grab his hand, tangling my fingers with his. I peek out of the corner of my eye to see him smile. For the first time since I got that call today, a bit of the heaviness lifts from me. Vincent made it possible with a mere smile.
“Thankfully we don’t get a ton of calls like that one. I’m not sure I can build that wall. I think my heart might be too soft.”
“I don’t think you should. Not here. This place is different. You’re different. Don’t let anything change that.”
“You’re not such a badass, Vincent,” I tease, bumping my shoulder with his.
