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When I opened the car door for Charlie, he stood there for a moment before asking, “Daddy, am I in trouble?”
I bent down and smiled at him. “Not at all, buddy. Principal Walker wanted to know if I could help with the spring carnival.”
His little eyes lit up with hope. “What did you say?”
“I said yes, of course.”
Charlie jumped for joy.
“Come on, let’s get buckled in. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“I love surprises.”
Twenty minutes later, we were walking down the pier of the marina, headed to where Braxton kept all the charter boats.
When we were almost there, I saw Braxton walking down the pier toward us.
“Hey, Charlie!” Braxton called out.
I smiled. “You remember Mr. Bradley, Palmer’s brother.”
Charlie looked up at me. “The one with all the boats who fishes?”
I nodded. “He’s going to give us a tour of one of his boats.”
Right as Braxton reached us, both of our cell phones rang.
I pulled it out and saw that it was Addie. “It’s Addie.”
“It’s my mom.”
We both laughed and answered our phones. “Hey, Addie, is everything okay at the office?”
“Everything’s great here. Unfortunately, Palmer has been detained by the police for an incident.”
“What?” Braxton and I said at the same time, clearly us both receiving the same news at the same time.
“Ahh…I hear you’re with Brax,” Addie stated. “Drop Charlie off at the office and I’ll take him to get a snack and then bring him to my house.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Ashley?”
“Yep,” Addie said as she popped her P. “I guess Palmer hit her.”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled. “Where?”
“Smack dab right in the nose. They’re pretty sure it’s broken. Good news is, Ashley went after her first, and it all took place in front of about five cops.”
Sighing, I looked down at Charlie. “Hey, why don’t you close up the office, meet me at your brother’s boats, and maybe let Charlie take the tour we’d planned?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Charlie is really looking forward to it, and I don’t want to let him down.”
I heard Addie type something on her computer. “You don’t have to tell me twice. As long as we’re not going out on the water. I don’t think my pregnant ass could take it.”
Laughing, I said, “No plans for that type of adventure.”
“Be there as soon as I can.”
After I hung up, I told Braxton that Addie was on her way. He wanted to go to the police station, but I convinced him to let me go alone. That it meant a lot to Charlie to learn everything about boats and fishing.
Once Addie arrived, and I assured Charlie I would be back as soon as I could, I headed to the police station. When I arrived, an older woman was behind the desk. She flashed me a wide grin.
“You must be Dr. Zad…er…Dr. Bryan.”
Holding back a smirk, I nodded. “That would be me. I’m here to break out the woman I love, who apparently broke my ex-wife’s nose.”
She chuckled. “You do know this will most likely end up in a special edition of the column.”
I sighed. “Oh, I’m sure it will.”
“Palmer’s in Captain Earl’s office. He’s the chief of police, in case you didn’t know.”
“I did not know that,” I said with a nod. “Thank you.”
“Down the hall, third door on the left.”
I could hear Palmer’s laughter as I grew closer to the office. The door was ajar, so I knocked first then pushed it all the way open.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw Palmer leaning against the captain’s desk. Two officers, neither of whom I’d ever seen before, were demonstrating the proper technique to throw a punch. Or at least, that’s what I thought they were doing.
“Don’t tell me you’re teaching her more ways to punch someone,” I said as I stepped into the room.
Both men laughed, and the older gentleman walked toward me. “Captain Earl.” We shook hands. “I’ve known Palmer since she was in diapers. Her daddy and I are best friends.”
Looking at Palmer, I raised a brow. She smiled and gave a small shrug.
“Is that why she’s in your office and not in a cell?” I asked.
He laughed. “She’s not in a cell because Ms. Whitman had it coming, and we have nothing to charge her with. But I wanted to make sure Palmer was with someone when she left so she didn’t try to double back and break into that woman’s cell.”
I looked at Palmer. She shrugged again. “She pissed me off.”
The other officer, a younger kid who couldn’t have been more than twenty, stepped up. “Clay Earl, it’s a pleasure to meet you finally. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you, Doc.”
We shook hands. “Thank you,” I said.
Palmer pushed off the desk. “Okay, let me explain before you launch into what were you thinking and all of that.”
