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“Gina?”
“In this case, I mean my daughter. I never expected her. But finding her on my doorstep changed my life, even if at the time I felt as if the life I knew was ending. It was, so I could have something so much better.”
“I can see that. For you,” I tacked on as Jared started walking again. “Having Samantha led to you marrying Gina and having a baby together. You’re both happy, right?”
“Insanely. Well, I think at this point, Gina will be happy once Caden is out. We picked a name for him,” he added softly.
“Just a couple more days. You nervous?” My voice was more constricted than normal but there was no helping that.
It matched the tightness in my chest.
“A little. Gina’s a warrior though, so I know she’ll rock this. He’s going to be just fine. They both are.” He hissed out a breath. “Okay, terrified. But you didn’t hear that from me.”
I let out a laugh and clapped him on the back. “I was too.” Shit. I hurried to fix my screw-up, as I’d been trying to for the better part of twenty years. “I mean—”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“Thanks.” I blew out air and sucked in more just as fast. “It’s just—I can’t.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. It has never been fine and will not be fine and the last thing I should’ve done was mess with Honey. She’s twenty-four. I feel like I’ve never been as young as she is.”
Was that what had drawn me so strongly to her? She was gorgeous, of course, and spirited and smart and a million other adjectives that attracted me to her. But her youth and vibrancy had seemed like a flame of life when I’d been locked in the dark for so very long. Cold and alone.
She was fiercely alive in a way that drew me like a moth to a wildfire.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. She saw something in you, just as you saw something in her. Maybe it’s no more and no less than that.”
“Maybe.”
“But if you don’t give it a chance, you won’t know, now will you?” It was his turn to clap me on the back. “Never knew you to be a coward. Don’t start now.”
Oh, if he only knew. “Thanks. I appreciate your leniency in this matter.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Not leniency so much as I know no one will ever come down on you harder than you. I also know you’re a damn good cop.” He waved to Dare across the street. “I’m going to stop in and ask Dare about that damn grinding noise my cruiser is making. I’ll see you back at the station.”
“Chief, what about Honey?”
“What about her?”
“Did you give her the job?”
“I offered it to her.”
“And?”
“She has to think about it. I’m giving her the time she needs. Seems like she’s doing a lot of thinking right now.”
“Yeah.” I jingled my coins and resisted yanking out my phone to check on her. The longer she was silent, the more I worried. “I’m glad you didn’t punish her for my lapse in judgment.”
“You don’t have lapses in judgment, Masterson.” He tipped his head at me and crossed the street to Kramer & Burns Custom.
I was about to head back to the police station to lick my wounds in semi-private before I headed out on patrol when I heard giggling behind me. I turned, unsurprised to see the most egregious of town busybodies behind me—Mrs. Busbee and Mrs. Gunderson.
“Ladies,” I said in as easy a tone as I could muster. “How are you today?”
“Not as good as you are, apparently.” They shared a look and more giggling ensued.
