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"Yeah, thanks," the other one chimed in begrudgingly. "We'll work it out without you guys next time."
"See that you do," Tommy warned, giving the men a stern look before he and Jack returned to their patrol cars.
Grace couldn't help but smile as he climbed back into the driver's seat, shutting the door against the biting December wind.
"What?" he asked
She shook her head, not trusting her words. She wanted to thank him for being... Well,him.
But she couldn't think of any way to say it that wouldn't come out sounding impossibly cheesy, so instead, she kept her lips zipped.
Some writer.
"Sorry you had to see that," he said, turning up the heat to chase away the chill that had seeped into the car. "Small-town drama can get pretty intense sometimes."
Grace nodded, still feeling the adrenaline surging through her veins from watching the altercation unfold. But as they drove away from the scene, she sighed.
"What are you thinking right now? That there's nothing like a little small-town drama to keep things interesting?" he hedged.
"Hey, there's roommate drama everywhere. I've seen plenty of fights break out right in front of me back in New York."
"True. But, even though New York has the higher crime rate, but small towns still have their own issues."
"What made you decide to become a cop in a small town like this?"
Tommy adjusted his grip on the wheel. "Ah, come on. Don't tell me you haven't seen enough of this town over the last few weeks to get the pull of it."
"Eh, it's okay, I guess."
He reached over and poked her side, making her laugh out loud as she swatted his hand away. "Focus on the road before you kill us both."
"I can multi-task." Tommy sobered, shrugging. "Honestly, though, I think I came here because Jack made it sound like a big family. It's like that in some ways in Philly, especially within the department, but... I don't know. I guess I wanted to see if he was full of it, or if the town really acted like that."
"And do they? Or is everything I've seen so far part of the act to get people to stay?"
He chuckled. "It's really like this. And I miss my blood family, but—and I mean this in the least-cheesy way possible—it's nice to be a cop in a town that treats everyone like family. It's not a requirement, but I like the feeling."
"Must be nice to have a sense of belonging like that," Grace mused, looking wistfully out the window at the snow-covered landscape. "My life has always been more... solitary."
"Maybe it's time to consider changing that?" Tommy suggested, glancing over at her with a curious expression.
Grace hesitated for a moment, feeling a sudden vulnerability creep up on her. But Tommy's sincere tone encouraged her to open up.
"As with most things, I think, moving around all the time like this started with my parents," she began, her voice tinged with both nostalgia and pain. "We lived all over the country when I was little. My dad had a job that kept him away from home most of the time, and my mom... Well, she was so busy trying to make friends everywhere we went—so she wouldn't be lonely—that she basically ignored me."
Tommy's face softened as he listened to her story. "That must have been tough on you."
"Yeah," Grace admitted, feeling a lump form in her throat. "It was hard never having a place to call home, and always feeling like I had to start over every time we moved."
"It makes sense that you'd steer clear of getting too close to people," Tommy observed, surprising her.
Grace had never explicitly said that, but of course, he'd picked that up all on his own.
"Do you mean because of my relationship with my mom?" she asked in quiet voice.
He shook his head, clarifying, "More like... it sounds like your mom would be upset to leave her friends every time you moved, and you'd be upset, too, even if you didn't get why. Now you want to keep it light so leaving isn't a bad thing."
"Hmm. Got your eye on that detective promotion, there, bud?" she teased, though his words had hit her like a piano falling from a second story window.
