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A body landed in the chair at the desk next to mine, and I turned down the rock-techno mix I was listening to. What was with everyone bothering me today? First Griffin, now Savannah, Betty’s wife, only a few hours later.
“Wow, this is a hefty stack.” She studied the tall pile of paperwork like it would grow legs and chase her around the room. “How long do you think it’ll be before Betty handcuffs Tyler to her desk to force her to take care it?”
I cackled, remembering the time Betty had done exactly that. “I give it two more days. She already told her she wouldn’t get paid if she didn’t do it. That was like two weeks ago.” I refocused on my monitors, but my eyes blurred. That was my sign to call it a day.
“I don’t know how you’re able to focus with that loud music on. I could never.”
I shrugged. “It’s the vibe. The bass. I don’t focus on the lyrics at all.”
Savannah shook her head. “Couldn’t be me. I’d be operating on someone and stop to belt out the chorus of my favorite Taylor Swift song.”
I laughed at the mental image of her holding a surgical knife like a microphone while horrified nurses urged her to stop singing. Savannah Lake was one of my favorite people in the world. She’d known me since I was young, back when I was a little genius who was too awkward for words.
Betty was like Uncle Wolf, a silent protector. She was the one who taught me self-defense, how to throw a punch without breaking my hand. But Savannah, along with Aunt Jeannie and Scarlette, had molded me into who I was now. From helping me feel comfortable in my skin to showing me how to be a woman who could take on the world. Without their influence in my life, I don’t know how long I would have lasted in Ghost Unit.
I needed to make more time for the people who mattered. With that thought in mind, I started shutting things down for the day. “How’ve you been? It’s been a long time since we caught up.” The habit of only being allowed to talk to people outside the mission a couple times a year was still deeply ingrained. After two years, I’d gotten better, but I still had a long way to go.
“Things are good. I can’t wait to get to Bora Bora and spend some quality time with Betty. I can’t remember the last time we went away for two weeks. Must have been our honeymoon, which was fifteen years ago.” The team was shocked when Betty told us last week that she would be taking two weeks over the holidays. She hadn’t taken more than a few days since she hired us. “Anyway. I checked out your newest rescues. Both came back with a clean bill of health.”
Relief swept through me. She didn’t always come back with good news after completing physical and mental health evaluations on our rescues, and I’d been worried the Lowensteins would need more medical care than we’d planned for.
Savannah clapped her hands. “Enough about me and work. Betty mentioned that Detective Pretty Boy stopped by with a check. Did he check on you?”
I schooled my face into a blank mask.
“Fine,” she huffed. “I won’t ask about him. But have you been on any dates lately? Jessen has one tonight.”
I rolled my eyes, knowing I’d get the story of how spectacularly awful that date was come morning. “No. I don’t want to date. Wastes too much time and energy on someone who’s eventually going to leave.” My job came with long hours, unwavering confidentiality, and getting called out in the middle of dinner on the regular. Not many men were willing to put up with that lifestyle, and I wasn’t willing to put up with anyone who’d expect me to turn my life upside down to accommodate them.
“You worked hard today, Peyton. You should head home,” Betty said from the doorway, then turned to Savannah. “You ready?”
Savannah flashed her a loving smile. “Yes, my darling.” She jumped out of her chair and skipped over to Betty, who wore a tender expression that belied her boss-bitch persona. They laced their fingers together, and I bit back a sigh.
I loved witnessing Savannah’s effect on Betty. Even after twenty years together, they acted like newlyweds. Betty Lake was hard as nails, but Savannah softened her up in all the right ways. They balanced each other out.
“You coming with us?” Savannah asked. My stomach made a loud sound, telling me I’d skipped lunch again.Betty glared at me, but Savannah laughed. “Guess that answers my question.”
I grabbed my stuff and followed them out the door. Ten minutes later, we hit Prost Marketplace and each went to grab our preferred meals. After I finished paying, I found them saving me a seat at a picnic table.
Between bites, Savannah prattled on about a patient who was one of the crankiest men she’d ever had to deal with. Betty gave her full attention to the story, even though I knew it was probably the third time she’d heard it. For such a brilliant woman, Savannah could be forgetful, and it always amazed me that she’d not only graduated medical school, but that she’d been top of her class in every step of her education.
The relationships of the people who helped raise me after my aunt and uncle saved me from my parents’ house were so different from the one I’d witnessed in my early years. Betty and Savannah, Scarlette and High, Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Wolf—they were all so happy and managed such healthy relationships despite the challenges of keeping necessary secrets and having to skip out on a moment’s notice. A stark contrast from the toxic passive aggression and frequent silent treatment that defined my mom and dad’s marriage.
Those three couples were the only reason I had hope for myself. They gave all of us—Jessen, Chris, Izzy, Adrienne, and me—faith that we could find what they have, a glimpse into our possible future. Not Tyler, though. She’d not only managed to avoid a single date in the twenty-nine years she’d been alive, she also had zero desire to share her life with anyone and thought love was a bullshit conspiracy perpetrated by florists and the mental health industry to make us all feel like our lives were incomplete.
Given what she’d gone through with her parents’ divorce, no one blamed her.
Even recognizing that Tyler probably had a point, I couldn’t help but be inspired to dream as I witnessed the love and joy radiating from the women across from me. Dream that someday I’d get my version of the white picket fence with the loving man who took me as I was and gave me a life with two point five kids and a goofy dog.
For tonight, I shoved aside the voice that told me the man of my dreams simply didn’t exist.
ChapterSix
PEYTON
“I promise to love,honor, and cherish you. To always be honest, even when it might make you mad. To be your sounding board. To never go to sleep angry, and to always let you use my body to warm your cold feet. I never imagined myself falling in love, but now I can’t imagine what life would be like without you. I want my days to start with you beside me and end with you in my arms.” The groom in the video wiped away a tear.
What a load of crap. He said the words with ease, without having to look at the vows printed on the paper clutched in his hands. If only the bride had known then what she learned a few years later.
