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“Is it weird, being a cop in your hometown? Do people treat you differently?”
“Some do; some don’t. I’ve never really cared either way.” The tone of his voice sounded convincing, but the look in his eyes told me something else entirely. “To answer your second question, I have lived in quite a few other places,” he said as he started back up with his batter-making. “I left Ocracoke right after I graduated high school. Couldn’t wait to get out. The military gave me that.”
“What made you become a cop?” I asked.
“Kristy,” he said simply. “She didn’t want to be a military wife, and I was ready to settle in one place. It was an easy transition for me. I took a job in Charlotte, and we bought a house. I never thought I’d go back.”
“But you did.”
“Kristy liked the promotion I’d get if we moved here, and her excitement convinced me that maybe I could do something good.”
I nodded, watching him intently.
“But the second I got here, I met Sheriff Hayes who was elected while I was gone, and I knew it was going to be hell. He brought me to a bar and told me how things ran inhiscounty.”
“What do you mean, his county?”
“Let’s just say he had a long list of dos and don’ts—real shady shit that had nothing to do with the law.”
My heart sank. “So, what did you do?”
“I told him where he could take thatlistand walked the fuck out,” he said, the malice clear in his voice.
“I’m surprised you didn’t get fired considering what you knew.”
“Pretty sure he thought about it, but he would have just denied everything anyway and it’s not like I had any proof. Plus, by that time, he’d met Kristy. Couldn’t fire me if he wanted my wife.”
I winced.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
My words seemed to snap him out of whatever he’d just been swallowed up by.
He straightened a bit and resumed what he was doing. “It wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t want it to in the first place.”
I watched as he poured the first pancakes onto the griddle with ease. It was as if he’d done it a hundred times, and it got me wondering.
“So, why do you stay?” I asked. I immediately wished I could take it back. It was too personal, and we’d only just met.
But he didn’t seem offended, just pensive. “The only reason Hayes keeps me here is to torment me. He loves dangling Kristy in my face.” He looked over toward the living room like, at any moment, her ghost would appear. “And if I left, I have no doubt he’d take the opportunity to replace me with someone much more compliant.”
So, he stayed because he cared for the town. His town.
I swallowed hard, deciding to change the subject. “How does a military man learn how to make pancakes like that?”
“My mom taught me. Flour and eggs are cheap.” He paused. “We ate a lot of pancakes.”
I was really bad at conversation topics.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I took the easy way out. “My mom makes German pancakes.”
His brow rose. I’d obviously piqued his interest.
“You’ve never had German pancakes. They’re really puffy and?—”
“If someone had learned to cook, maybe?—”
I picked up the kitchen towel he’d set down on the counter and threw it at his head. He ducked, and it missed him entirely.
