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“I’m not going to apologize for what I did,” I tell her.
“Then don’t.” She draws a breath as she folds her arms on top of her desk. “But I need your badge and your gun.”
I don’t move. I’m not giving her my badge or my gun. Well, I don’t mind giving her my official firearm since I have a personal one, but my badge? It’s a part of me. It’s what makes me… me.
Janine stretches her arm towards me. “I need your badge and your gun, Allie.”
I hesitate another moment as I stare at her open palm, not out of stubbornness, just fear. I’m scared that if I hand Janine my badge, I may never get it back. And if I can’t be an agent, what am I going to be? I can’t think of an answer.
“Allie.” Janine looks into my eyes. “You’ll get them back in a month.”
A month? That’s way too long. What am I supposed to do for four weeks? Watch TV? Make a scrapbook?
Silently, I plead with Janine, but the look in her eyes doesn’t waver. She means business.
I reluctantly place my badge and my gun in Janine’s hand. She’d better return them to me in a month.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Is Taylor going to be suspended, too?” I ask her.
“No,” she answers.
At least there’s that. The only good news I’m getting today, I guess. Well, apart from the one about a certain chef-slash-scumbag being thrown in jail.
Nothing, not even this suspension, is going to make me feel bad about that.
I leave Janine’s office with my head held high. I’d go straight to the elevator and out of the building like this if I could, oozing with pride and confidence. No remorse. But I have to stop by my desk to grab some stuff.
Well, I guess I’ll make it quick and go on my way, hopefully before anyone tries to talk to me.
No luck. I’ve barely reached my desk when Kip, a fellow agent I’ve been teamed up with before, comes over.
“Let me guess.” He folds his arms over his chest as he leans on the edge of my desk. “Suspension? One month?”
I pause in the act of opening a drawer to give him a puzzled look. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Not this time. No.”
Okay.
I open the drawer.
“I did hear a bit of shouting, though,” Kip adds.
What? Janine and I were that loud?
“And I heard about what happened.”
I roll my eyes as I grab my phone charger and stuff it into my pocket. Is there anyone who hasn’t?
“So yeah, I think a one-month suspension sounds about right,” Kip says. “Am I right?”
I close the drawer. “You are. Happy now?”
“No,” he answers firmly. “Why would I be happy about you being suspended?”
I don’t know. I don’t know him that well.
I pull another drawer. “Because it’s human nature to delight in the misfortunes of others?”
“Not mine.”
I grab my shirt. “Isn’t that why you’re here? To gloat?”
“I’m here because I know how tough it is to be suspended.”
I look into his eyes. “You were suspended?”
Kip nods.
No way. But he’s… responsible and so good at following orders. I thought he was always that way.
“When?” I ask him curiously.
“Not telling.”
I frown. I guess he’s not going to tell me what for, either, which is what I’m more curious to know.
I shut the drawer. “Okay. What can you tell me?”
“That it’s not the end of the world,” Kip answers.
I sigh. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself for the next month.”
“I know. You love what you do. Maybe a little too much.”
I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He doesn’t answer that. “What about spending time with your family?”
“And let them know I got suspended? No, thanks.”
My brothers are just going to be furious, especially if they find out I put myself in danger.
“Right.” Kip scratches his chin. “Then what about going on a date? Have you ever been on one?”
I make the same face I do when I get the coconut-filled piece of chocolate from a sampler. “Are you asking me out?”
“No. I’ve got work to do.”
Right. He’s not suspended, after all.
“I’m telling you that you should go out and have some fun,” Kip tells me. “When was the last time you did that, huh?”
I pause. “Well, this morning was fun.”
Especially seeing the look on Bruno Zane’s face.
“I meant outside of work.”
I pause longer. When indeed? I can’t remember.
Kip pats my shoulder. “Go. Get out of here and do something fun for a change. Something for yourself.”
Then he finally leaves me alone. I let out a sigh, slump in my chair and stare at my blank computer screen. Something fun for myself?
~
I still don’t know what to do, I think as I wash the dishes after dinner.
I’ve thought of taking a vacation, but I can’t decide where to go or think of what to do when I’m on it. If I’m just going to be stuck in my hotel room, I might as well stay here in my house.
