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My mom’s prodding about my looks last week makes even more sense. She always wants me to look my best, but she must have known I was going to run into Campbell at the station at some point.
“Let me guess, my mother advised against it,” I grumble under my breath as Colt comes strolling out of his office, the picture of ease.
“Do we have a problem? Besides you being late, that is,” Colt questions, his eyebrows pulling down in concern.
“Sorry I’m late,” I huff. “But you should’ve warned me.”
“Would it have made a difference?”
Would it? Honestly, I don’t know. A million different feelings are flowing through my mind at this moment, the strongest being betrayal. I would expect my mom to be scheming to push Campbell and me together, hoping the sparks with fly again, but not Colt. He knows better than anyone what it’s like to see the person you love in the arms of someone else. The way he loses just a little more of his heart each time he asks me about Sutton. Torn between wanting to know how she was doing and what was going on in her life and the need to forget about her so he could heal the broken pieces of his heart. It worked out for him, in the end, since they’re engaged now, but that just isn’t in the cards for me. If there was one person I thought would understand, it was Colt, but I guess I was wrong.
“No. Not really, but why did you hire him anyway?”
“Because he’s a damn good officer, and we need the help. I know nothing really happens around here, but we’re burning the candle at both ends since Waylen’s been on vacation.”
I nod my head, swallowing down the lump of emotion in my throat. “You should have said something, given me time to process it.” My head swivels back and forth, searching for Campbell.
“Time to process? Marissa, you’d have thrown a fit and then sworn you wouldn’t train him or even quit.”
“I never would’ve quit. I love this job,” I respond, glimpsing Campbell’s dark hair as he rounds the corner.
“Hello, Marissa.” Campbell smiles brightly at me. “Long time no see.”
My eyes snap toward him, realizing that he hasn’t changed one bit since the last time we saw each other, besides the addition of some tattoos. The same broad shoulders fill out a T-shirt that looks as if it was painted onto his body, and he has muscular arms with a colorful sleeve of tattoos running down the right side. I would expect myself to feel something now that he’s back in my life after all these years, but there’s nothing. No heartache, anger, resentment, nothing. All the anger I felt toward him a few minutes ago practically evaporated into thin air. Well, maybe I’m still a little pissed off that no one gave me a heads-up he was going to be here, but that’s not on him.
“Hello, Campbell.” I reach my hand out toward him as a peace offering.
I don’t have any romantic feelings toward Campbell and haven’t for years, but his being back in town is going to be very awkward. My biggest concern is Finn. He must know Campbell is back in town, but does he know that he’s going to be working here with me at the station? A million and one questions are floating through my mind, trying to make sense of the jumble of feelings about Finn, and now I have to add this shit with Campbell on top of it. Fuck, I really need a vacation.
I shove all my feelings into the deepest parts of my soul and lock them up tight. I can deal with them later. Right now, I need to do my job. Campbell and I will be working together, me being his boss. I need to find a way to maintain a good working relationship with him. And that isn’t possible while I’m trying to sort through my feelings for Finn.
It’s been years since he shattered my heart into a million pieces, but I’m completely over it, or at least that’s what I’m going to tell myself. I may not have any romantic feelings for Campbell, but the hurt at being tossed aside for Emmeline comes rushing back to the surface. Reminding me yet again of why I can’t continue my relationship, or whatever we are going to call it, with Finn. Now we can both go on with our lives—him in Texas and me here in Magnolia.
“Now, with that out of the way, I don’t want any issues out of you two.” Colt throws his arms around my shoulder, pulling me in for an awkward hug. “Marissa is the chief deputy here. She’ll make sure you have everything you need and will answer your questions.”
“If you just head into the locker room, there is a uniform and everything you’ll need for today. Go and get changed. I’ll meet you in the training room in a few minutes,” I say, a forced smile on my face.
Campbell nods before heading directly for the locker room, probably as excited to have that awkward moment over as I am. I watch him carefully, waiting for the door to close shut behind him before turning my attention toward Colt.
“I’ll only be here for half of the day,” I say, deadpan, daring him to say something different.
The last thing I want to do is spend the day trying to figure out how to hold a discussion with my ex-everything and how to get over Finn.
“There are a million different ways you two could’ve let me know about Campbell, but you never did. Besides, you promised me a vacation.”
“You’re scheduled for an overnight shift today,” Dolores chimes in as I glare in her direction.
“Yeah, about that. I have an emergency I need to take care of, so I won’t be able to stay my entire shift.”
Colt and I stare at each other for a few moments before he sighs loudly. “Are you angry? I couldn’t turn him away because he broke your heart.”
“I’m not angry that you hired him, Colt. I’m angry because you two kept the information from me.” Dolores opens her mouth to respond, but I hold my hand up to silence her. “You should have told me. Not my parents. Me.”
“Sorry, Marissa. We just weren’t sure how you’d react,” Dolores responds softly. “It won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t because I don’t have any other exes for Colt to hire.”
“You’re working my overnight shift tomorrow. No complaints. Then you can start your vacation,” Colt responds before turning and heading toward his office.
