Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“I hate to say this, but I don’t have time.” I grimaced. “I can be sure to fill you in about it when you get home, though.”
“Good,” he said. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way back. But my dad’s leaving in twenty, so make sure you have everything ready to go so he doesn’t try to spend more time at the office. His and Mom’s anniversary is today, and he’s already in the doghouse because he somewhat forgot. Don’t dig him in deeper.”
I gasped. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “It’s been a fun day listening to the two of them bitch to me separately.”
After saying goodbye, I hung up and got back to work, finishing up everything I could before shutting down my computer.
And since it was well past twenty minutes after that phone call and he still hadn’t come, I gathered up my belongings and called for Rooster to follow.
He did, and I locked my office door with a thumbprint—something new that’d been on my office door this morning to help accommodate my disability—and went in search of the chief.
I found him talking in low tones to some man I couldn’t place.
“Um, Mr. Carter, erm, Germaine?” I called out.
Both men stopped talking, and Germaine said, “Hey, Bindi. I’m almost ready. Just taking care of a few short details before we go.”
“Actually, about that,” I said. “I’m not feeling all that well. Headache. Really bad. Do you mind taking me home now?”
Germaine immediately made his departure known to anyone that needed to hear it, and then helped me outside to his truck.
Since he was the big boss, he got the nice parking spot right outside his door.
It took us two minutes to get in and head out before he said, “You get headaches often?”
“Yes.” I paused. “But I don’t really have one. I just wanted you to stay married.”
There was a long moment of silence, and then, “I swear to Christ, that woman.”
I laughed. “We’re fickle little things. Sometimes we’re perfectly content with a kiss and a candy bar from the gas station. And sometimes we need a little more than that.”
“I forgot. Kind of. I knew, and I told her before I left in a note on her bathroom counter, but it got knocked off by the cat, and I didn’t say anything to her until well after one this afternoon,” he admitted. “I also forgot to get her a present.”
“What’s her favorite ice cream?” I asked.
“All of it.”
I grinned. “You got a gas station close to your place?”
“Yes…” he hesitated.
“Go buy her every single pint they have and take it to her. It’ll make her day, I promise,” I told him.
He was silent for a few long seconds before saying, “I meant to get her a cookie cake from the mall—no offense to Maven, who owns a bakery—but I forgot to do that, too.”
“The mall takes like ten minutes to make those. I’ll call. You drive there. We’ll pick it up, then blame everything on traffic. Or, you could blame our lateness on me. I’m blind and have a perfectly good excuse,” I pointed out.
He laughed, then swung the vehicle around and headed toward what I assumed was the mall while I made the call to the cookie place.
I was right. It’d take them ten minutes max to get it done.
Fifteen minutes later, Germaine parked and got out, and I helped myself out while Germaine got Rooster.
“Such a good boy, aren’t you?” Germaine asked my sweet dog.
And man, he really was sweet.
He’d turned out to be one of the best things that had ever happened to me.
I adored him, and he captured the hearts of every single person he came into contact with at the police station. He was actually a calming addition to my job when I had to deal with distraught people as well.
Speaking of…
“Did you hear about the call I took today where the kid was missing?” I asked.
This morning around nine, a five-year-old had gone missing from his school bus. With it being a substitute driver, the man didn’t know that the kid wasn’t supposed to get off where he had.
“Yeah,” Germaine said as he handed me Rooster’s leash. “He’s okay, by the way. They were able to find him with your help.”
My hand pressed to my heart. “I was hoping to hear that.”
“The language barrier is really tough,” he admitted as he caught my elbow and helped guide me. I appreciated it, because I could hear a ton of people around. “It’s freakin’ heartbreaking when you are just trying to help, and they don’t understand you, and you don’t understand them. You really came in clutch today.”
I beamed. “That makes me happy.”
“It should,” he said. “You accomplished a lot, and it’s only your second day.”
Flushing with the praise he’d given me, I walked happily at his side, and Rooster walked happily at mine.