NickAs I pull my patrol car up to the house, I glance down at the time. This is my first day back on duty, and I know there's something I have to do. This house? It's held me back in so many ways. Each time I would move forward, it would pull me back, not allowing me to be the man I wanted to be. Getting out, I slowly walk up to the front door, knocking twice before stepping back and waiting for someone to answer. When a woman with a small baby in her arms comes to the door, I give her my best smile."Hi, I'm Nick…""Cooper," she finishes. "You used to live here. I'm Colleen, I used to live over there." She points to another house farther down the block. I vaguely remember her riding her bike with me when she was younger. "I remember.""Yeah." She smiles this time a little sad. "My son and I, we moved here after he was born. Divorce," she says quietly. "I'm not here to judge anyone, I was just wondering if I could look at my old room."Anyone else except her would p
Kelsea"What are we doing out here?" We're in the truck, enjoying some time to ourselves. I thought we were going to breakfast, but he's driving to his shop, it looks like. My gaze lingers on the console, where our fingers are entwined. It's easy with him now, which I never thought it would be. Almost losing the love of your life does that. It makes you see things in a different light, encourages you to quit setting the small shit and forces you to appreciate the little moments. Our little moments are my favorite."I have to grab something I made for the baby." He carefully puts the tires of the truck into the ruts that have been made."When are you guys going to get some blacktop out here? It's crazy how much time all y'all spend out here, but you don't fix the road."He lets go of my hand, shoving the truck into four-wheel-drive and grins as he guns it, to get over a mountain of mud. "Maybe we like to drive it without blacktop."He's got this grin. It's what I call his l
Kelsea"C'mon you two, we're running late," I yell through the apartment as I throw open the closet door, looking for my flats. If we need to run to make it on time, at least I'll have proper footwear."Dad, I don't know how to tie my tie!"It still gets me, hearing him call us Mom and Dad, today, all of that becomes official. "Be there in just a second," Nick yells back as he stands up from the bed, tucking his button-down into his slacks. "I can't believe we overslept.""It's not our fault the power went out, and it knocked out the cell phone service too," I grab a tube of gloss, putting it on my lips as I run a brush through my hair."Okay, so for the tie," Nick looks at Darren. "That's something we'll get your grandpa to do, D-man, I still can't tie my own tie."The quiet in the room is deafening before we all bust out in nervous laughter. "Let's go," I point towards the door. "Everyone's gonna meet us there."* * *We're quiet as we make our way to the Laurel Sp
VOLUME THREE: ENIGMAKarsyn"This isn't working for me."My heart drops as I hear the words coming out of Tucker's mouth. They aren't really computing with me though. He can't be saying what I think he's saying. "What?" I want to make sure I'm hearing him right."This." He motions between the two of us. "Isn't working for me."I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. "You want more from me than I can give.""Is this because I told you how I felt? Because I told you I love you?" "Karsyn," he starts.I hold up my hand. "Don't give me the it's not you, it's me bullshit." And cue the tears. They're falling now, huge and ugly. I'm not a cute crier. Not like those girls who refuse to let people see them break down. I've spent enough of my life holding things in, running from a past that would have broken most. I refuse to hold my feelings in. Our time on earth is finite, and I had to tell Tuck when I fell."It is." He reaches out for my hand, but I snatch it away
TuckerWhen did I become the kind of guy who sits in a police car outside his ex-girlfriend's apartment? Especially when we didn't even put a label on it and it was never meant to be more than a couple of hook-ups.My conscience blasts me for being the asshole I am. You became that guy when you decided to be a jerk and break it off with her because you couldn't handle the feelings she evoked in you. At this point I tell my conscience to shut the fuck up, even though it's completely right. If I were anyone else, I'd tell them to get over it, stop going by her apartment and move on, but I can't. Not in a skeevy way either. There's nothing nefarious in the feelings I have for Karsyn.I fucking miss her; I miss the way she made me feel, the way she took care of me, and the way she allowed me to be myself, even when the days were harder than I cared to admit. Behind me, my K-9 Major barks, letting me know I've been sitting here for too long."I hear ya, but just a few more minute
Karsyn"He was outside my apartment again," I sigh to Kels as we sit outside the office, on our lunch break.It's a seriously gorgeous spring day. One of the first ones we've had so far this year. Bitter coldness swept through Alabama this winter, and while the cold temperatures are long gone, ice still encompasses the vestiges of my heart. In many ways, it was the coldest winter in my lifetime."When are you going to go over and talk to him? How long will you let him troll around like a creeper?" She giggles as she takes a drink of her decaf. When she was pregnant, she started drinking decaf and never went back once Ella was born.I shrug. "It's kind of flattering.""Imagine how emasculating it is for him though," she points out. "He's trying.""He should try," I insist. "He broke my heart and stepped on it with his combat boot.""But look at me." She takes a bite of her wrap. "I'm here, living the dream, even though you warned me to be careful with Nick."Jealous does
Tucker"You're slippin'." Nick gives me a grin as he comes into the conference room at the biggest hotel we have in our small town.It's time for a meeting of the Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team, and any of us who can attend have convened here. "What do you mean, I'm slippin'?"He chuckles. "Heard through the grapevine you only sent one rose to Karsyn this week."The grapevine means Kels, and I did only send one rose. "Fuck you, she knows what it means.""Does she?" He nods to the door, where she's walking in beside one of the new EMT's working with Cutter. I don't know the asshole's name, but she's smiling and he's grinning. They laugh at something, and it's like a damn knife through my heart. She doesn't even look at me as she takes a seat next to Stella. Major, sitting at my feet, sniffs as he smells Karsyn and looks up at me. "Go on." I give him a gentle nudge.Just because she's blocking me out doesn't mean she'll block him out. For that I'm grateful, because
KarsynI shift in the booth at The Café, waiting for Tucker to get here. After the LSERT meeting, we'd quickly decided to meet in public for our first brainstorming session. I don't know if that was more for me than him. In our previous attempt at a relationship, we'd never gone out in public together. Not because we hadn't wanted to, but because we couldn't keep our hands off each other.More than once he'd come to pick me up for dinner, and we'd ended up in bed. This is going to be a test of epic proportions. Checking my phone, I see he's got a few more minutes to get here. I was earlier than I'd expected to be. "Do you want anything while you wait?" Leigh asks as she walks by the booth."Ya know what? I'll take an order of fries and a Coke." Fries are my go-to, I'll eat them any day of the week, any way they come."Anything else?"Immediately I think about who's meeting me. "An order of cheese sticks along with a Sprite, some water and a treat for Major?"She gr