“I got the whiskey,” Remy announced as he screeched into his spot and shut off his cart. “Ian’s got the trophy. What did you bring?”
“My charming personality,” Linc informed him while he adjusted the dinosaur costume. “And Dom made sure that we’re not gonna get the other cops called on us. So let’s go.”
“I took the first event,” I pointed out. “Parked and out of my cart before anyone else.”
“I feel like the defending champ of the Ridiculympics shouldn’t start out with the advantage,” Dom grumbled, which was completely unlike him.
“Give it to him,” Logan said quietly. “The man’s lost more in the last week than any of us can understand.” He shot a glance to Linc. “Well, except for you.” He walked into the same cemetery we’d spent our afternoon, the grim set to his shoulders completely in persona for his Grinch costume.
“Damn.” Linc whistled through his teeth. “What’s chewing at him? I mean, we’re all taking this hard, I know. But the man looks like he got stabbed in the gut and still has to walk home.”
I looked over at Logan’s retreating back and lowered my voice. “Heard through the grapevine—the grapevine being Emma—that Teri’s going to move again. But she’s not telling anyone about it. Not when it’s happening or where she’s going, just that she’s put in her notice.”
“Shit,” Remy groaned, running a hand through his rainbow-sparkled hair. “He’s gonna have to do something about that.”
“Already did!” Logan shouted loudly from across the field.
A round of groans fell between us. Logan was constantly interfering with Teri’s life, trying to keep her from falling for anyone else, but completely unable to be with her. Honestly, I felt bad for him, except that he kept intentionally ruining his chances with her.
“Please, please don’t fuck it up with Chloe like Logan keeps messing up with Teri.” Remy slapped me on the shoulder and walked away to take his place at the starting point.
Kevin’s grave loomed ahead, and I realized I’d been dragging my feet, keeping myself from stepping any closer. Not until I saw the rest of my unit there, surrounding Kevin’s tombstone, dressed exactly the way he’d want us to, and a smile lit my face.
“Someone get a picture of this,” I said loudly. “Something to commemorate my second win in a row.”
First a race through town, then a footrace through the cemetery that started with Kevin’s grave. Followed by a staring contest, and a game of costume strip poker, and I held that damn trophy in my hands again. The old and rusting metal cut into the palms of my hands, but I knew I wouldn’t be keeping it. Not anymore.
Tears in my eyes stung as the sun started to rise in the east, and I gently placed the trophy at the base of Kevin’s tombstone.
“This one’s yours, brother,” I whispered brokenly. “I’ll take care of Chloe and the home front. Guard the streets of heaven and rest easy, Marine.”
3
Chloe
The steady tap, tap, tap of rain hitting the office window almost felt cathartic while I sat at my desk and procrastinated the hell out of filing the last bit of paperwork from the day.
There was only one more patient left for Audrey to see before we were done, and I was already starting to feel restless.
“You didn’t need to come back so soon,” Audrey piped up from behind me.
If I hadn’t been working as her office manager since college, she might have surprised me. But I knew the way she moved over the plush carpet of the office and the way she held her breath when she wanted to shock me.
Instead, I turned with a sly smile, pushing my long brown hair out of the way so I could stare up at her creepily. “You’re gonna have to do better than that if you want to keep me on my toes.”
Audrey Martin, therapist and best boss extraordinaire, smiled with a frozen coffee held out in her hand. “Good thing I wasn’t trying to make you pee yourself today.” She looked at the calendar on my desk, pretending that she could read my shorthand. “How many left on the schedule? I forgot to pack lunch and I’m beyond starving.”
Her piercing blue eyes met mine with a smile and I laughed at the fact that she was holding a cheeseburger in her hand.
“Don’t judge me,” she whispered with fake menace. “This is just a snack.”
I rolled my eyes because it really was just a snack. She was holding one of those small little cheeseburger sliders. Something she kept in the freezer in the office’s small kitchen in case of emergencies.
“One more,” I told her when she’d shoved the whole thing in her mouth. “Just Bianca Hart.”
Audrey’s eyes softened and her entire demeanor changed at the mention of the little girl who’d lost her parents a year before. “I love Bee. She’s such a great kid.”
“Yep.” Nodding in agreement, I checked the clock behind Audrey’s head. “She’s scheduled for four p.m. so she should be here any second.”
“Great.” Audrey clapped her hands together and walked away. “Ending the day on a high note is my favorite.”
No sooner had she walked into her office than the outer door of the waiting room opened and Bee came barreling through. All blond hair and blue eyes, she marched in like she owned the space.
“Hurry up,” she called out behind her. “I can’t be late for Dr. Martin.” The sass she summoned up was way too much for an eight-year-old.
“Don’t sass me, sassy-pants,” Bria Keller said from the doorway.
Her eyes weren’t on Bee though. They were locked on mine, wary and cautious. With a thudding heart, I bit my lip and nodded silently, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fill my eyes.
I knew it was a possibility that Bria would be the one bringing in Bee. I knew it and somehow I pushed it to the back of my mind. After all, she’d been the one assigned to Bee’s case when her parents died. I’d seen her at least once a month since then for Bee’s therapy sessions.
“Hey, Chloe.” Bria’s voice was low and full of unspoken emotion.
“Hi.” I paused, taking a much-needed deep breath, and tried not to rub my chest and the ache until it went away. “How are you?”
Her eyes, so much like Ian’s, flashed with relief. “Better than you are, I know.”
“You two are sappy,” Bee said suddenly.
Blinking, I looked down to see her standing between the two of us, her eyes darting back and forth while she tried to figure out what was happening.
“Oh.” Her mouth made a perfect little ‘o’ and she flushed. “This is ’cause your big brother died, huh? Dom and Emma told me that you were sad and that I should be nice. But then Mama Alta told me that adults keep their act together and that you just carry on.” She huffed. “Is that why Dom had to borrow my rainbow tutu and then ruined it ’cause he’s fat?”
Unable to help myself, I laughed.
“Yeah,” Bria said with a smile for Bee. “Dom and the other men from Miss Chloe’s brother’s unit all got together to remember him.”