Sam sighed. “I love you, Katie. So much.”
When she started to respond, he put a finger across her lips.
“No. You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know and remember that, for the times when you feel overwhelmed, and when you decide trusting me not to hurt you is a possibility.”
Then he put the car in gear and drove her home. When he pulled up in the drive, he leaned across the console and kissed her.
“If I leave you alone for the rest of the day so you can work, will you spend the night with me again?” he asked.
“I would love to,” she said.
“Awesome. Come over when you’re ready and I’ll grill steaks.”
“It’s a date,” Katie said, and then blew him a kiss. “Don’t get out. I’ll see myself to the door.”
He waited until she was inside before he backed up into his own drive, then got out. His house was so quiet that at first he didn’t know what to do, and then he remembered. Laundry. Grocery shopping. Uniforms to the cleaner. Bills to pay. He turned back into Sam the father and got busy again.
Katie was in the same frame of mind as she went into her office. She glanced at the awards hanging on the wall, ran her fingers over the name and Saguaro Elementary, and then sat down to read Lila’s text.
Only it wasn’t a text. It was a photo of Lila pointing to an engagement ring on her finger, and then a second photo of her and Jack together.
“Oh wow,” Katie said, and then quickly replied.
Congratulations! I am so happy for the both of you.
Lila sent back a meme of fireworks exploding, which made Katie smile.
After that, she started her laundry, then began changing sheets on her bed and making a grocery list before settling down to begin some lesson plans, getting ready to be Miss Katie again.
Chapter Twenty
Katie crossed the street to Sam’s just before 6:00 p.m. and rang the doorbell, then heard him yell “It’s open.”
She walked in, locking it behind her, and followed the sound of music and the aroma of potatoes baking and something marinating.
Sam met her in the hall, wrapped her up in his arms, and swooped. Mouth to lips. Heart to heart. Holding her close. Then when a slow, sad song filled the room around them, Sam whispered in her ear.
“Beautiful lady, may I have this dance?”
“Yes, and please,” Katie said, and leaned into his body as he waltzed her around the table and then around the room and out into the hall—laughing when he dipped her so low she felt her hair brush the floor, then spinning her around and around beneath the light fixture until Katie was seeing stars.
The song was over, but Sam was just getting started.
“Witch,” he whispered as he brushed his mouth across her lips. “My woman…my lover…my heart. Tell me how you like your steak.”
Katie threw her arms around his neck. “Medium well, please and thank you.”
“And how do you like your loving?” he asked.
“As long as it’s with you, I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
Sam grinned. “I’m all yours, please and thank you.”
***
The steaks got cooked. They ate as if they were starving, and they were—but not for food. They were starved for companionship. For the intimacy that comes from having a partner. For the joy of belonging, and knowing they were loved.
Long after the dishes were done and the kitchen abandoned for the bedroom, the quiet joy of being together was still celebrated. They fell asleep before they meant to, safe in the comfort of each other’s arms.
And then Sam’s phone rang. He reached for it even before his eyes were open, his voice husky from sleep.
“This is Sam.”
“Chief, this is Riley.”
Sam straight up in bed. When the night dispatcher called, it was always an emergency.
He was already turning on a lamp and reaching for his clothes when Katie woke and realized what was going on.
Sam put the call on speaker.
“What’s up?” he asked, and began putting on his pants.
“Break-in in progress. Mother and two kids locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911.”
Sam was dressed now, all but his boots, and had retrieved his weapon.
“Who’s there?” he asked.
“Delroy and Mike.”
“Send me the address. I’m leaving now,” Sam said as he stomped on his boots.
“Yes, sir,” Riley said, and disconnected.
Sam turned. Katie was rattled and he knew it.
“This is cop life, darlin’. I love you. Stay in bed. I’ll be back before you know it.”
And then he was gone.
Katie got up and ran fast enough to see his taillights disappearing down the street, then didn’t know what to do. She turned on the porch light for him, then was too worried to sleep, so she grabbed her phone, wrapped herself up in a sheet, and went out on his back porch to listen, knowing if there was gunfire or ambulance sirens she would hear them.
But the longer she sat, the sleepier she became. All was quiet, and she finally convinced herself that whatever had happened had been dealt with, without gunfire, and went back to bed.
She lay there in the dark, listening for the sound of his car in the drive or his key in the lock. Listening for the sound of his footsteps coming up the hall. She closed her eyes. Just to rest them. And fell back into the nightmare that haunted her life.
Running.
Children screaming.
Gunshots.
Losing Alejandro and Kieran.
Alejandro covered in blood.
Running again. Shots closer.
Staggering from the first gunshot.
Pushing the boys down beneath her.
Don’t talk. Don’t move. I love you.
***
Sam arrived on scene wearing a bulletproof vest. He turned out his lights on the last half of the block and immediately radioed the station.
“This is Sam. I’m on scene. Officers nowhere in sight,” he said.
“They just went inside,” Riley said.
“No visible lights,” Sam replied.
“They know you’re coming, Chief. They’ll be watching for you.”
“Going in,” Sam said.
He quietly approached the house with his weapon drawn, then slipped inside. Night-lights all along the hallway furnished enough luminosity for him to see. Within seconds, one of his men stepped out of the shadows and signaled to him that there was only one perp. Sam could hear him moving around in the back of the house and nodded.