“Speech! Speech! Speech!” some of the other troopers in the audience begin to chant as Chris stands and stretches his probably still-sore body.
He hobbles up to the microphone and surveys the crowd before saying, “Thank you, Captain Allen, for that glowing testimony.”
Everyone laughs, especially the other officers.
“And thank you to Mayor Carson for having us here today,” he says, turning toward the mayor. Then he faces the crowd. “Ever have something happen to you that is just so surreal that you keep asking yourself if it really happened or if you were actually dreaming?”
The audience murmurs and nods in agreement.
“Saturday night was a lot like that. Actually, this whole week has been a lot like that. Whew, I’ve been through a lot this week!” he jokes, wiping fake sweat off his brow. “I got stranded with fifty wedding guests on what isn’t supposed to be an island but was; I called in the Coast Guard to transport those guests back to shore; I got hit with a baseball bat, which resulted in five staples in my head;” he points to his bandage, “and I had my secret identity revealed. Oh, in case you hadn’t heard, I’m children’s author C.J. Evans. I’d been trying to keep that under wraps for a while, but hey—I might as well just embrace the fact that when I’m off duty I draw pictures of animals and write stories to go with them. It doesn’t seem very manly, does it? Maybe not, but you know what? I’m not embarrassed about it. It’s who I am.
“I think the most important thing that happened in the past week is that I learned how important it is to just be myself. And that self is flawed, imperfect, vain and stubborn at times. Did I mention vain? I would have liked nothing more than to take over everything on Saturday night and call all the shots, then take all the credit for rescuing all those people, but—”
He pauses and turns around to glance at me before returning his attention to the audience. “But, the truth is that I was not the hero those people needed. Dr. Miller is the real hero here—the best decision I made last weekend was to defer to her wisdom and expertise. I was second-in-command at most, and really, the entire wedding party deserves a lot of the credit for keeping everyone safe. I think they would all agree, however, that our real leader was most definitely Dr. Miller, and though she’s humbly said she didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done, she’s really downplaying her incredible bravery and tenacity. I really doubt many of you would have stayed up all night taking care of everyone and then faced your greatest fear in order to get off the island and call for help. Am I right?”
Everyone murmurs and nods in agreement until my brother Ben starts to clap, then Jamie joins in. After a moment, the entire room is standing and clapping—for me.
Twenty-Six
After our speeches and the mayor’s presentation of special plaques commemorating our service to the community, it’s mass chaos. The press is there, trying to interview us. The Captain and the rest of my shiftmates from Troop 7 want to congratulate me and see how I’m faring after the incident earlier this week. I think my mom hugs me for a full five minutes as well. By the time I try to find Brynne, she’s already left the building. I didn’t even see her go.
It’s too bad because I really wanted to ask her why she outed me. I’m over it now, but I still want to know. Unsurprisingly, my coworkers have stopped calling me Summer Teeth and are now calling me Dr. Seuss. I think that’s an upgrade; what do you think?
The more I think about all the craziness that has transpired the past month or so, the more I think maybe it’s time for me to rethink my career choice. Maybe Brynne’s refusal to date cops has something to do with it…or maybe I’m just tired of walking into situations where I may get bitten or hit by baseball bats.
After a celebratory lunch with my parents, I find myself in Captain Allen’s office to discuss my future with him. Now that my books are about to become an animated series, the simple truth is, I don’t need to work. The figures my agent and I discussed at our meeting in Baltimore were fairly impressive. I’ll give up my pension if I leave now, but if I want to take advantage of it, I’ll have to put in fifteen more years on the force. I don’t know if I can do fifteen more years of constantly switching back and forth between days and nights, and sure, I can handle getting knocked out cold when I’m twenty-nine, but what’s going to happen when I’m forty?
Once I tell Captain Allen of my predicament, his face grows more and more serious. I’m preparing myself for one hell of an argument when he opens his mouth and smiles instead.
Smiles? Captain Allen doesn’t smile.
“I’m not going to beg you to stay, Everson,” he tells me.
Oh. So maybe all those nice things he said about me earlier today were just for show.
“However,” he continues, his lips curling ever so slightly again, “I do have an idea of something that might be even more up your alley than patrol.”
“You do?”
He nods. “You like kids, right?”
“Love them, Sir.” I nod. “I wouldn’t write children’s books if I didn’t love kids.”
“How would you feel about taking the school resource officer post at the Delmarva Academy?”
My eyes grow wide. That is where Sonnet, Jack and Lindy all teach.
“It’s grades K-12,” he tells me, but I already knew that. “And they’re looking to have someone permanently posted there. Someone who will be a good role model and will keep the kids safe, of course. I’d love to recommend you for the job.”
“You would?” I’m trying hard to keep from beaming, attempting to match his serious demeanor, but it’s so damn hard for me to do that.
“Yes, I would. I think you’d be perfect, in fact. And it’s from 7:30-4:30 Monday through Friday, so you’d be on a regular schedule. Now I can’t guarantee there won’t be any biters or baseball bats, but I think in general you will find it slower-paced than being out on the road.”
I chuckle. “I would be honored to apply for that position.”
“Great. Go see your Sergeant, and I’ll personally write you a letter of recommendation.” His face is back to his normal stoic expression as he reaches out to shake my hand. His grip so firm, I swear he almost breaks one of my fingers, but I’m so high on endorphins at the moment, I don’t care either way.
I leave the building and head out to my truck with a smile plastered on my face. But the prevailing thought in my head is whether or not School Resource Officer is far enough from a cop for Brynne to consider dating me.
Once we get my car and my bike back to my house, I’m sitting there in a state of shock. Alone. Sonnet is still gone. Ben and Jamie just got in their car, anxious to get home because Harmony was getting fussy and hungry—apparently her sugar high from the cake we had after the awards ceremony wore off.
I’ve almost convinced myself to just go into work and try to pick up a shift when my phone buzzes with a text. I am expecting Sonnet to text and ask how the ceremony went today, but it’s Chris.
I wish my heart didn’t flutter every time I think of him, but I don’t seem to be able to stop it. I haven’t wanted to contact him because I feel so bad about his outed identity—even if it’s not really my fault—and for misjudging his relationship with Madison. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about that.
I think what it comes down to is that I wanted to find every single excuse in the book not to like him. And, just like everything else in my life, I’m a classic overachiever.
His message simply says: Can we talk?
Crockett is curled up next to me in my recliner while I wait for Brynne to return my text. IF she returns my text. I thought my head and stomach were in pain from the assault earlier this week, but what really hurts right now is my heart. I feel an overwhelming need to make things right with her, and I’m afraid she doesn’t want to talk to me.
My heart might very well fly out of my chest when the phone buzzes with her response: Sure. When? Where?
With trembling fingers, I reply: Here and
now?
Then I send a little dolphin emoji. I know she won’t get it, but I really want to show her my book. Her book. I really want to have her blessing before I send it to my agent.
Not twenty minutes later, she’s pulling up on her Harley. I hear her coming down the block before I actually see her. I still can’t believe she owns one of those! I peek out my front windows, and she looks like a total badass silhouetted by a flaming sunset as she steps off the bike. She pulls the helmet off, and the hair that cascades down her back and around her shoulders matches the skies as she shakes it out all around her. She carries the helmet to my front door, where I watch her ring the doorbell and wait expectantly. She has absolutely no clue I’m watching her and most certainly no clue how beautiful and amazing she is.
I want to tell her.
I want to tell her I think she is the perfect match for me. That that good team we made this past weekend could be a full-time gig. We could be that good all the time. I just know it.
“Hey…” the word floats off my lips and hangs in the air as she makes her way inside my house.
“Wait a minute,” I stop her before she lays her helmet down on my entryway table.
“What?” Her brows furrow as she tries to untangle the confusion on my face.
I know my brain is a little muddled from my head injury, but I didn’t give her my address. And she didn’t ask for it. “How did you know where I live?”
“Oh…” She lets out an embarrassed chuckle. “Can we sit down? I have a confession to make.”
I’m racking my brain to remember if she’s seen my address anywhere. Maybe she got it from Sonnet? Sonnet has it from the wedding invitations.
Still, it’s nighttime in Greece and—
Did she just say she has a confession to make?
“I have a confession to make too,” I tell her, trying to keep the sappy hopeful grin off my face as I lead her to the living room. Crockett immediately rubs up against her leg, and she bends down to pet him. When she sits down, he jumps up into her lap. He’s normally a little standoffish with visitors, so this is pretty momentous. When Madison stopped by to feed him earlier this week, he hid from her.
Brynne looks at me out of sheepish eyes, so dark they nearly look black. She’s wearing her contacts, but not any makeup, and her freckles are shining through. I’m pretty sure she is the most beautiful woman to ever sit on my couch. Even more beautiful as she strokes Crockett’s silvery back and tells him what a good boy he is.
“So…what did you want to tell me?” I ask her.
“First, I’m sorry I didn’t text you back the other night when you were still in the hospital. That was a shitty thing to do, especially considering the circumstances, and I want you to know I regret ignoring you. I just didn’t know what to say because—”
She cuts off abruptly as her eyes lock in on mine. It looks like there are so many words trapped in there, she’s trying to figure out which ones to use and what order to use them in.
My eyebrow arches, but I don’t say a word. I don’t want to push her. Like getting over her fear of sharks to jump in that water, it has to be done in her own time.
“Because I thought you were with Madison. I thought the whole thing that happened between us over the weekend was—”
“You thought I was with Morgan?” I gasp. “Why would you think that?” I can’t imagine how she got that impression.
“The way she looked at you at the hospital,” she explains, “and thanked me for taking care of you. It was very—I don’t know—very familiar, very personal. And then…”
Yep, there are those words again. It’s like when I’m writing one of my books and trying to figure out exactly which words to use to best express what’s rattling around in my head and heart.
“Then I remembered your cat,” she says, still stroking his back. My little boy is in love with her already, I can tell. He’s never taken to one of my girlfriends like this before.
Not that she’s a—well, you know what I mean…
“I got your address from your file and drove over here. Madison was here, inside your house.” She points to my living room window. “I watched her through the window. She was relaxed on the sofa watching your TV. I thought—I thought she lived here.”
“What? No!” I laugh. “She came to feed Crockett, but he wouldn’t come out of hiding, so she parked herself on the sofa to wait for a while and see if he’d show himself.”
“Oh….” She smiles. “Well, she told me earlier today that you guys aren’t a couple. But that’s how I know where you live, so it’s kind of a two-for-one confession.”
How sweet is it that she was thinking of Crockett even when she wasn’t answering my text… And I’m blown away she thought Morgan and I were a couple, that we lived together, and I’d cheated with her on Morgan. No wonder she didn’t answer my text!
“So before my confession,” I begin, “I want to know the real reason you told everyone I was C.J. Evans. Was it because you thought I’d cheated on Madison with you?”
Much to my surprise, she bursts out laughing. She’s beautiful all the time, but when she laughs, she is truly a goddess.
“I don’t understand what’s so funny about it—other than it being a terrible miscommunication. Brynne, I should have told you this weekend that I am single, single, single. Like as single as anyone can get.”
“No, no,” she answers, still giggling and shaking her head, “it’s not that. It’s YOU who told everyone your identity!”
“What?!” My eyes are probably about to pop out of my skull, I’m so taken aback by this accusation.
“But I saw you on the news, confirming I’m C.J. Evans.”
“Okay,” she says, trying to swallow down the rest of her laughter. “Yes, I did confirm, it, but the rumor had been circulating throughout the hospital all day because you told the entire staff—every single nurse who came in your room—that you wrote children’s books, and you kept going on about a dolphin and shark or something?”
“Oh! The drugs….” I smack my palm against my forehead with sudden understanding. “I must have been rambling incoherently…” Now I’m the one laughing and shaking my head. “That’s just great. What else did I say?”
“Well, you asked me to marry you, for one,” she deadpans.
“Oh, wow, I did?” Great, that’s not embarrassing at all. Well, I wouldn’t rule it out…someday.
“You know, every time you talked about your books, I tried to change the subject or throw people off the scent,” she explains. “But by the time that reporter asked me, and I thought I’d just put two and two together about you and Madison, I was pretty exasperated.”
“I bet. I’m so sorry it all went down like that.” I stand up and begin to walk toward my office, which is down the hall across from my bedroom. “I do want to show you something, though…”
Her brows quirk as she probably thinks I’m trying to segue way to the bedroom or something. After all this time, she still thinks I’m the stereotypical womanizing cop, doesn’t she?
Is he really showing me to his bedroom? I just got here! I hesitantly move off the sofa and follow him down the hallway, where he pushes a door open. I glance around, expecting to see a bed, but instead there is a huge bookcase taking up the entire wall and a long desk with the most massive flat screen monitor I’ve ever seen. The walls are covered with artwork that appears to be from his books.
“Well, look, it’s like a C.J. Evans shrine in here,” I comment. “I guess you never let anyone in this room?”
He shakes his head, a smile curling his lips. “Nope, always kept it locked. If my parents were here or a date or even Drew or one of my other buddies, I’d tell them it’s my junk room and too embarrassing to show it to anyone. With everyone knowing I’m a bachelor, I guess they expected I’d have a messy room I needed to hide.”
“Hmm, expectations do get us into trouble sometimes, don’t they?” I can’t help but smirk as he turns back to face me. His
eyes are smoldering, just like they did back at my brother’s camp. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be the recipient of one of those heart-stopping looks again, but here we are.
“I wanted to show you my latest project,” he tells me, “and get your approval.”
“My approval?” I laugh. “I really doubt I can help you with a children’s book.”
“I think you can help with this one,” he assures me. He pulls a stapled booklet from a desk drawer and hands it to me, his eyes never leaving mine once.
“What’s this?” I question, turning it over. The cover says Brynne the Brave Dolphin.
Whoa…really? This is what he was rambling on about in the hospital. Something about a dolphin that is scared of sharks. All I remember thinking is hey, I can identify with that dolphin. I never imagined I was the dolphin.
I go page by page through the story of a dolphin who needs to help rescue passengers from a sinking cruise ship, but to do it, she has to bravely swim through shark-infested waters. She has a scar on her dorsal fin from a prior shark attack, but she manages to face her fear and lead a team of dolphins on the rescue mission until every human is safely ashore.
Wow, wonder where on earth he got that idea?
My cheeks are hurting from grinning by the time I reach “The End.” The story is so uplifting, and the illustrations are absolutely adorable. There’s also a body-positive message about learning to accept and even love your scars. I already know Harmony will fall in love with his book, and if there’s a stuffed dolphin to go along with it, it will match her ocean-themed bedroom perfectly.
Badge Bunny Page 25
