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Or just angry lust.
Fuck my life.
By the time I returned to the office, Wyatt had clocked on, and he and Lewis were talking over by the water cooler. I could have told them to monitor the parking situation—on Phil and Connor. Instead, I retreated to my office and the safety of numbers.
“Sheriff?” Lewis leaned in, his voice hesitant. “Can I get a word?”
“Sausage is a word,” I replied, the joke slipping out before I could stop it. Lewis blinked at me, and it was obvious he didn’t get the humor. Why would he? This was a place of work, and here I was, cracking jokes as if I was losing my grip on reality. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. “Sorry, come in.” I pushed the budget figures to one side, piling up the paper I’d been scribbling on. “What’s up?”
He hovered just inside the door, and I could tell something was weighing on him.
“Is Claire okay?” I asked. “Solomon said you were at the doctor.”
“Had a bit of a scare, but she’s okay.”
I didn’t push for details, and he was working his wayup to something big, so I gave him time. This was it. Retirement. I knew it in my bones.
“Sheriff, I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” Lewis began, his tone serious. “About my wife, the grandkids … about everything. I’ve put a date on retiring—December 20th. Figure it’s time.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Lewis had been hinting at this for a while, discussing spending more time with his family. But hearing it out loud made it real.
“That’s…” Okay, I didn’t have any words.
“I’ve seen what’s happened to your dad, Neil,” he continued, his voice filled with regret. “And I don’t want to wait until I’m too old or too sick to enjoy the time I have left. I know it’s not something happening to me, and I don’t mean to cause upset to you, Neil, but it’s … hard to watch Garrett lose himself, you know? He should have been able to retire and live his life, but instead…”
His voice trailed off, but I knew what he meant. My dad should have had those golden years, but they were being taken from him, piece by piece.
“Maybe now you can ask Wyatt to stay,” Lewis added, his tone lightening.
I could go on about legacy funding, about how, if Lewis left, I wasn’t sure what budget I could secure to replace him with a single permanent deputy. Instead, I nodded, the weight of his words settling in.
“I get it. You’ve more than earned this. You’ve done your time and deserve to enjoy the years ahead. My dad… he should have had that too.”
We stood there for a moment, the unspokenunderstanding hanging between us. Lewis was making the right call, and I respected the hell out of him for it.
“Thanks, Sheriff,” he said, his voice thick with emotion as he extended his hand.
I gripped it. “Thank you, Lewis. For everything.”
We shook hands, and then he gave me a nod, turned, and headed out to finish his shift. I leaned back in my chair as the door closed behind him, staring at where he’d stood.
The idea of asking Wyatt to stay … maybe there was something to that. Legacy funding or not, this town needed good people.
So, I returned to my figures to try to make it work.
Chapter Nine
CONNOR
I satin front of my laptop, the screen filled with search results, reports, and bits of information I’d been collating for a case Oberon had thrown my way. Some CEO was embezzling funds, and it was up to me to dig up the dirt. This was my downtime now, piecing together clues and tracking people down from the comfort of my place over the diner.
It wasn’t like the old days, out in the field, but it kept my skills sharp and me busy. Oberon and Trick had their security firm, and every so often, they’d throw me a bone—like this one. I picked up jobs here and there, the real heavy lifting handled by Carter, who ran their systems. He was damn good at what he did, a real finding-a-needle-in-a-sea-of-needles kind of guy.
Not that I needed the money—the retainer Quinn paid me as his security guy was insane, but it wasn’t as if he needed me—but I needed direction.
I couldn’t shake the feeling of restlessness that had been gnawing at me for weeks as I clicked through filesand scanned data. The danger to Quinn had passed, and with it, the purpose I’d clung to for so long. Quinn didn’t need a trained former SEAL with a particular set of skills hanging around him anymore. He was safe, settled, and happy with Levi. And that left me … bored.
What the hell was I supposed to do now? Move into security full-time? Guarding the rich and famous? Taking a bullet for people I didn’t give a damn about? The idea made my skin crawl. I didn’t want that. But the truth was, I didn’t know what I wanted. I was rootless, restless, drifting without an anchor.
