Page 59 of Fallen Hearts

And Pia. I’d thought a lot about Pia.

“Alright.” Beck jumped up from his stool. “Let’s do it.”

“What are we doing?” Parker asked as Beck started opening and closing drawers.

“What the hell are you looking for?” I asked.

“Ahh, here we go.” He pulled out a pad and pen from the junk drawer. One that I cleaned out multiple times but Dad always seemed to find a way to clutter up again.

Now I’d be keeping it just as it was.

Beck drew a line down the middle. He put the word “cop” on one side and “HH” on the other.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

Parker looked like he was going to crack up any second.

“One good thing about being a cop. Go.”

“Beck—”

“Would you just amuse me, please?”

“You’re amusing, alright,” Parker said, getting himself another beer.

“Or a positive about running Heritage Hill,” Beck said. “Either one. Go.”

I hated shit like this. But knowing Beck, it was either amuse him for a few minutes or listen to him soapbox all night.

“There’s a lot I like about being a cop,” I relented.

“Alright, give me something you don’t like.”

“Also easy to do. Public opinion of us isn’t good and not improving.”

Beck wrote that down. “What else?”

“Perps suing you for everything. Department not backing us like they used to,” I said as he continued to write. “Mandatory overtime. The city itself isn’t really for me. And not having a hook will make it hard to move up the ladder.”

“Anything else you don’t like?”

“Plenty,” I said, taking a swing of beer. “But those are the biggies.”

“Alright, now Heritage. What do you dislike about running this place?”

I thought about that for a second. “I never really saw myself as a people person.”

“Agreed,” Parker shot out, for shits and giggles I assumed.

“But Pia is taking over some of the guest interactions. Lemme think.”

I didn’t mind Cedar Falls. I actually liked it better than the city. And the guys were here. “No Cole,” I said.

“Don’t write that down,” Parker said to Beck. “He clearly forgot to say no me and you in the city, so those two cancel each other out.”

I rolled my eyes.

“No pension,” I said. “The uncertainty. Although maybe that’s not really a negative since I have more control over my salary, even if it’s not guaranteed. If we play our cards right, the payday will put the force to shame.”

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