Page 109 of Sergeant O'
“You’ve got this,” I said quietly. “You’ll go in there, do your job, and remind yourself you have better things to care about than a man who’d rather play it safe than take a chance.”
I grabbed my bag, squared my shoulders, and stepped out of the car like I believed it.
~~~~
The minute I walked into the break room, I was met with a chorus of, “Welcome back!” and “We missed you!”
I pasted on a smile as I stuck my lunch bag in the fridge. “Missed you guys too.”
Carla filled her water bottle from the water cooler. “How was the beach?”
“Great. Cape Cod is beautiful.” I said as I moved to my locker, keeping my tone even. “It was a much-needed break.”
Someone else piped up from the table, “And Brian O’Shaughnessy, huh?”
There it was.
I gave a light laugh that sounded almost natural. “That was a classic example of the press blowing something innocent out of proportion.”
“So, you weren’t on vacation with him?”
“No, I was. But notromantically. My sister’s boyfriend has a beach house that he offered to Brian so he could lay low from the media. He needed someone to drive him, and since I have a lot of vacation time banked—and he’d just saved my sister—it seemed like I kind of owed him. That’s all it was.”
Carla nodded. “Makes sense. People love to stir things up.”
I forced a smile. “Yeah, well, it gave the town something new to talk about for a few days. Hopefully it dies down soon.”
“We do love our gossip around here.”
Stephanie looked up from her phone. “Speaking of the latest gossip…”
She turned her screen toward me, A video was already playing—Brian outside the diner with Sylvia, her arm looped through his as reporters shouted questions. Someone asked if they were back together. Sylvia smiled and said,“Something like that.”Brian didn’t say a word. He just stood there, polite and silent, while flashes popped around them.
My stomach clenched. He hadn’t corrected her. Just let the world assume whatever it wanted.
Steph scrolled like she was reading the comments below.
“Guess he and Sylvia are a thing again. Someone posted this about an hour ago, and one of Sylvia’s friends confirmed they’re dating.”
I managed a neutral, “Good for them,” though my throat burned as I said it.
Carla frowned. “You okay?”
“Oh, yeah.” I recognized my voice was higher than normal, so I cleared my throat and quickly added, “I should get to rounds.”
~~~~
As I drove home, the sun was too bright for how heavy my chest felt. I kicked off my shoes by the door, fed Penny Lane, then retreated to my bedroom where the blackout curtains kept the room dark.
That fit my mood better.
Sleep wasn’t going to happen, but I crawled into bed anyway. I needed to at least try.
I stared at the ceiling for a long time, replaying every word from the break room.Guess he and Sylvia are a thing again.
Fortunately, it’d been a busy shift so I hadn’t had any downtime to dwell on it.
That wasn’t the case now.
