Page 41 of Sergeant O'
She didn’t say anything, just glared up at me. But she also didn’t drop my hand, which I took as a good sign, so I pushed my luck a little.
“Come on, you said whatever I was thinking, the answer was ‘no’. So, I’m assumingno, you don’t mind?”
“Do you really need support or are you just trying to send the rumor mill into overdrive?”
“Can’t it be both?”
Her nostrils flared when she pulled on the door handle and warned, “You promised you’d behave,” under her breath as she held the door for me to walk through.
She should know me better than that by now.
“Not about this, I didn’t.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jade
Brian gripped my hand again, although I noticed his limp was far less pronounced than it had been just a few seconds ago in the parking lot.
I wasn’t sure if the limp had been for my benefit, or if the lack of one now was for the people inside the bank.
The same ones who were all gawking at us as we approached the velvet ropes for the teller line.
“It’s not too late for me to go home,” I threatened in a quiet voice as we waited for the next available teller.
“Oh, come on. You’re looking forward to hanging out at the beach as much as I am.”
Okay, that was true.
Lainey had texted me the address of Alan’s beach cottage, so after sending Sophie a text about my change in plans, I’d pulled it up on Zillow.
It was, literally, on the beach. Not across the street or a short drive, it was steps away from the ocean. The pictures showed the view from the living room and one of the bedrooms, and it was stunning.
I was already planning on using the “but I drove” card to get the bedroom with the ocean view. I was excited to fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and waking up to the sun sparkling off the water like diamonds.
Maybe I’d even do some yoga on the back deck I saw in the photos.
If I were being honest, I needed this vacation almost as much as Brian did. I knew I was on the verge of burnout at work. Maybe that’s why it hadn’t taken much for him to convince me to go with him.
It had nothing to do with how he’d looked in just his pajama pants last night.
I heard a voice call, “Next in line!” and looked over to see Rachel Goodman waving us to her window.
“Brian, oh my God! I heard what happened! I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Thanks,” he said with a polite smile.
She beamed back at him, virtually ignoring that I was standing at his side, which didn’t surprise me since she’d always treated me like I was invisible in high school.
“We’re starting a meal train for you, now that you’re out of the hospital.”
“That’s really nice of you, Rachel. But,” he slipped his hand to the small of my back. His possessive display made my stomach do flips, but I knew he was only doing it to mess with the gossip mongers of Haven Springs. “Jade and I are on our way out of town, so we won’t be here. Why don’t you do it for Lainey and Adam instead? I’m sure they’d appreciate it. Or better yet, I think Bess Schilling is going to need a lot of support now, too.”
Bess’s husband, Earl, was the one who’d been killed in the shootout with Brian.
She’d been arrested for stalking my sister, but there’d been more to that story coming to light in the last few days. She might have been just as much a victim in all this as Lainey.
Rachel’s face fell.
