Page 89 of Sergeant O'
Chapter Forty-Two
Brian
By late morning, the sun was already hot enough to make the sand shimmer. Jade rolled up the towels while I packed the cooler. We fell into our beach preparation routine, moving around each other without needing to talk about it.
She came out of the bedroom in her black bikini, sunglasses pushed up in her hair. I whistled low, and she smirked as she slipped on her sandals.
“Stop staring, weirdo, and grab the sunscreen,” she said.
“I can do both. I’m a multi-tasker.”
The look she gave me said she didn’t really mind.
“How’s your leg feeling today?”
I handed her the SPFs 30 and 50 and replied, “It’s getting better every day.”
“I think by the time we get back, your staples should be ready to come out.”
I cringed at the thought and asked, “Is that going to hurt?”
“It’ll feel like a pinch. You took a bullet, Bri, you’ll be able to handle getting the staples removed in your sleep.”
She adjusted the sunscreen bottles in her arm, tapped my nose, then spun on the ball of her foot as she made her way to the beach bag sitting on the table.
“If we decided to just stay here for, let’s say, another month… you could take them out, right?”
She paused loading the bag and looked over at me with a soft expression.
“Yeah, I could. But there’s no way the hospital will let me have a month off. They had heartburn over me taking ten more days after the two I was already scheduled off.” She studied me for a second and continued, “But you should stay and enjoy your summer here. I’m sure Angus isn’t going to let you go back towork for a while. I can fly home. You should be able to drive your truck short distances around town without any issues.”
“I’m not staying here without you. That would be no fun at all.” I tossed my phone into the bag. “I guess we’ll settle for a few more days instead of a month.”
She pulled her sunglasses down and adjusted them on her nose. “Better make them count, Sergeant O’.”
“Planning on it,” I told her, and meant every word.
****
Jade
I carried the beach bag and umbrella while Brian lugged the cooler as we walked down the beach path toward the water.
Since I was in front, I scoped out a spot away from everyone but still close to the water and subtly pointed at it. “How about there?”
“Yeah, that works.”
I had just planted the unopened umbrella in the sand and set the bag down when the clicking noise started. At first I thought it was a trick of the breeze in the dune grass. It took a second to realize that all the people with cameras pointed at us weren’t tourists taking pictures of the ocean.
Then they shouted Brian’s name, followed by mine, and peppered us with questions as they came rushing toward us.
“How long have you been together? Were you dating before the shooting happened?”
“Brian, over here!”
“Is it serious?”
“Sergeant O’Shaughnessy, how long have you been dating your nurse?”
