Page 34 of Break Away
Even though it wasn’t completely dark, Levitook out his phone and turned on the flashlight. A few stepsfarther and they came to an alcove hollowed into the hillside. Anintricately carved bench that looked as if it could have grownthere was nestled into the protective embrace of the earth.
Zoey ran her fingers over the grain of thewood. “This is beautiful. I had no idea it was here.”
Levi shone the light on a small brass plaque.She leaned over to see it, reading the words out loud. “In lovingmemory of Ben Gallagher. We lived and loved, and you are missedevery day. Love, Trish.” Emotion brought tightness to her throat.“Your mom had this bench placed here for your dad.”
“Yeah. My motorcycle was his. He would takeMom for rides up here. This was one of their favorite spots.” Whenhe spoke, his voice was a little rougher than usual. He pulled herto sit beside him on the bench.
She gazed out at the incredible view. Thelights of Hangman’s Loss glimmered across the dark expanse of thelake. The businesses on Main Street glowed brightly while warmerlights from the homes nestled into the forest gleamed likejewels.
In the eastern sky a faint scattering of thebrightest stars were visible. The altitude combined with night’sarrival made the temperature drop rapidly, and she was glad for theheavy motorcycle jacket. Levi stretched an arm around her shouldersto bring her closer to him. “This make it too date-ish?”
She leaned into him. “Maybe, but it’s nice.”She wouldn’t let herself think about just how right it felt to behere with him. There was a bare whisper of sound and the shadowyform of an owl glided past them.
“Everything looks so pretty from uphere.”
“You’ve never been here before?”
She shook her head. “I’ve driven by theturnout probably a hundred times, but never stopped. I’m glad youbrought me.” She turned her gaze from the view to focus on the manbeside her. Despite her vulnerability issues, and the fear ofgrowing too close to Levi, she sensed he had something on his mindand figured she’d be friendly and ask. “You going to tell me what’sbothering you?”
He stilled for a moment and was quiet. Shedidn’t think he was going to answer. Better that way, really. Shedidn’t want to be privy to his inner thoughts. Knowing him, he’dexpect her to reciprocate, and that wasn’t going to happen.
When she felt certain he was letting itslide, he surprised her by answering in a low tone. “I’ve come tothe realization I’ve been running away for the past decade. Maybe Iwas running when I left Oakland PD.”
She shouldn’t ask. She asked, “How so?”
“As I go through it, I’m only beginning tounderstand. Like, I could’ve come home after college, and insteadwent into the police academy and joined the force in Oakland.” Shefelt his shrug against her shoulder. “I did good work there so itwasn’t a bad decision.”
“Why do you think that was running away?”
He loosened his grip on her hand but stillheld it in his, staring out at the view as he rubbed his thumbacross her palm. She should’ve pulled her hand away, broken theintimacy, but was pretty sure he was caught up in the memories andwasn’t aware of what he was doing.
“Because being home reminded me of my dad. Ididn’t want to be in a place where every time I turned around therewas someone telling me how sorry they were, or what a good guy BenGallagher was.”
He sighed. “Then there was Brad. It felt likeI couldn’t breathe without him getting on my case.” He shook hishead. “I was a selfish bastard. When Dad died, I was so caught upin my own head, I didn’t care or pay attention to how hard it wasfor everyone else. Mom moved to LA to help Maddy after Lily wasborn. They’d both lost Dad too, then they were dealing with a sickbaby. That was hard. As hard as it gets. I didn’t make it anyeasier on anyone.”
“Weren’t Maddy and Logan going together?”
“They’d broken up, and he went into themilitary. He didn’t know about Lily. Maddy made us swear not totell him. Lily died, and it seemed like we’d just buried Dad, andthen we were putting another family member in the ground.”
Her heart hurt for him. For all of them. “Youwere a teenager. At the time, you think you’re all grown up, butreally you were still a kid. You’re being too hard on yourself.Your family was going through an extremely difficult time. But fromwhat I saw today, you supported one another as best you could, andhave come out the other side pretty damn well.”
He brought her hand up, pressing his lips toher knuckles, sending warmth rolling through her. “I wish I’d beenmore of a help than a burden. I was such an idiot. I never thoughtabout how much Brad sacrificed. He left college to be home with mewhen Mom moved to LA.”
“He loves you, and my bet, he’s proud ofyou.”
“I might not have made it if it wasn’t forhim.”
“I think you would have, but maybe itwould’ve been a rougher ride along the way.” His expression wasgrim as he gave a curt nod. Despite the raw emotion he’d revealed,she thought there was more. She’d seen the shadows drop over hiseyes, seen how sometimes he seemed to be elsewhere even when shewas only feet away from him.
That she wanted to help alleviate his painmade her an idiot. Talk like this only deepened their relationship,and she was pretty sure she didn’t want that with him. Yet, as ifher mouth wasn’t connected to her brain, she asked, “What made youdecide to leave the Oakland PD?”
His grim expression turned into a mask ofstone. “It’s complicated.”
She frowned. “I’d read about a questionableofficer-involved shooting in Oakland several months ago. A cop shotan unarmed black man. Were you involved in that?”
“Let’s not ruin our evening. Best to agree todisagree.”
She nodded while wondering how big aviolation of trust it would be to do an Internet search for “LeviGallagher” and “officer-involved shooting.”
