Page 5 of Break Away
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Levi stepped through the office door marked“Chief of Police, Bradley Gallagher.” The man rising from the otherside of the wide desk brought a familiar jumble of emotions to thefore. Admiration, pride, sometimes the feeling of never quitemeasuring up, but over everything else, love. His brother hadalways seemed smarter, stronger, and competently in charge. Leviwas trying to get past the lifelong habit of feelingovershadowed.
He found himself engulfed in a hug. After acouple of slaps on the back, Brad stepped back, sharp green eyesgiving him that familiar all-seeing assessment. “Glad you’reback.”
“Me too. It was the right move.”
“You settled in at the cabin?”
“No. I still need to unpack the car. Mom cameby with a bunch of groceries. That helped.”
“Let her baby you a bit. She’s glad you’reback. Now that all her chicks are living in the same general area,she can hardly stand it. She’s doing her best to hold back and notsmother you.” He motioned Levi to the padded chair in front of hisdesk. Brad turned to the coffeemaker on a table against the wall.He indicated the full pot with a raised brow.
Levi sat, nodding at the offer. “I’ll stop byand see her later.”
“Good.” Brad handed Levi a steaming mugbefore taking his seat behind the desk.
“You look happy.” Levi tapped his temple,then pointed. “A few gray hairs in there, brother. Other than that,I’d say being a family man and chief of police sits well onyou.”
“Three kids. Who the hell thought I’d havethree kids? I don’t know how our parents managed four.”
“You need advice on birth control?”
“Shut up. I love my kids. The house is crazysometimes, but Emmaline is like the calm in the middle of awhirlwind. She centers me.”
“You hit the jackpot with her.”
“I did.” He gave Levi a level look. “Youthinking to settle down?”
“I’ve got to get my life together before Ican even begin thinking about it. And since I haven’t been in aserious relationship in over a year, it’s not looking likely.” Hesipped his coffee. Strong and dark the way he liked it.
“Over a year? That’s plain sad.” Brad shookhis head. “Brace yourself because you’re Mom’s current project.She’s already asked Emmaline and Maddy if they have friends theycould introduce to you.”
Levi closed his eyes, pinching the bridge ofhis nose. “Oh god. Shoot me now.”
“Thought you might like a heads-up.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Brad sipped his coffee. “Have you thoughtabout our offer?”
“I have. The job appeals, but I don’t want itbecause we’re family.”
“That’s not why you’re being offered the job.You’re a decorated detective from a big city. If anything, you’reoverqualified. But to keep everything aboveboard, we had anindependent panel review the applications with the names omitted toprevent any concerns over nepotism. Bottom line? You’re the bestcandidate. You have the most experience, and it didn’t hurt thatyou’ve earned commendations for your service.”
Brad wasn’t telling Levi anything he wasn’talready aware of. He’d done a Skype interview with the panel, andhad been up front about the incident that led to him quitting theOakland PD. An incident that, if he’d handled it better, wouldn’thave ended with his partner being shot, or a kid being killed. Allthe panel had been concerned about was that IA had deemed his useof force a “good shoot.”
He’d been called with the job offer the dayafter the interview.
Moving back home had been step one of thegetting-his-shit-together plan, accepting the job offer was steptwo. “Then I accept.”
Brad grinned and stuck out his hand to shakeLevi’s. “When can you start? The city annexed the area west of thelake. We’re stretched thin right now. You’ll come in at the rank ofcaptain, one of three we will have on the force, the others beingMonica Valdez and Jack Morgan. With a baby girl and a ten-year-oldat home, Jack will be happy if you take some of the load.”
“Jack and Dory have a baby?” Brad nodded.“Huh. I have a lot of catching up to do. Okay then. I can starttomorrow.”
“Good. Be here at seven, morning roll call isseven thirty.” Brad leaned back in his chair. “You run into yourneighbor, Zoey Hardesty?”
“Almost ran into that beast she calls a dog.Literally. It has a habit of taking naps in the middle of theroad.”
