Page 60 of Hot Cops

Typically, Landon would have enjoyed the teasing, would have started giving it right back, but instead, he sobered up. “Audrey’s planning to move to New York.”

“What?” Sunnie asked. “Since when?”

“She’s an actress, you know that. I think it’s always been in the back of her mind that she would take the leap, would try to make it on Broadway. I slowed that process down.”

“What about you?” Finn asked.

“Audrey wants me to come with her.”

Sunnie wasn’t sure how to respond to Landon’s news. He could have dropped a bomb right in the middle of the pub and it wouldn’t have shaken her like this.

Ever since she could remember, it had been her, Finn and Landon. Well, prior to high school graduation, it was more accurate to say it had been Finn and Landon, with her trailing along behind, but that had changed in the past few years.

The idea that their gang of three might drift apart bothered her. There were constants in her life—things she could always count on to be true no matter how old she got. Things like her family’s love, a Collins manning the bar at Pat’s Pub, her love of Guinness…and Landon’s presence.

Those things were solid. Forever.

Finn recovered first. “Are you going?”

Landon shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Sunnie asked more hotly than she’d intended. “What about your job?”

When Sunnie considered her unwavering adoration for her family, she figured the only person on the planet who might love them as much—or maybe more—was Landon. She’d seen firsthand the hero worship Landon had developed for her dad. Not that she blamed him, of course. As far as Sunnie was concerned, Aaron Young walked on water. She knew Landon felt the same way.

He’d idolized her dad so much, he had gone to the police academy after graduation, and he now worked as a police officer in the same precinct as Dad. Hell, Dad was his superior officer.

Landon sighed, and Sunnie realized he’d been struggling with this decision for longer than just tonight.

“When did she tell you about the move?”

Landon shrugged. Which meant he didn’t want to answer.

She and Finn leaned forward, waiting for the reply.

“Right after the New Year.”

“Two months ago? And you didn’t tell us?” Finn asked. Sunnie heard the slight tone of hurt in her brother’s voice. Finn and Landon were practically brothers, their relationship as tight as Colm and Padraig’s, who were legit twins, connected by some sort of invisible thread that meant they were always in each other’s heads.

“I don’t know what I’m doing yet, Finn.”

It was a simple answer, and one she and Finn should have expected. Landon didn’t do anything without thinking through every conceivable consequence.

“Let me guess. You have a pros-and-cons list going,” Sunnie said, forcing a grin, trying to find a way to ease some of the tension that suddenly hovered over the table.

Landon smirked and started to deny it.

“Don’t kid a kidder, babe,” she said.

He sighed. “I have a list.”

She laughed. “I knew it. What’s on it?”

Landon clearly didn’t want to tell them. “Just the typical. Pros are new city, new opportunities, Audrey.”

Sunnie didn’t point out that she thought Audrey probably should have been listed first, but she held her tongue.

“And the cons,” Finn prompted.

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