Page 119 of Shortcake
His low chuckle made my pulse skip. “Hardly. It’s dead. I sent everyone else home to be with their families. No need for all of us to be absent from our lives tonight.”
“So it’s just you down there at the station?’
He sighed. “Just me. And a pot of crappy coffee until Warren comes in to join me in a couple hours.”
Heat flamed across my cheeks as an idea crossed my mind. I dipped my head to hide my cheeky grin from Harper.
“Well, I’ll get Harper to the store, and I’ll make sure Mia’s actually there.”
“Thank you, Addy. Sorry I’ve been so absent this week. I’m looking forward to having time with you tomorrow.”
I bit my lip to hide my smile. “Me too, Conrad.”
Tomorrowandtonight.
He just didn’t know it yet.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Conrad
This was quite easily theworstcoffee I’d ever had in my life.
And somehow, it managed to be both burnt tastingandlukewarm. How the hell did that even happen?
Even still, I poured myself another mug and took a sniff, cringing as I carried it back to my desk.
I thought I would enjoy a quiet small town. Very little crime.
Not a lot to do.
And in some ways, of course I did. I was thrilled that no one was getting stabbed. Or robbed. No calls were coming in. It wasn’t even my job to sit at the one traffic light in town and dole out tickets.
But in some ways, I had thrived on that excitement. I was always able to work through my own shit, my own mental blocks, when I was on duty, driving around.
Now? There was nothing to do here at the office except stew in my thoughts.
And panic.
Meghan was coming.
It was happening … and fast. She had bought her plane ticket and was arriving Tuesday morning at eleven a.m.
Harper was excited, but I had asked her not to mention it to Addy yet. When she asked why, I came up with some bullshit reason about wanting to see if the guest house above the garage would be ready in time for her mom’s arrival.
And why I called the crew, asking for them to start as soon as possible even though I had initially told them to take their time and get to us whenever they had a break in their schedule.
Cam, our contractor, had been happy to oblige. He was always polite. Always professional. And even though I knew he was slammed with work this summer, he agreed to get started today and get as much done as possible in the next few days.
Of course, I knew it wouldn’t be fully ready by Tuesday. But it was at least one small thing that I felt like I had control of.
And whenever Meghan came back, I needed that. I needed to feel in control ofsomething.
Because she was such a whirlwind. And not in the good, fun, quirky way Addy was. She was like a tornado. Blowing into town, causing nothing but pain, chaos, and destruction, then just as jarringly fast, she’d be gone again.
“I’d like to report a crime.” Addy’s voice cut into my thoughts as the door to my office opened.
I glanced up to find Addy wearing a sexy summer dress. The top of it was flimsy, and strappy. Sort of loose, like any move in the wrong direction could cause the whole thing to billow right off her body. And the skirt portion flowed down her hips and landed mid-thigh in an array of different jagged, uneven edges.
