Page 74 of Saving Her Heart
"I expected the stories to be about dramatic shootouts and car chases." I laugh.
"Some are." He grins. "But mostly they're about ordinary people doing their jobs, protecting their community. Like this one—1967, Officer James Rodriguez. He saved three kids from a burning building. Never made the headlines because he said he was just doing his job."
"Like someone else I know who ran into a building full of gasoline." I give him my best side-eye and raised eyebrow.
"That's different."
"How is that different?"
"That was to save you."
The simple honesty of it makes my chest tight. I pat the couch beside me. "Come here. Bring your badges."
He sits still, holding the box of history. "You think I'm weird."
"I think you're passionate about something. That's not weird." I lean against him. "Tell me more."
"You really want to know?"
"I want to know everything. The badges, the baseball stuff, all of it. I want to know what I missed over the years."
He sets the box down, turning to face me. "What do you mean?"
"Ten years, Jax. We lost ten years. I know the highlights—you became a cop; I became a property manager. But what about the rest? What shaped you into this badge-collecting, rule-following, goat-borrowing man?"
He's quiet for a moment. "The academy was hard. Not physically, but emotionally. Every night I'd think about calling you, apologizing, begging you to take me back."
"Why didn't you?"
"Pride. Fear. Stupidity." He runs a hand through his hair. "I threw myself into the training instead. Graduated top of my class because I had nothing else to focus on."
"I know that feeling."
"Yeah?"
"I got my property management license in record time. Took every certification course available. If I stopped moving, stopped working, I'd have to feel things. Think things."
"What things?"
"How much I missed you. How angry I was. How much it hurt to see you around town and pretend we were strangers when you came back."
"We were never strangers. Even when we weren't talking, you were everywhere. Hudson would mention Kate's friend Kendall. Your name would come up at Hooplas. I'd see your car at the Bean and Bagel and sit in the parking lot like a creep, trying to work up the nerve to go inside."
"You did that?"
"Multiple times. Once I got as far as the door before chickening out."
"I saw you," I admit. "Through the window. Kate asked if I wanted her to call you in, but I said no."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't ready. I'd built these walls, these rules, and you threatened all of them just by existing."
He picks up one of the badges, turning it over in his hands. "I dated a few people. Tried to move on."
My stomach clenches even though I have no right to be jealous. "Anyone serious?"
"Sarah. Nurse at the hospital in Dallas. We dated for about a year."
