Page 85 of Wandering Souls

“My evals have been brought forward by a few weeks.”

He frowned. “When?”

She did the math in her head. “Three weeks.”

Skepticism crossed his face. “Why so soon?”

“I don’t know, Ray.”

And it worried her. Why they would reschedule them eluded her. She’d be grateful if they’d been pushed back, but bringing them forward reduced her time to prepare.

She’d gone a long way to regaining her fitness. Between intense physio sessions with Danielle and strength training with Damien, her balance and power had returned. Long runs with Ray had helped her stamina and Penny had taken it upon herself to help Abi work on her flexibility.

Was it enough? The assessors weren’t going to cut her any slack. She had to be just as good—if not better than before—to prove her worth. How could she do that with less time to get ready?

“Hey.” He touched her cheek and smiled. “You’ll be fine.”

The thought of leaving him cramped her belly. “I hope so.”

They continued their stroll. “You’re doing everything you can.” He almost sounded exasperated. “What more do they want?”

They’d want her fighting fit and ready to handle any scenario they threw at her. “The best.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “You are the best. I wish you could see that.”

His compliment touched her soul and she found it extraordinary that he could encourage her to go back, knowing it would tear them apart. There was no way she planned to do a long-distance relationship. That wasn’t fair to either of them, especially when she couldn’t guarantee when she’d be able to return. Hell, she’d hardly spent any time in Australia over the last few years. Regular, long deployments made settling down nigh on impossible.

“You’ll still be here for Christmas, right?”

Abi leaned into him. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

“I understand you want to have Christmas lunch with your family, but I had hoped we could have our own, private, celebration.”

“Come to lunch with me. They won’t mind.”

He chuckled. “Your father already thinks I monopolize too much of your time.”

Ignoring him, she leaned closer to his ear. “Afterward, we can have our own, private celebration. Together. Just you and I.”

With a smile, he kissed her temple. “Deal.” He stopped and pulled her into his arms. He sighed against her ear. “I have to go back to work.”

Hugging him to her, Abi touched her nose to his. “Tonight?”

Humming his approval, he nodded. “Tonight. Can you take Bruce back to my place?”

She kissed his lips. “No problem.”

Watching him walk back toward the police station, Abi felt Bruce bump against her leg. His wet nose nudged her hand, shaking her out of her daydream about Ray and back to reality. Abi scratched his ears.

“Come on.”

Ray’s house was a couple of streets away from the center of town, and as she approached, she found a girl sitting on his porch. With her head on her knees and her arms wrapped around her shins, she sat in black clothing much too heavy for this heat. It had to be stifling.

At the front gate, Abi made sure to flick the latch noisily. It brought the girl’s head up in an instant. Shock lined her young face and she stood abruptly. Her backpack fell off her shoulder and slapped the ground.

“Hi.” Abi smiled, hoping she didn’t scare the girl. “I’m Abi and this is Bruce.”

Wary green eyes glanced down then bounced back up. “Um, hi. You live here?”

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