Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jake
One Hour Later
Watching Emily hold the baby made my chest ache. Her face was stark, but she maintained professionalism and stayed in charge. It reminded me of the time I fell out of a tree in their yard and had to go to the ER.
My mom had tears streaming down her face, but her eyes were focused, and her shoulders were back as she hauled me off the ground and dropped me into the backseat of her car. Not for one second did I think she wouldn’t rescue me from my own stupidity.
Mine and Kaleb’s, that is.
We’d been halfway up a tree, and I fell to the ground, hitting my knee on a rock. She might’ve muttered the entire way about stupid hairbrained ideas, but she got me there.
Not with all my pieces in the right places. The ER doctor had to patch me back together, shoving my kneecap back into place and stapling the cut in my leg. Kaleb, Emily, and their mom rode with us because we were all riding and dying together back then.
Focus on what’s important. I pull up the video footage from this morning and watch frame by frame. I arrive at the station, and Grabill leaves eleven minutes later. A cat passes by the front door fifteen minutes later.
See, I’m not crazy. I heard a cat. And then…. Nothing.
Moments later, a box sits in front of the door. How? I didn’t see anything. After skipping backward two minutes, I stare with such intensity that it feels like my eyes are going to cross and permanently stay out of position.
There it is. Right there. A shadowed arm moves back out of view.
I go back thirty seconds and watch again. Then back sixty seconds. Then back to when the cat passed by the camera. Again, nothing but a shadow that shows for less than three full seconds.
I skip back to when Grabill left the station. Nothing.
From that little snippet of movement, I can’t make anything out. The person must’ve intentionally moved around the monitored areas to go unnoticed. I pull up another camera angle and get the same results.
I squint at the screen and skip back ten seconds. A car leaves the ambulance lot and travels away from the center of town. It’s possible that the driver stopped at the ambulance lot looking for assistance, but Emily and Dale were out on a call, so they dropped the baby off here.
Unfortunately, I can’t identify the make and model from this vantage point.
The car went toward Kansas City. Did they take the mother to the hospital? Why not the baby?
I’ve reviewed every camera angle four times and nothing changes. But I’ll do it again.
I lean back into my chair, causing it to squeak, and dial the closest hospital where Emily and Dale took the baby. After identifying myself, I ask about the baby’s status, which is stable and improving. However, there’s no record of a female having given birth coming to the hospital without a baby.
Or at any of the other local hospitals.
Another dead end. I’m chasing this whole thing the wrong way. Who in Brookhaven would abandon their baby?
This is such a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business. It’d be impossible to drop off a baby at the police station and keep it a secret. Someone knows something.
As I’m finishing up my report, the ambulance settles to a stop by my cruiser. Moments later, Emily pops her head inside. “Did you find anything?”
“No.” I shake my head as she stands with the door propped open.
“Are you okay?” She strides toward me. Within a couple of steps, she stops and looks down at her clothes. “I’m sorry. I’m a mess. I’ll stop by and talk to you later.”
“No.” I dodge the edge of the desk and slide around to face her. “Now’s fine. Is the baby okay?”
It wouldn’t matter if she were standing around covered in hog manure; I’d still think she was beautiful and feel an undeniable pull to her.
“I don’t know how the mother left that baby out there alone. What if something happened?” She swipes the back of her hand across her cheek, smearing a tear that she likely didn’t even realize she was shedding. “Shit.”
“It’s okay, Em.” I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly as her shoulders shake. “She’s safe.”
“I know.” Her arms slide around my waist as she rests her cheek against my chest. I inhale her familiar scent. Jasmine with a hint of vanilla.
I rub my palms along her back, savoring the moment in time where she’s allowing me to hold her close. The woman who never needs anyone. It won’t be long until she remembers we don’t get along and disappears.
“I’m so glad you found her. I don’t want to think of the alternative, but I can’t keep it from popping up in my mind.”
I’m the one who pulls back, but not away. I settle back onto my heels and cup her face. “She’s safe. She’s okay.” I rub my thumbs along her silken cheekbones. “You’re okay.” I keep my voice low and soothing.
The corner of her mouth arches upward. “I’m not sure this is police procedure.”
“Yeah.” I smile weakly in response. “It probably isn’t.’
Her enormous hazel eyes blink up at me, and the room tilts. It would be so easy to kiss her. To lose myself in her. But I don’t want her to regret it. Or to think that I’m using this situation to take advantage of her.
Not to mention, Ramirez is due to show up anytime to check in. He’s probably talked to twenty people by now, so it won’t be long until the place is teeming with concerned citizens.
After clearing my throat, I drop my arms to my sides, putting more distance between us. “You did amazing. I’m proud of you. You were upset, as we all were, but you maintained your professionalism.”
Her cheeks flush pink as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Thank you. You’re a pretty good police officer yourself.”
“Thanks.” I wink, trying to lighten the mood. She shifts from foot to foot as if she’s trying to figure out how to get out of this conversation without appearing weak, and that’s the last thing she should feel.
“I’m sorry about earlier when I came in.” She swipes her palms on her pants. “I shouldn’t have asked if you were the baby’s father. It just popped into my head. For once, I wasn’t meaning it in a catty way.”
“If we’re in the apology section of today, I’m sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn’t have gotten angry.” It’s time to clear the air between us.
All along, I thought the fear of her rejection was worse than an actual rejection. Now, I know the fear of it is worse. I could have the other side of the coin. I could have her. And that’s worth all the pain and rejection in the world.
“You had every right to.” She licks her lips and straightens her spine.
“You told me that you hadn’t been with anyone, and I popped off at the mouth, accusing you of lying.
Something I seem to continuously do.” She gives me a halfhearted smile.
“Just because you made your feelings for me clear years ago doesn’t mean that I should treat you like shit. That’s my problem, not yours.”
What’s that supposed to mean? How did I make my feelings clear? “I–”
The doorbell chimes as Kaleb stomps into the room. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you call me when you found the baby?”
She spins on her heel. “Why, is it yours?”
“No, but I’m your brother and Jake’s best friend. I should’ve known what happened before I ran into random people, rushing to fill me in on the details.”
“I haven’t discussed official police business with anyone.” Jake crosses his arms over his chest. If Officer Ramirez didn’t tell everyone, whoever was listening to their scanner this morning obviously did.
“And I haven’t talked with anyone or had time to talk to anyone. I left here, went straight to the hospital, and came back here to talk to Jake.”
Kaleb waves his hand toward the door. “Well, it’s all over everywhere that my best friend and my sister are snuggled up over an abandoned baby.”
“Do you see any snuggling?” Emily braces her hands on her hips as Dale charges through the door.
“I don’t see any snuggling now, but I did see Jake holding Emily, and for a moment, I thought they were going to kiss.” Dale stops in the middle of the room with a shit eating grin on his face.
“Who was kissing?” The door slams against the wall as Ora, our dispatcher, marches inside to join the chaos.
Her thick hair is piled high on her head as she stops dead in her tracks.
“It’s true?” Her eyes widen as she shifts her attention from me to Emily and then back to me. “You and Emily are together?”
“Ora.” My voice isn’t as stern as I intended, as my face burns with embarrassment.
She claps her hands. “I knew that’s why you moved back here. I told Iris and Josephine, as soon as Chief Carter told me that you were moving back, that it was to claim Emily. I knew all those rumors about you and that Amanda girl getting back together were a bunch of hogwash.”
“Jake and my sister aren’t together. He thinks of her as a pesky little sister. He made that clear four years ago. Right, Jake?”
What in the ever-loving fuck? My head is pounding. How did I make it clear? What did I say that night?
“Nothing is going on between Jake and me. Do I need to take out a billboard on the edge of town to announce it?” Emily swallows hard as if she’s about to lose her shit and grabs Ora’s shoulder.
“Ensure that everyone knows Jake and I aren’t together.
We haven’t ever been and never will be together.
Besides, Amanda wants him back, and she has first claim on him because they used to date. ”
“That’s not….” Fuck. I can’t say that’s not true because I’ve been getting those same vibes from Amanda. She does want me back, but that’s never going to happen. “Em….”
I take a step toward her when she shoves her hand out, palm facing me. “I’ve got to go. It’s going to be a long day.”
She disappears out the door with Dale following behind her as Kaleb clasps my shoulder.
“Dude, don’t string my sister along. Everyone knows you left that night to.
..,” he glances around us to ensure Ora isn’t listening, but she’s already on her cell phone chatting with someone, “screw Amanda. And last night, Amanda was all over you. I knew the rumors about you and my sister were lies. At least on your end.”
The ambulance pulls out of the parking space as I close my eyes. This is a fucked-up mess. No wonder she’s avoided me since I came back. And that’s why she took off last night.
“Besides, my sister is a forever kind of girl, and you don’t want saddled with a wife and kid in your twenties.”
He’s right. I might not be ready for a wife and kids, but, in the future, with Emily, I can see that happening. We date for a couple of years, move in together, then maybe get married and start a family in our thirties.
Right after I explain to her that there was nothing going on with Amanda that weekend. Or last night.