10. Scarlett
Scarlett
“Breakfast, or more like brunch, is almost ready. Make yourself some coffee,” I told her. I was going to miss having my sister around. In just a couple of days, she was heading off to the opposite coast. The time that we’d spent together this summer meant the world to me.
Aurora poured herself a cup of coffee and pulled herself onto the counter next to me. “How’s Luke?”
“He’ll be fine. Bruised. Sore. But no permanent damage done.”
“Did he tell you why he threw down with that guy?”
“ That guy is a fellow police officer and his partner on the Karrigan murder case.”
Aurora’s eyes widen in surprise. “Wow. Okay. So, what’s the beef? It must be something good.”
I pulled the bacon off the stove, setting it on a paper towel to soak up some of the grease. “Do you remember when I told you his wife has been having an affair?”
“Good God. I thought you said that Calla Bay was a wholesome, safe town.”
“It is.” My defense of Calla Bay came quickly to my lips.
I brought the bacon to the table, along with a fresh cup of coffee and the pancakes that I’d had warming in the oven.
“Did you have fun after I left?” I asked.
“Not really. After the fight, the energy changed in the place. It was all anyone could talk about.” She bit into a piece of bacon and shook her head. “I can’t believe my future brother-in-law was almost arrested. Who knew you liked the bad boys?”
Future brother-in-law? Bad boys? My sister was a menace. I pointed my fork at her. “Shut up.”
“You shut up,” she countered, acting like the thirteen-year-old girl she was before I left for college.
My phone chimed with a text notification and then a second one immediately after.
I put my plate in the sink and gathered my phone from the counter.
I expected to see two back-to-back messages from the same person, but that wasn’t it.
A message from Eddie came in at the same time as a message from Luke.
A swooping feeling overtook my belly at the sight of one of them. It wasn’t the one it should have been.
Eddie: Morning beautiful. Are we still on for Friday?
Eddie had never once told me I looked pretty. Something about his greeting felt forced and inauthentic—like he was trying too hard. He certainly didn’t give me butterflies and make my heart race.
Luke: I’m pretty sure I got run over by a bus. But don’t tell anyone. It’ll take away from my street cred. winky-face emoji
I chuckled at Luke’s message, replying immediately.
Me: Your secret’s safe with me.
Me: Do you need anything? An ice pack or some pain relievers?
Luke: No. I’m just kidding. Kind of. I’m fine. I’m actually heading into work in a bit. Are you working today?
Me: Yeah. My shift starts at 3:00 p.m.
Luke: Perfect. Then I’ll see you later.
I looked at my phone, rereading the messages. The swooping sensation in my chest continued to flutter.
“So, Luke’s feeling okay?” Aurora chuckled, “That’s a shame. You could have offered to go over there and ice his big, strong muscles.”
Heat crept up my cheeks. I had essentially offered to do just that, but I had no intention of telling Aurora that.
I rolled my eyes and switched to the other message thread.
Eddie still needed a response. The longer this went on, the more unfair it became.
I didn’t know if anything would ever happen between Luke and me.
It was probably just a fantasy. The same one I had been hung up on for the past four years.
But I knew that my future wasn’t Eddie. Killing time with him—and that’s all I was doing—was wrong.
“Hey, I’ll be back in a few. I have to make a call,” I told her.
I took my phone with me into my bedroom and shut the door. Instead of responding to his message, I called him.
“You’ve reached Eddie Paisley. How can I help you?”
“Hi, Eddie. It’s Scarlett.”
Did he not have caller ID on his phone or something? He had to know it was me calling, so why act like he didn’t?
“Hi. Did you get my text?” he asked, sounding a little annoyed. It hit me that I was calling him at work, in the middle of the day on a Wednesday. I worked such odd shifts I forgot sometimes that other people had standard Monday-through-Friday, nine-to-five jobs.
Maybe I shouldn’t have called. I should have waited until later when I knew he was off work. But then, I would be on shift. There was never going to be a good time to have this conversation.
“Yeah. I won’t be able to make our date on Friday. I just wanted to call to let you know.”
“Oh, sure. No problem. Does Saturday work better?”
“Um, no. I don’t think it does.” Shoot. I shouldn’t have called him while he was at work. I wasn’t even thinking. “Why don’t I call you later. When you’re not busy.”
“You called for a reason, Scarlett. You can say what you want to say.” His voice gentled, a hint of resigned expectation lacing his words.
“I’m sorry, Eddie. I really shouldn’t have called while you were at work. We don’t need to have this conversation right now,” I said.
“It’s okay. I’d rather just get it over with since we’re already on the phone. It’s a little late to back out of it now, no?” he chuckled.
“I guess that’s true.” I sucked in a breath.
It wasn’t like I was breaking his heart.
I think he knew just as much as I did that this thing between us wasn’t going anywhere.
We had been seeing each other for months at this point, and we hadn’t gotten past the kissing with some light petting stage.
It was respectful and sweet, but the missing passion was a bit lackluster.
“Eddie. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you, but I don’t think I see this going anywhere.
I’m really sorry. I don’t think we should keep seeing each other. ”
“Did you write that out beforehand?” he asked. “That was quite the formal breakup speech.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. He was taking it just fine. I didn’t think it came as a huge shock to him. He had to feel the lack of connection too.
“No. But I figured you would like the formality of it.”
“How thoughtful,” he laughed softly. “I understand though. And I appreciate you calling me and not just ghosting me.”
“You’re a really good guy, Eddie. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Thanks, Scarlett. You too.”
We ended the call, and I lay back on my bed. I had already found what I was looking for, and that was a problem all of its own.
* * *
I strolled into the station that afternoon with Matt right behind me. His eye was black and blue, the swelling in his cheek was red, and his bottom lip was about twice the size it should be, but only on the left side, creating a very unsymmetrical appearance.
He leaned forward to open the door, and I couldn’t miss the wince in his face when he stretched out his arm.
I held back the smirk as I strolled past him, thanking him for holding the door for me.
It wasn’t that I wanted to pick sides. This wasn’t my fight.
But if there were sides to be had, I was on Team Luke, no question.
The man himself was standing next to Officer Brimley at the front desk.
His smile when I walked in disappeared a second later when Matt filed in behind me.
Luke’s eyes narrowed, his scowl deepening as his gaze darted from Matt to me.
The cut above his eyebrow was bandaged, and his cheek had a bruise the size of an orange.
The effects of the fight contrasted with his neatly pressed uniform and well-put-together look.
I put my lunch bag in the kitchen area and poured myself a cup of coffee to start my shift. Luke was waiting for me by my desk when I came back into the room.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
“I’ve been worse.” He shrugged. “And you have to admit, I look better than he does, right?” Luke deadpanned, his raised brow the only indication of his joke.
“Always,” I said. I realized as it came out of my mouth that he was talking about the cuts and bruises, not a general comment about their looks.
I opened my mouth to cover up my slip, or clarify what I meant, or make a joke…
anything so it didn’t sound like I was talking about my opinion on his attractiveness, but nothing came out.
The worst part about being fair-skinned was that the blush that covered my cheeks was stupidly evident.
“Good answer.” He smiled, the dimple in his cheek puckering. “Well, I better get out there.”
“Stay safe,” I told him.
He turned and started for the door at the same time as Matt.
Both of them squared their shoulders, chin tilted up like they were getting ready to throw down again.
Luke shifted his weight to stand in front of me and gestured for Matt to go first, catching Matt by surprise.
He waited for Matt to leave before he stepped away to head out for his shift.
The afternoon was as eventful as ever, meaning not eventful at all. I watched some videos on my phone of epic rock-climbing stunts while I tried to kill time. Every once in a while, the officers would check in with a traffic stop or to let me know if they were stopping to help someone.
The static sound of the radio filled the silence.
“This is zero-nine-zero-five. I have a five-eighty-six on Juniper Road.”
“Ten-four, zero-nine-zero-five. Do you have a plate number for me?” I replied over the radio.
“It’s an older-model Subaru Forester, dark blue. Vehicle is double-parked outside of 45 Juniper Road. Getting the plate now.”
My phone chimed with a text alert as Matt was providing the information. I checked it quickly while I waited for him to respond with the plate number for the illegally parked car.
Luke: Is he fucking serious? That’s Earl Tutino’s car. He’s at his daughter’s house, who just had knee surgery.
Luke: If that asshole gives him a ticket, get it to me. I’ll take care of it.
“Plate number is six-Adam-Peter…” He listed off the rest of the plate, and despite Luke’s text, I ran it through our software. As usual, Luke was right. The vehicle belonged to Earl Tutino, no violations on his record, no warrants out for his arrest. I relayed the information back to Matt.
“Writing him a ticket for being double-parked now.”
Ah, the life of a small-town dispatcher. A double-parked car on a side street that probably saw five cars a day travel down it.
“This is zero-nine-zero-four,” Luke called in.
“Go ahead, zero-nine-zero-four,” I replied.
“I’m going to need a copy of that ticket on my desk so I can expunge it from Mr. Tutino’s perfect driving record while he assists his recovering daughter.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face, trying to rein in the giggles that were trying to escape.
“Ten-four,” I confirmed as professionally as possible.
A few beats passed before the radio squealed again.
“This is zero-nine-zero-five. Ticket is being discarded,” Matt grumbled into the radio. Officers hated having to void a ticket and explain their reasoning, so I knew Matt was probably pissed.
Another text came in that had me rolling my eyes with a smile on my face before I even looked at it.
Luke: What… is he worried about looking like an asshole now?
Me: I think we can agree it’s a little late for that.
I had to step away from my desk for a few minutes to collect myself. The station was quiet, with just me on dispatch and Captain Langston in his office.
While a fresh pot of coffee was brewing, I cleaned up the breakroom, even though the team generally left it in pretty good shape.
My mind was on Luke’s situation, having to work every day with the guy who was sleeping with your wife.
I had always thought Juliet was a bit cold, ever since that first day I met her at their housewarming party and she gave me a nasty look when Luke greeted me and got me a drink, but I didn’t think she was so callous as to strike up an affair with his friend, colleague, and partner.
Captain’s office was near the breakroom, and I could hear him talking on the phone about the Karrigan case.
“Everything is there. You have nothing to worry about. Redmond’s not getting off. I made sure of it. ”
As the biggest crime to happen in Calla Bay, it was the topic of a lot of conversations.
“Winters can look until he’s blue in the face; he isn’t going to find anything.
The forensic evidence all points to Redmond…
” He was quiet for a second, presumably listening to the other person.
“Karrigan’s autopsy, the footprint analysis, the testimonials from her friends, his well-documented history of drug use…
According to the case file, it came back inconclusive… I told you, I’ve got it well in hand.”
I made my cup of coffee and grabbed a banana from our fruit bowl. Captain’s door opened just as I left the breakroom on the way back to my desk.
“Hey, Captain. Fresh coffee if you’re interested,” I said.
He pulled back at the sight of me and glanced to the breakroom to the semi-full carafe of coffee.
His hard gaze softened slightly. It was clear this case was weighing on him.
I was sure that wasn’t the first call he’d had to assure someone that Wes’s investigation was all for naught.
Wes had made a name for himself over the years as a damn good private investigator.
It was making some folks uneasy that he had taken the case and was convinced of Ryan Redmond’s innocence.
“Thanks, Hart. I think I’ll take you up on that. These days just keep getting longer, you know.”
“I can only imagine.” I smiled.
He didn’t return the warmth, his eyes still tight from his phone call. I left him in the breakroom, settling myself back at my desk, ready to see what was going to happen next in the Wilder versus Monroe saga.