Chapter Forty-Eight
Brian
I looked in my fridge and wrinkled my nose at my lunch prospects. I didn’t have my truck, the pizza place in town didn’t do deliveries until dinner time, and my leg was aching from walking to Jade’s and back.
But as I popped a couple more pain pills, I couldn’t help but grin.
Worth it.
I remembered Jade had said I needed to make sure I was eating when I took ibuprofen, so I decided to venture next door and see if I could mooch lunch off Lainey and Adam. Hopefully, I could hold my godson in the process.
Lainey answered the door with Conor on her hip, and my face lit up with a smile when he held his arms out for me to take him.
“Welcome back! I see your time at the beach was… interesting,” she said, stepping aside to let me in.
I bounced the baby as I walked through the door. “You could say that. I come bearing an empty stomach and questionable life choices.”
“I hope you’re not labeling my sister as a questionable life choice, but there’s leftover lasagna.”
“No, of course not. I’m questioning why I didn’t just pose for pictures the day I left the hospital, and why I thought kissing Jade at the bank to piss Rachel off was a good idea.”
Adam looked up from the table where he was scrolling through his phone. “Yeah, that probably wasn’t the smartest decision.”
“Any progress on how that photo got leaked?”
“Not yet. Is that why you came over?”
“No, I needed food before my pain meds eat through my stomach lining, and my fridge is empty,” I said. “Plus, I was hoping to score a godson snuggle as part of the deal.”
The baby grinned at me, drooling happily on my shirt while I sank into a chair, and Lainey remarked, “He’s missed his Uncle Brian.”
Adam tried to hide his smirk as he took a swig of coffee. “Jade didn’t feed you this morning?”
I choked out a cough.
“I haven’t seen Jade this morning.”
Lainey tilted her head with her eyebrows raised and suddenly I felt like I was fifteen again and caught in a lie by my mom.
I realized that wasn’t far off when Lainey turned toward the counter, grabbed her phone, and said, “You sure about that?”
She handed me her phone, and I adjusted Conor in my lap so I could take it. On the screen was a photo of me, beanie pulled low, slipping out Jade’s side door like I’d just committed a felony.
Adam looked at the screen over my shoulder and let out a low whistle. “You want to tell us why you look like you’ve just burglarized her house, Sergeant?”
Fuck. Angus was going to have my hide for this.
My mouth suddenly felt dry, and I ran my tongue along my teeth before I lamely said, “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Really?” Lainey asked, unimpressed. “Because it looks like you’re sneaking out of her house before the sun came up.”
Huh. So, I guess it is what it looks like.
Before I could answer, her phone buzzed again. She glanced at it, then frowned. “It’s Jade. HR called her in.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Fantastic.”
Adam looked from Lainey to me. “You gonna tell us what’s really going on?”
The truth sat heavy on my tongue, but I swallowed it back. Until Jade and I figured things out tonight, I needed to stick with our story.
“Nothing’s going on,” I said evenly. “We just talked.”
Even to my own ears, it sounded weak.
Lainey blinked slowly, like she was trying to process what I’d said. “Just talked. At five in the morning. You know, ’cuz that’s when normal people—who don’t live together—talk.”
Okay, so obviously we were going to need a better explanation than that.
****
Jade
I waited until I pulled out of the hospital lot before hitting the call button for Sophie. My pulse was still pounding from the meeting, and I needed to hear a friendly voice.
“Well, if it isn’t Haven Springs’ favorite viral nurse,” she teased when she answered. “Girl, you’ve been on my feed more than Taylor Swift.”
I groaned. “Please tell me that’s an exaggeration.”
“Okay, maybe slightly, but ‘Florence Nightingale and the Hot Cop’ is popping up a lot lately. On the bright side, you’ve looked adorable in all the photos, so there’s that.”
“Yeah, well, the hospital isn’t as impressed.”
Her tone softened instantly. “Uh-oh. What happened?”
“I just left HR.”
“Oh dang. On a Saturday? That can’t be good.”
“No, it wasn’t. I got the whole we value professionalism and public image lecture.” I turned onto Main Street, gripping the wheel tighter. “They said I’m not in trouble, but I needed to ‘be mindful of how my actions reflect on the hospital’.”
“Oh, barf. Did you say, ‘You mean my actions where I help save people’s lives on a regular basis? Or when I regularly work fifty-plus hours a week without complaint?’ Fuck them.
You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re allowed to have a personal life.
Surely they can’t expect you not to date a patient.
You live in fucking Haven Springs—everyone is going to be a patient at some point. ”
I nodded in agreement as I turned onto my street. “You’re not wrong. I think if it weren’t plastered all over the internet, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But—”
“And how is that your fault?”
“I don’t know. Brian thinks if we just lay low, this will blow over.”
“Was that what he was doing when he was sneaking out of your house this morning? Laying low?”
My heart stuttered while I waited for the garage door to go up. “Wait—what? How do you know about that?”
“Honey, everyone knows about that. It’s trending.”
I put the Prius in park and banged my head against the steering wheel, grousing, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“Sorry, I thought you knew.”
“No, I had no idea.”
“Do you think the police department’s going to give Brian the same flack that the hospital gave you? I mean, he kind of looked like a prowler in his beanie, sneaking out of your house. Probably not the look they want their officers going for.”
With a long sigh, I conceded, “No, probably not.”
“Maybe you guys need to reconsider what laying low should look like.”
“Yeah, maybe we should.”