Chapter 14 #2
“You keep surprising me,” she said, giving me a warm smile that hit me straight in the chest. “You’re so domestic.
” Her eyes widened and her cheeks tinted an adorable pink.
“That’s a compliment. I just meant you have a really nice place.
Most single guys have a leather couch, an oversized TV, and a stack of takeout menus. ”
I didn’t like the thought of Everly in some other guy’s house, but her appreciation for mine made me stand a little taller. “I like to be comfortable when I’m home. It helps me recharge.”
“From all the peopling?” she asked with a smile.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Everly’s cheeks pinked again and she shrugged. “You seem kind of introverted to me.”
“I’ve never been much of a talker, but I enjoy being around people.”
Something in Everly’s expression made my chest tighten.
It was like she’d blasted through all my walls to peer at my most painful memories.
The burning heat in my side as I aimed my gun at the man who’d just shot me.
The smell of the cheap hotel room where my informant’s blood soaked the comforter and dripped to the worn carpet.
The sound of Hayden’s last breath. The taste of bile in the back of my throat when I discovered half the cops I trusted were dirty.
The final conversation with my dad, his words more painful than a bullet wound.
Every moment that had destroyed a piece of me and added another wall around my heart.
I waited, dreading the questions she might ask, yet knowing I’d answer them.
The realization shocked me. There was only one reason I would. I’d fallen for her. In scraps of time, moment by moment, word by word. If Evely asked, I’d tell her everything because despite all the reasons I couldn’t be close to her, I wanted to be.
A beat of silence passed, then another, before she cleared her throat and scrambled back to where she’d been sitting.
“So, were you able to talk to someone in the Criminal Justice Department this week?” she asked, pulling a notepad from the purse she’d placed on the couch beside her.
Right, the event. The whole point of her being here. Instead of keeping my distance in an armchair, I sat on the couch, leaving a cushion between us, close but far enough away her perfume didn’t torture me.
“I did,” I said as Sherly settled her head on my knee for an ear scratch. “Professor Exton thought his students might be interested in volunteering. He wants me to make a presentation to the class first.”
“About Springboard?” Everly asked with a frown. I understood her reaction since I knew next to nothing about the group and believed in it even less.
I shook my head. “My experience as a narcotics detective in Richmond.”
Everly tapped her pen on the notepad and studied me. “What are you thinking?”
That I want to kiss you. Everywhere. Starting with your lips and working my way down your long legs and back again until you’re begging for my tongue. “Just that I have no idea what to talk about.”
“Does it make you uncomfortable?” she asked, pulling me from my inappropriate thoughts. “Speaking in front of people?”
“Nah,” I said, giving Sherly another scratch. “Not at all. I might drag Tristan along, since he can share what it’s like to be a rookie. I want to build up his public speaking skills. The first time he was in court, he threw up after he took the stand.”
“Was it one of my cases?” Everly asked, looking horrified.
It was, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.
She read my silence like a billboard, put her head in her palm, and groaned. “I used to babysit Tristan, and now I scare him so bad he pukes.”
“You babysat Tristan?” I asked. He’d never mentioned their connection before, though the guy had a connection to pretty much everyone in town.
“I did. He’s only four years younger than me, but four years is a lot when you’re young.”
I calculated her age before reminding myself that a slight age gap was the least of the reasons I couldn’t ask her out. “This town is so small,” I said instead. “Don’t tell him I told you that. He was understandably embarrassed.”
Everly made a zipper motion across her lips, her eyes bright.
She pulled her legs up again, and this time she looked at ease.
“So, I was thinking, instead of listing all the reasons businesses should support Springboard, we start with all the reasons they might not want to. All the statistics about recidivism and the potential risks of hiring someone with a criminal record.”
“In other words, every reason I’m skeptical of Springboard,” I said, giving Sherly a final scratch and leaning back on the couch.
“Exactly,” she said. “Then we list statistics about Springboard. How many people it’s helped. The good it’s done for the community. But we end with the personal. Stories of real people who’ve been helped, showing they’re more than just a statistic.”
“Give them every reason to say no in cold numbers, every reason to consider it with more numbers, and then pull at their heartstrings,” I said.
“Yep,” she said with a smile that quickly slipped from her face in the silence that followed. “You don’t think it’s a good idea?”
“It’s a great idea,” I said. And it was.
I just had too many memories of real people who fit into the first set of statistics.
I’d arrested the guy who shot me twice before.
I could tell Everly stories that would dampen even her optimism, but I wouldn’t.
There was a light about her, and I’d never dim it just to make a point.
“Poppy is going to help with the flyer. She’s great at graphic design.” Everly paused a moment and grinned at me. “And building glitter bombs. She’s exceptionally good at those.”
I loved when Everly drifted off topic to something personal, even something that should have been embarrassing for me. Maybe being in my house put her at ease because she’d suddenly morphed into the playful woman at Church. I wanted to do everything I could to keep this version of Everly with me.
“You heard about that, did you?” I asked.
“I’m impressed you aren’t still walking around with glitter on you,” she said, smiling.
“It took me three hours to detail my Jeep and a couple showers to get it out of my hair,” I said. “There was still some when Tris and his niece stopped by the next morning. I told her to call me Officer Sparkles.”
Everly threw her head back and laughed. Sherly jumped to her feet and shimmied from hoof to hoof.
“Is she dancing?” Everly asked, laughing harder.
“She’s happy you’re happy,” I said.
“That’s adorable,” Everly said, a smile stretching across her face. “Sherly, you’re the best.”
“Technically, someone at the station named her Sherlock Ham. Since she’s a girl and will never be someone’s dinner, I call her Sherly.” And I had even before Hayden died. He used the name he’d given her.
“Sherlock Ham?” Everly said, looking down at my pig. “That’s—”
“Hilarious and awful.” It surprised me, being able to talk about something that reminded me of Hayden without the usual anger or grief.
“Yes,” she said, shaking her head. “I sometimes wish I could be a fly on the police station wall. I can only imagine the conversations y’all have.”
“It’d be pretty boring here. The crimes are thankfully mundane, or at least they were until recently, and Joyce keeps the conversations clean.”
“I think Ms. Joyce has a soft spot for you,” Everly said.
“She seems to,” I said. “She made me a cake on my birthday last year, which I’d assumed was just something she did for everyone in the station. Apparently not.”
“Definitely not,” Everly said with a soft smile. In a town as small as ours, she’d probably heard all about the cake, though I doubt anyone knew why it’d meant so much to me.
“I lost my mom a year before I moved here, and I think Joyce somehow sensed that I’d appreciate someone fussing over me.”
“I’m so sorry, Levi,” Everly said, shocking the hell out of me when she reached across the cushion and took my hand.
There was so much empathy in her expression, the kind that only comes with knowing loss. She gave my fingers a squeeze and let go.
We talked a few more minutes about which businesses we planned to visit together before my phone timer buzzed. I turned it off and smiled at Everly. “Ready to get a little dirty?”