18. Chloe
18
CHLOE
In the light of day, the redheaded woman who’d almost drowned is beyond gorgeous. Not only is her red hair long enough that it reaches her hips with curls, but she has striking eyes and slight freckles to go along with it.
“I’m Kaylie Harmon,” she introduces herself. “This is my husband, Kyle.”
I step down off the porch, finding my way to Ian’s side, and shoot a glance over my shoulder at Logan, who immediately disappears into the house with Poppy in tow.
“You saved my life,” she goes on, oblivious to the tension around us. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Kyle, her husband, doesn’t say a single word as she addresses Ian and ignores the rest of us. While Kaylie keeps going on, I watch him.
His dark eyes, almost black, with shadows under them, remind me of my own after Kevin died. Idly, I wonder if he’s been able to sleep after almost losing his wife. His dark-brown hair is ruffled, like he’s been running his hands through it so much that it sticks out in different directions on its own.
When I try to slip away, Ian’s hand shoots out and grabs my fingers, keeping me by his side.
“This is Chloe,” he says to introduce me. “She’s the one who knew something was wrong when we were out kayaking. I thought it might just be a rock or something.”
Kaylie’s eyes survey me, making me squirm under the pressure. Then she turns a blinding smile on me. “Thank you so much, seriously. I was out on my paddleboard and got dizzy. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the beach with you telling me that I was alive.” Something catches in her throat, and I see her eyes tear up.
“How are you doing?” I remember the sound of her ribs cracking and rubbing against each other while I gave her chest compressions. “How’s your chest?”
She rubs her chest slightly, showing a white bandage wrapped all the way around. “They gave me something for the pain, and I’m not allowed to be too active for a little bit, but it’s a lot better than being dead.”
“It definitely is,” Kennedy agrees from my side. “I’m glad that they were able to help.”
“We stopped at the hospital to check on you, but they told us that you were already released.”
Kaylie smiles and nods. “Kyle’s a doctor in Portland. Thankfully, he was on duty and he left early to take me home.”
Her husband clears his throat, looking more than a little uncomfortable while he just stands there with us. “Kaylie said that she wanted to send you a gift or a card as a thank you for helping. Would it be possible for you to give us your address?”
“Actually, no.” I start talking before I even think about it. “We all work in law enforcement and giving our addresses out is a bad idea. In the best of circumstances, it would be a card. But in the worst, that address would fall into the wrong hands, and it might put our families in danger.” I can’t put my finger on why I say it so quickly or why I hesitate about someone having our address. I have no reason to think they are bad people, and they are just trying to show their gratitude. But with everything bad that has happened to our friends and family recently, I won’t take any chances.
Ian reaches down and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Thanks, babe.”
“Oh.” Kaylie pops her lips together and then looks down at her heel-clad feet for a second before glancing back up with bright eyes. “What about just telling us the department that you all work for? I could have cookies or something sent to the station as a thank you.”
“That’s really kind of you,” Ian offers. “We work for Birch Police Department.”
“We know Birch Harbor,” Kyle says quietly. “My brother works for Birch Fire Department.”
“He does?” Kennedy and I both say at the same time. “What’s his name?”
“Josh,” Kyle answers.
Kennedy snickers, and I can hear Linc’s sharp intake of breath even from across the yard.
“What?” Kaylie looks around. “Do you guys know him?”
“He tried to date my wife,” Linc growls, joining us down on the lawn.
“Before I was your wife.” Kennedy snorts. “That doesn’t count. Josh is a great guy.”
That puts a smile on Kyle’s face. “He really is. Went straight from the military into the fire department and moved out of town so he didn’t have to face our family all the time.” He shifts from foot to foot for a moment. “Kaylie, are you ready to go? We’ve got dinner, and then I have to work tonight.”
Kaylie sighs and nods. “You’re right. We should go. It was really nice to meet you all, and I meant it. Thank you so much.”
They turn and walk away, heading for a dark-blue sedan that we hadn’t noticed before.
“They’re nice.” Ian kisses the top of my head. “I’m glad we got to see her alive and well. It was pretty scary.”
“Yeah.” I wrap an arm around his waist, putting the other couple out of my mind. “But what about dinner? Because I’m not gonna lie, I feel like my stomach is eating away at itself, and I really want to eat something.”
Ian laughs. “Let’s order out. Pizza and Chinese should cover everyone, I think.”
“I want sushi, too.” My stomach starts growling then, and Ian just shakes his head. “Told you I’m hungry.” I watch as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and then turns to our friends. “Everyone write down what you want for pizza and Chinese. Ian’s gonna order it when we have a list.”
“Why don’t you get a little rest.” Ian runs a hand down my back. “I know what you want.”
I look up at him, unable to help the cheesy smile that overtakes my face. “Thank you. I think I’ll go lie out on the back deck or something.”
“Sounds good.” He pecks my lips and then swats my thigh, letting me go with a wink. “Have fun. Don’t do anything crazy.”
I walk around the house and come to a stop when I see Logan sitting on the stairs to the back deck by himself.
“Hey, Chloe,” he calls out before I can hightail it in the other direction. “You coming to hide out from the chaos, too?”
“Yep.” I smile and decide not to leave him to his own company. “What about you? I thought you had Poppy with you.”
At the mention of her name, Logan tenses almost imperceptibly and then forces himself to let go. “She’s inside taking a nap or a shower or something. I just wanted her to relax after climbing up that water tower so I sent her in, and now I’m hiding out here.”
I don’t call him on his lie, and he doesn’t call me on the fact that I’m practically running away from the front of the house.
When he puts a hand on the stairs next to him, patting it, I take the offered seat and sigh. “The lake really is gorgeous.”
“Yeah,” he mutters. “Don’t know why it leaves me feeling like we’ve been gone from home for too long.”
“Same.” I rub my hands together. “But I’m kind of nervous to go home.”
Logan shrugs his shoulders slightly. “You mean because when you left, you weren’t engaged anymore and you’d announced to an entire crowd at your brother’s funeral that you hated all of us? Or do you mean the part about you having hot kinky sex with your ex almost the entire time we’ve been here?”
Caught off guard momentarily, I turn my head slightly and stare at him with my lips pursed. “Are you sure you want to compare notes over here? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re surrounded by an entire group of people who intimately know that you’re crazy about Poppy. And none of us is gonna talk shit, but we all know that you two have been playing mattress games, too.”
Logan gives me his best poker face, which would have been enough to throw me off my game if I hadn’t grown up with Ian and Kevin, two people who could play him under a table.
“I’m gonna win.” I brush my hair over my shoulder and smile brightly. “You’re just gonna have to admit that you won’t win against me and then accept it.”
Logan shrugs again. “I’m used to it,” he admits honestly. “Run away from your problems long enough, and you find that you never really come out on top. And there are only so many times you even want to try.”
I don’t know what to say to him, so I don’t say anything. Instead, we sit side by side while the sun starts to go down. Pinks and purples and oranges dance across the lake. There isn’t a hint of a breeze, so not a ripple appears while we sit there.
I think about Kevin. About the gift he gave me. As strange as it may sound to anyone else, I feel like he is right there with us, sitting and watching the sky with a beer in his hand like he used to when we were at home together. And I think about what he’d say to his friend, when Logan is so obviously struggling to keep his calm.
Kevin would be Kevin. He’d call the situation as he saw it and give his friend the advice that he may not want to hear. I just have to figure out exactly what to say to get through to him.
“Do you know,” I break the silence a few minutes later. “I think there’s a reason for almost everything. Even whatever craziness is going on between you and Poppy.” He tenses once more at her name, but I pretend not to notice. “I know you love her. I can see it in the way you protect her from everything. From the random guy who asked her out that’s a patient of Ian’s. The one you and I saw hit his wife before she left him. I know what you do and why you do it. I know how much it costs you to stay away.”
He sighs, and the slump in his shoulders betrays the relief that someone else may know exactly what is happening.
“Logan,” I say quietly. “It’s important that you know Ian doesn’t talk about you. Or your sessions together. Everything I see, it’s what you’re showing me.”
“I know,” Logan says quietly. “Ian would bleed for me or take a bullet if that’s what would save my life.”
I have to force myself not to react to the image in my head of Ian taking a bullet. For anyone. Then I swallow down the bile that threatens to rise.
“And Poppy?”
“I’ll die to keep her safe.” Logan speaks like it is a certainty. Like he will actually have to die to keep Poppy out of danger and he’s come to accept it.
“You don’t have to fight whatever it is alone, you know.” I push up off the stairs and turn to face the haunted man. “You showed me that. You and the rest of Kevin’s team and friends. You showed me that I didn’t have to face Kevin’s death alone. And when I refused to see it, when I refused to believe it, you were still there for me. When Kevin’s will had to be read, you were there. When his last wishes were to drag us out here, no one complained about it in the slightest. You just came. Because that’s what you do for your friends.”
“That’s what you do for family,” he counters, his eyes never leaving mine. “Thank you, Chloe.” He runs a hand through his hair, looking away to the lake. “I think I needed to hear that almost more than I need to hear Ian telling me how I can take control of my life on a regular basis.”
I shrug. “I’m sure you need to hear that too.”
“Don’t break Ian’s heart again, Chloe. I really don’t want to have to hate you.”
“I’m gonna try.”
He stares at me for a minute before nodding. “I don’t think I could have believed you if you made a promise not to.”
I walk away with only one parting shot. “At least I didn’t ask you not to break Poppy’s heart again.”
“Too far, Chloe,” he calls after me. “Way, way too far.”
But he’s laughing.
Too bad he can’t tell I am being serious.