In Your Dreams (Blue Heron #4)(114)

“Sure. Come on in.”

She did, closing the door behind her. Levi had heard about the incident with Hadley...and Jack’s reaction. Of course he had. Carol had told him the second he walked through the door, and Gerard had come over five minutes later with the same gossip.

She opened her mouth to speak, then found that her throat was tight. Not with the stutter. With tears. The stutter had slunk back to its hole, though last night, when Angela had practically goose-stepped her to O’Rourke’s, Em’s heart had been thundering, positive someone was going to say “H-h-hi, Eh-Eh-Emmaline,” same as they had back in the day.

No one did. But people knew, anyway. Colleen even sent drinks on the house.

“What can I do for you, Deputy?” Levi asked.

“How’s Mr. Holland?” she asked, even though she already knew. Word was out that the old guy was back at Rushing Creek, complaining that he already missed the pretty cardiologist who’d taken care of him.

“He’s fine,” Levi said. “He’s doing really well, actually.”

“Good. And Faith?”

“Very ripe.” His mouth tugged up.

“You’ll make a great dad, Levi.”

“Thanks.” He kept looking at her—it was a trick of his, that patient stare—and she broke.

“I’m thinking I should quit.”

“Quit what?”

“This job.”

More staring, then, “Unacceptable, Deputy.”

She swallowed. “I screwed up, Chief. With Hadley. I didn’t handle the situation well, and things just escalated. I didn’t check on her.” She looked at her hands. Probably time to take off that old nail polish she’d put on for stupid Kevin’s wedding. “Maybe I’m not a good cop,” she said, her voice husky. “She was in crisis mode, and I didn’t take care of her.”

Levi sighed and sat back in his chair. “Listen,” he said. “You’re going to screw up from time to time on this job. It’s impossible not to. You investigate a call where you know the guy is beating his wife, but you can’t convince her to leave him. You cruise through a neighborhood, and you still miss the burglary.” He tapped a pencil against his desk, not looking at her. “You give a kid a lecture and ticket him whenever you can, and he still crashes into the lake.”

Ah, yes. Josh Deiner had had few brushes with the law.

“This doesn’t make you a bad cop,” Levi continued. “Hadley was drunk, you didn’t know she’d freak out the way she did and you had police business to take care of. If anyone screwed up here, it’s Everett. He knows the drill. He was supposed to check on her every fifteen minutes, and if I know him, he was playing on his phone.”

“I just feel like I...overreacted.” She swallowed. “Like maybe Jack was right. Maybe I did what I did because she’s Jack’s ex.”

“Emmaline,” Levi said in that overly patient voice he used when he was irritated. “Jack wasn’t right. You’re not a bully. You couldn’t be. If anything, you were too easy on her. So shut up about quitting, because if you leave me alone with Everett, I will hunt you down.” He smiled, and Em felt herself smiling back.

“Okay. Thanks, Chief.”

“Good. Now I have to get to the store because Faith is out of ice cream. You’re a good cop, Emmaline. You’re a very good cop. Are we done here?”

She sat there another minute.

“What?” Levi said.

“Nothing. Just...I love you, Levi.”

“Get out.”

“No, I’m serious. I love you. You’re the best boss ever.”

“You’ll hate yourself in the morning.” He gave her a smile. “You still mad at Jack?”

She scowled. “Who said I was mad at Jack?”

“You ate an entire box of donuts yesterday. You’ve traded in walking for stomping. You’re mad at Jack.”

“You’re right. Jack was— Wait a second. Am I really so pathetic that you want to talk about my personal life?”

Levi lifted an eyebrow.

“God. I’m leaving. See you tomorrow, Chief.”

Em waved to Everett, kissed Carol on her cute little head and got into her cruiser, feeling considerably better, at least on the work front. She drove home, went inside and was greeted by Sarge and Squeaky Chicken, who seemed to have lost an eye and half its beak. “Angela?” she called.

“Namaste,” Ange called. “Doing yoga up here. Be down in twenty minutes.”

Em took off her belt and hung it up, then pulled out her bun and went into the kitchen. Poured herself a glass of wine—Lyons Den, thank you very much; she was boycotting Blue Heron at the moment.

The phone rang, and without looking to see who it was, she answered, then immediately wished she hadn’t when she heard the voice on the other end.

“Hi, Mom,” she said. “Looking for Angela?” Sarge put Squeaky Chicken, soggy with drool, on her lap as a consolation prize.

“No, actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh. That’s, uh...that’s nice.” She pulled a face at her dog, who raised his eyebrows, as surprised as she was. “How are you?” She took a sip of wine. A big sip.

“Good. We’re moving to your area.”