Page 44 of Always My Love

He nodded and, without another word, turned and left.

The entire drive home, he thought about her words. The meaning hidden behind her eyes.

Had she really killed someone?

She’d mentioned being afraid of Heidi and of Fred. He assumed that Heidi was her mother. Was Fred their father? Were either of them still alive?

He itched to do a background check on her. It wouldn’t be hard. Next time he was on shift he could simply punch her name into the system.

If she had an Oregon driver’s license, her information would be in there.

Any past tickets or arrests would show up.

He knew that they had come from Georgia. Harper had mentioned that they had grown up in a small town in the state. That they were from the south was obvious in their slight southern accents as well.

He and Blue got home almost an hour before sunset, so he took the dog to walk on the beach and get some exercise while he weighed his options.

January along the Oregon coast was beautiful. All of the tourists were gone or tucked away out of the cooler weather.

The heavier rain had finally stopped, but it was misting enough that his hair was soaked by the time they hit the wet sand.

Blue took off running down the beach and grabbed the first big stick he found and carried it with him as he dodged the waves and sniffed the sand for crabs.

Nick sat down at one of his favorite thinking spots, a huge driftwood log that had rolled in the previous spring, and thought.

He’d said the words a hundred times in his life.

I’d kill for my family. I’d protect someone I love with my life.

When he’d joined the army, he’d done just that for his team. He hadn’t gone into the military as a MP. Still, he’d been thankful he’d decided to pursue law enforcement.

Having to arrest one of the guys he’d been in basic training with had been tough. Seeing the destruction the man had caused his family had been tougher.

Since then, Nick hadn’t had to deal with spousal abuse to that extent again, though he knew that, even in Pride, terrible things like that existed.

He’d broken up arguments, seen neglected children, dealt with drunk-and-disorderly calls.

But not once had he had to show up and cuff a man covered in his wife’s and children’s blood. Closing his eyes, he tried to shake those images from his mind.

PTSD did strange things to the mind. Mike Rowden’s mind had snapped, and his wife and two young twin daughters had paid the ultimate price for it.

Suddenly, a very large, very wet stick dropped in his lap. He opened his eyes and smiled down at Blue, who sat directly in front of him, waiting for a game of fetch.

“You are happiness,” he told Blue, then he threw his stick and laughed as the dog fell over his feet as he ran to catch it.

His mood was lighter the following day when he showed up at Harper’s place with breakfast sandwiches and fresh coffee.

As with the previous two days, Blue and Lucy were thrilled to see one another.

“I think they miss each another every time you leave.” Harper laughed as the dogs raced around the kitchen.

Since Hailey was off work that day, she helped them start the tile in the shower area. While he was the only one cutting the tiles and working with the mud, the sisters helped him by handing him the tiles and determining the patterns they wanted.

They had picked small octangle tiles for the flooring and, by his count, there was enough of it left over to do the back walls of the niche. The larger tiles would go on the walls and the bench, along with the matching bullnose tiles that fit the outer corners.

This was a job he loved to do. When it had been his place and his shower, he’d been frustrated at the time it had taken him to complete the task because he’d only had a few hours each night to work on it. Luckily, he had another shower down the hallway that he could use while his was under construction.

Knowing that the sisters only had the one shower did put some pressure on him. Still, the three of them worked fast enough that shortly after lunchtime all the tiles were finally on the walls with spacers between them.