She leaned against her own desk. Despite the way she’d spent the night and the peaceful lunch she’d had with Zep, she still had questions running through her head. She’d been able to shove them aside when she was wrapped up in his arms. After they’d left the town hall, they’d picked up dinner and headed back to her place, where they’d spent a pleasant evening watching a movie with the dog and the cat in their laps, her head drifting to his shoulder when she’d gotten sleepy. And yet today, she was restless again. Every hour that brought her closer to the dinner plans her family had made seemed to ratchet up her tension. “Does that ever bother you?”
“The fact that not a lot happens here?” Major sighed and sat back. “I think every place on earth has its problems. I did my stint in the Army. I know what it feels like to have way too much thrown my way. You do, too. Life is a little like pick your poison. I could have gotten on at a bigger department. I could have gone into private security. I would have had all the adrenaline I wanted, but what I wouldn’t have is my dad. My mom died when I was in high school, and while I was in the military, my dad met and married a woman from here. I don’t know how long I’ll have with him. So I made that choice. I moved here to be close to him. My life is here. That means the most exciting case I’ll get to handle will likely be figuring out who stole the mailboxes. You got to bust open the case of the fake rougarou, so you’re already going to be legendary in this town. Is it true you managed to get the mayor to promise to open an animal services department?”
And she’d handed her own boyfriend a job. She was sure they were talking about that, too. “You know we need one.”
“We absolutely do. I kind of thought you were going to open your own since you’ve adopted two pets this week.”
“I did not.” She huffed because she was lying to herself. “Okay, Daisy is too cute to leave, and I feel bad for the cat. She didn’t ask to be born with all black fur. She’s not bad luck. I’m worried if I send her to a shelter, no one will take her because you’re all crazy superstitious down here.” She held a hand up. “I know. I know. We’re all crazy at heart, but I don’t want Sunny to get put down because someone thinks she’s bad luck.”
Major considered her for a moment. “Wow, you’re finally settling in. I didn’t think it would happen, since this was only temporary.”
“I don’t know. Lately, I’ve been wondering if I could maybe handle this for a couple more months. A year maybe. Or more.”
“Are you serious?” Major’s feet had come down and he was staring at her with an incredulous expression.
Why was it so surprising? “It’s not a bad job. And it’s not like I have anywhere to go. You know it looks sketchy on a résumé if you move around too much. No one likes to have to train and retrain all the time.”
“I thought you were looking.”
“I was. Maybe it’s time to stop.” But the idea her father had dangled in front of her was still in the back of her mind.
“You understand that if you spend too much time here, it might be hard to find a job where you want. Bigger offices don’t think much of rural cops. I always thought you would go back to the city.” Major glanced toward the conference room. “Is this because of Zep?”
The question made her stop. How did she answer that? “Yes” would be accurate, but it would also start rumors. “He’s a nice guy.”
Yeah, that answered the question.
“I know he’s a nice guy, but I’m surprised you would give up your career for a guy at all. You didn’t seem the type.”
“Who said I’m giving up anything?” She wasn’t. There wasn’t anything at all concrete about her father’s plan for her in New York. Likely they would make her jump through hoops she wasn’t ready to jump through, or make her work her way back up the ladder, and she wasn’t directing traffic again. Not unless it had to do with a cat.
“Come on. We all know you’re not going to stay,” Major argued.
She didn’t like the sound of that. Being a member of a team meant you counted on the people on the team. And yet she’d been the one to walk in and tell her coworkers she wasn’t staying. How hard had that been on them? To know she’d walked in and viewed a job they enjoyed as nothing more than a way station on the road to much better things? Was that why there was always a careful distance between her and her fellow deputies?