them off the topic of Ellie, which, truth be told, did make him a little nervous, and not because he thought she was going to cause trouble in class.
“You what?” His friend stared back at him for a couple of painfully long seconds before setting the finishing gun down and scrubbing his hand across the back of his neck. “To where? When? And why?”
“Back to Etobicoke.” Brett rolled his take-out cup between his hands and blew out a breath. “I came out here because it was what Kerri wanted, but once that went sideways, I, uh…I don’t know. My post’s up, my folks are back east…seems like the right thing.”
Okay, a little more awkward than Brett expected, so he did the only thing he could think of: he dragged the garbage bin over and started chucking things into it.
“I thought you liked it here,” Nick said.
“I do, but…I don’t know. Sort of feels like I’m just killing time, waiting for something to happen or for something to come along to, I don’t know, make this place ‘it,’ you know?” He reached for the push broom and started sweeping up bent nails and the piles of sawdust. “Maybe it’s time to move on.”
“You mean move back.”
“Whatever.”
It took Nick another couple of seconds before he let out a low whistle and shook his head again. “Well…shit, man. How much longer will you be here?”
“Depends. Could be a couple weeks, could be a couple months.”
“A couple…Oooh, buddy, Jayne’s gonna be some pissed at you.”
Brett never should’ve come out west in the first place. How many times had the other cops on his watch warned him that it wouldn’t last with Kerri, that she wasn’t really in love with him, she was in love with the hero he’d been when he’d pulled her out of that burning car? He should have listened, he should have known that the hero shine would wear off soon enough, leaving nothing but plain old Brett Hale, and there was no way a free spirit like Kerri would have been satisfied with that for long.
He liked having roots; she needed to keep moving. He liked meat loaf and mashed potatoes; she wasn’t happy unless her taste buds were on fire. He liked structure; she thrived in chaos. And right up until the day she left, he thought it was a good thing when she said he made her feel safe.
Apparently not.
Even if Kerri hadn’t left him, Brett had never expected to stay in Newport Ridge indefinitely. He’d figured a posting would eventually open up in Vancouver or one of the suburbs and then they’d be set, so after she left, the only thing that changed about all that was the geography. Instead of looking for postings around Vancouver, he was looking closer to home.
Putting in his time and transferring out had always been the plan, and yet in the six years he’d been here, he’d never mentioned it to anyone outside the detachment. And it wasn’t until he’d sat across from Ellie the other night and said it out loud that he’d felt the first sliver of doubt.
And why was that? Because for about a billionth of a second, something had flickered in her eyes that he thought might have been regret. But then it was gone, and they were right back to where they’d always been. He wasn’t stupid—he knew it was nothing short of insane for him to feel anything for her. Besides, it hadn’t been anything more than the beginning of a flicker, so it would be easy to squelch, especially if he was leaving town.
“You better tell her before she hears it from someone else.” Nick’s voice made Brett blink into focus. “She’s not real good with letting go, especially of someone like you.”
“Yeah.”
Brett had only met Jayne a couple of years ago, when she moved back to town, but by then he’d heard all about her from Nick, who’d known her his whole life. Not really one for hugging or verbalizing her feelings, none of that stopped Jayne from taking Brett into her life and making him part of her family. She never let more than a few days go by without talking to him, she worried like an old hen about his job, and at least twice a week she brought him “leftovers.” She insisted that’s all it was, but Brett had it on good authority that she dished up his “leftovers” before she and Nick sat down to eat.
She’d even tried to