of the basket and put it on. Turned out it was Max’s, his cologne managing to linger even through a wash cycle. “Why do you think I slept with anyone?”
“Because your hair is rumpled like someone’s been running their fingers through it, you haven’t reached for the coffee yet even though it’s usually the first place you go as soon as you walk in, and you’ve been distracted from the moment I saw you. I thought it meant you were having an issue, maybe, but you’re not! You’re distracted because there’s someone on your mind, and that kind of smile usually comes when your someone is very personal, and the only new personal person it could be is Max! And you’re wearing his shirt.” Lauren folded her arms triumphantly.
“You should be a detective,” I snarked, but inside I was pretty pleased I hadn’t had to come out with the news on my own.
“It is Max, though, isn’t it? It is.” She smiled with satisfaction. “I knew it. God, I was three years ahead of him in school, and even I could tell he was going to be gorgeous someday. Is he still gorgeous?”
I mean, yeah, he really was, but… “Don’t we have work we should be doing?”
“We don’t go on patrol for another half an hour, you know that. Talk to me! Let me live vicariously through you. My life is nothing except hockey games and school plays and diaper changes lately.” The smile faded from her face. “I mean, actually, you don’t need to tell me anything you don’t want to. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Nicky. I’m just…interested, I guess.”
Seeing as she was the one who had to put up with me all day, and I was kind of dying to tell someone what was going on, I acquiesced. “He’s still gorgeous,” I said. “And we did spend some time together, but it was nothing serious.” It couldn’t be serious. He was leaving today, after all. “He’s heading back to New York City this morning.”
“He’s not even staying through Christmas?” She frowned. “I’m kind of surprised. He and Hal were always attached at the hip when Max lived here, and now would be a good time for Hal to have a little more support, what with…” Lauren shrugged. Everyone knew about Ariel leaving at this point. “Still, not my business. I’m glad that you two had fun together, though. I figure he needed someone to have fun with, while he was back in town.”
She tugged absently on the end of her black tie, looking down at her hands. “I was a rookie when the accident happened. My partner and I were the first officers on the scene. It was awful…we haven’t had a wreck that bad since, here. Even then, I knew it was the beginning of the end for both those families. Everly’s left town, and Max’s…well…”
“Collapsed,” I said. “Max came to stay with us for a while. Through graduation.” I’d barely seen him, but I remembered it.
“His mom didn’t wait long to file divorce papers. I don’t blame her.” She snorted. “I remember how belligerent Maxfield Senior was when we brought him in that night. He was shouting, telling us he was going to get us all fired, sue us all, make us pay ‘because I’m the mayor, goddammit!’ I’m amazed he still lives in town, honestly. God knows he never shows his face in the diner. Dinah would have his head on a plate.”
“It’s been ten years.” To me, that felt like an incredible amount of time—I was only twenty-four, and that was a huge chunk of my life. “Do you think people will ever forgive him? I mean, he wouldn’t stay if he was completely miserable, would he?”
Lauren’s smile was a little tight. “You’d be surprised the amount of misery people are willing to put up with, for all sorts of reasons. Come on.” She stood up and went over to her desk, where her hat laid on top of a short stack of paperwork. “Let’s head out.”
It was still twenty minutes before our patrol, but I nodded and got up from my desk. “I’m ready.”
…
That morning we handled, in order: one loose dog who got clipped by a car, who we stayed with while we waited for his owner to pick up; one breakdown on the highway that just required a tire change—I carried a spare jack in my car at this point, because I’d changed more tires since becoming a