Headlines (Prime Time #3) - Ella Frank Page 0,26

clear I was struggling to find the right words, Bailey took my hand in his.

“I wasn’t expecting you this morning. Is everything okay?”

Shit, why did he have to be sweet? So caring? And why was I so stupid that I was about to ruin everything?

“Yes, but I…I wanted to talk to you.”

Bailey squeezed my fingers and licked his lips, the same lips I’d kissed a hundred times over. It was a nervous habit of his, and it was clear he was picking up on my own unease now.

“Okay, so what’s up?”

Just say it, I told myself. Stop being a coward and spit it out.

“Look, there’s no easy way to say this, Bay. But with this new job and the hours, they’re going to want to send me on assignment, and I really want to—”

“Go?”

As that one word floated in the kitchen between us, I nodded. “Yes.”

Bailey looked me dead in the eye and then gave me the saddest of smiles, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. It broke my heart in a way words never could.

“I figured.”

Wait… “You figured?”

“Yeah.” Bailey let out a soft chuckle that was at odds with the sad smile. “It didn’t take a genius to work it out. We’ve been going in different directions lately. I get it. When you’re getting home, I’m already asleep, and vice versa. We never have time for one another, and when we do, it’s…it’s just not what it should be.”

I was so shocked that all I could do was sit there and stare at him.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You feel it too, the disconnect?”

I did, but hearing the words from his mouth was like a sledgehammer to the solar plexus. Here I’d been, all ready to snuff the light out of my boyfriend, and Bailey was getting the words out first.

“I do.”

“Yeah.” Bailey tugged on my hand. “Come over here.”

I got to my feet then slid in beside him, and he turned over the papers in front of him. At the top it read, Police Academy Application Form. I swallowed in a gulp of air and pressed my fingers to my lips.

Bailey had talked about joining the force for years, most of his life. His father and brother Sean were both part of the CPD, and selfishly, I’d always been thankful he hadn’t followed in their footsteps. Apparently he’d changed his mind about that, or was at least thinking about it. Somehow, I had a feeling I’d just made the final decision for him.

“I know you always hated the idea of me on the force, but—”

“It’s not so much that as…” I paused and turned to look him in the eye. I couldn’t imagine Bailey—my sweet Bailey—out there on the streets dealing with the worst of the worst. And I was terrified of what it would do to him, mentally. “I worry about you, Bay. That won’t stop just because we aren’t dating.”

“I know.” He bumped shoulders with me. “But how do you think I feel when you head into dangerous situations for your job? And now as head field reporter, it’s not just going to be bad weather—eventually it’ll be bad people and wars and…God knows what else.”

He had a point, but still, Bailey as a cop? I wasn’t sure what was more worrisome to me. The idea of him being injured on the job or the idea of him losing that pure positivity he exuded. Either way, it wasn’t my choice to make. I just needed to be there and support him, the way he always was for me. The way he was now, even though it meant we were putting an end to something we’d both figured would be forever.

“It’s weird that we both came to the same conclusion at the same time, huh?”

“Not really.” Bailey entwined our fingers. “We were best friends before we were more. We know what the other is thinking.”

“True.” My eyes blurred as I looked into his perfect face. “That’ll never change, right?”

“What?”

“Being best friends?”

“Never,” Bailey whispered, and laid his head on my shoulder. “No matter what. We always promised, friends to the end. I love you.”

“I love you too.” I kissed the top of his buzzed head and felt a tear roll down my cheek. “Friends to the end.”

And while it most certainly felt like the end of an era sitting there with the boy I loved and knew I always would, I had the fleeting thought that if I couldn’t make things work with someone as wonderful as Bailey,