office at the end of the shift. I already spoke with Cap earlier, but any time off needs to be cleared through our battalion chief, Steven Aimes.
“Yeah, sure. Come in.” I shut the door behind me and take one of the chairs in front of his desk. “What’s up?”
Jesus, I don’t even know where to start.
“I may need some time off in the near future.”
Might as well get right to the point.
“Okay,” Steven says, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his gut. “Last I checked it’s been a while since you’ve taken any time.”
“Two years ago,” I remind him. It had been an extended visit to my parents in Santa Fe when my dad was in the hospital after a stroke. Luckily, he came through with only a slight weakening of his left side. Other than a couple of days during the holidays for a visit home, I haven’t taken any vacation.
“Vacation?”
“Of sorts. It’s not set in stone yet…shit,” I mumble, seeing the confusion on his face. Better come clean. “Turns out I may have a son.”
That has him sitting up in his chair.
“Wow, are congratulations in order?”
“Don’t know about that. Let’s wait for the paternity test first.”
I may not have been too smart last year when Chanel called, so this time I was going to make sure I wasn’t being conned. I told her on the phone the only way I’d agree to take the boy for a couple of weeks, while she got her shit sorted, was after we’d done testing to confirm Bryce is mine. I found a lab here with a location in Boise, Idaho, where she’d somehow ended up. Not surprising Tony wasn’t able to get a bead on her after she told me she’d been traveling around with the boy.
I made a few calls and yesterday I had my blood taken, while she took the boy to the lab there. I confirmed this morning she’d done as promised, and was told it would take between three to five days before I could pick up the results.
“Paternity?”
“He’s fourteen years old and I didn’t know about his existence until last year. I’ve never even met the kid. Long story for another time,” I cut him off when I see him gear up for an opinion. I’m on edge as it is. “Short version is, his mother is heading into rehab, she’s got no one who can look after the kid, so he’s going into the system unless I take him.”
“Jesus…I had no idea,” Steven mutters.
“Anyway, it’ll take a couple of days for results to come back, but if he’s mine, I’m not gonna turn him away. I’ll need some time to get to know him, figure out how the hell I’m gonna make this work.”
The chief holds up his hand.
“Say no more. I’ll see what we can do with the schedule. As for the rest, we’ll play it by ear and, Sumo? I’ve got kids, you know Cap’s got a couple of them, you may be going into this blind, but we can help you figure this parenting thing.”
The tight knot I’ve had in my gut—costing me a couple of nights’ worth of sleep—loosens a fraction. I stand up and hold out my hand. “Appreciate it, Chief.”
“You know the guys are gonna roast you over this, don’t ya?” he calls after me when I walk out of his office.
Shit. Don’t I know it.
“Yeah, yeah.”
I hear his chuckle as I walk out of the station.
I guess it would serve me right after mercilessly teasing any of them getting hitched and becoming parents. Fuck, Blue warned me, just last year, it would come back to bite me one day. Instant fatherhood would do it, and if they ever got wind of my interest in Annie, they’d show no mercy.
Annie.
I’d briefly thought of stopping by her place yesterday but didn’t. I’m not sure if this is a good time to start anything, especially with someone who clearly has issues of her own she’s dealing with.
It’s two thirty when I pull up to the shelter.
So much for this not being a good idea. Guess I’m a sucker for punishment.
No one is in the front office but when I peek through the small window in the door to the back, I see her sitting in the same spot I found her in the first time. Daisy sees me, but instead of jumping up and barking like the first time, she just lifts her head and I can