Page 48 of Cry Baby
I stepped out of Bettie and shut the door, already loosening my tie before I’d even reached the front steps.
Habit, relief, and small permission settled inside me, and the heavy weight of the day felt like it was dissolving.
Inside, Allen’s house didn’t demand anything from me.
That was the difference.
No radios. No voices clipped with urgency. No expectations layered under every sound in the damn room.
Just quiet.
I shut the door behind me and dropped my keys into the fish-dish by the entryway. Allen had made the goofy-looking flounder thing as a teen, and it was the weirdest shit I’d ever seen, but it matched the goofy creator.
I smiled to myself at the memory of his dumb ass putting that thing down and demanding I use it while popping my boots off without caring where they landed.
“Hey.”
The voice came from the kitchen, and I didn’t answer right away. Just stood there for a second, letting the shift happen properly. Work to home. My real home. Steel to something less useful, but so much quieter.
Let go of the noise. Work is done for the day. You are home. You are safe.
The mental pep talk felt so damn girly, but it was needed to transition me from one mask to the other.
I waited for him to say something one more time before I got up and walked into the kitchen.
Allen was there like he always was, leaning against the counter, a scrub cloth in his hand and the steam of something cooking in the air. His freckled cheeks were speckled with flour, and
I couldn’t help but feel the warmth in my chest thaw the usual chill. I knew him well enough to know he’d noticed the exact moment I walked in, but he was giving me space to be the one to start a conversation.
He looked at me once through his thick lashes and strawberry-kissed hair, then again when he thought I wasn’t watching him.
“Still alive,” I said finally. “Kept my promise again. Day was fine.”
He gave me that look. The one that said I was exhausting, but he still loved me enough to deal.
“This is your version of fine?” he asked, addressing my attire. “What happened, baby?”
I thought I had washed off the blood, but maybe I’d forgotten in the rush of the promotion.
I shrugged anyway and leaned against the counter opposite him. “Got promoted.”
That stopped him from peppering me with questions.
His posture shifted slightly, and his attention sharpened in a different way now, while a smile cracked his face.
“Wait—seriously?” he asked.
“Sergeant,” I said, shrugging.
Simple.
Final.
I watched my words land in his eyes, and the light took my breath away.
I watched his expression change in real time, and the emotions flip. It was not exactly a ‘surprise,’ more like he was adjusting to the idea of me being slightly heavier than I was yesterday, and happy about the general fact that I was moving up.
“You didn’t say anything,” he added.
