Page 3 of Fools in Love

“Okay,” he said, his timesheet totally ignored now. His legal brain kicked into gear. “Are the police—” Aiden’s laughter stopped him. “What?” he asked with a frown.

“It’s New York. Rumors may get an officer looking into something in a small town, but New York?” He shook his head. “I doubt it.”

“Right.” Tom leaned on the counter. “How badly was she hurt?”

The three of them went silent before Lacey finally answered. “Enough that her career as a prima ballerina is dead.”

“It’s a damn shame too. I went out with her for a while, long time ago in school. Kate is… well, basically family. Nothing would stop me from kicking the guy’s ass if I could,” Aiden said with a shake of his head.

Tom couldn’t help but think about what he would do if he was suddenly unable to do the job that he loved. For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted to be a cop.

Watching his father being hauled away had solidified in Tom’s young mind that the police saved people. He wanted to be a hero just like them.

His first few years after graduation hadn’t been smooth. And his choice had not been popular with his father. But he’d plowed through the training courses. Even after his mother’s and Ryan’s death. Because of their deaths.

Losing his mother and younger brother had almost broken him. There could never really be enough justice for their murders, that belief had taken Tom down a very dark path. One that this small town had finally helped him break free of.

His grandfather had moved to the United States from the Philippines when he was ten years old, which had put a target on his back and, later, onto the backs of Tom’s father and Tom and Ryan. Still, that didn’t justify the evil his father had carried in his heart. Nothing could ever justify that.

Tom loved being a cop and being a cop in Pride was like winning the lottery, twice. When he’d moved into town, Patty had rented him the one-bedroom apartment above her grocery store, O’Neil’s.

In less than a year, he’s purchased a small three-bedroom home down by the docks with his hard-earned money. He’d spent the next year fixing it up as best he could. Thankfully, he’d run into Parker when the man had gotten a flat tire one snowy night. Parker Clark was Pride’s local handyman.

Tom had pulled over and helped the man change his tire and, in return, Parker had come in and replaced the old water heater and furnace at his new place for free.

After that, Tom had hired Parker as much as he could around the place. It was home, and at least now he was pretty sure it wouldn’t fall down around him.

He was also no longer considered a new resident of Pride. That had finally happened about a year after moving into town when a few new people moved into town, bumping him off that list.

It hadn’t taken him long to get to know all the locals after working in town and manning the booth in the festivals the town held every holiday season. Spring, summer, fall, winter—you name it. If there was any reason for a festival, Pride held one. And at each one, the police set up a booth, handing out glow sticks, police whistles, first-aid kits, and badges for the young kids.

Growing up in the city, he’d never believed a town like Pride existed. The kind of place where everyone knew everyone else. Where they looked out for one another and stood up for them too.

Sure, the town had its share of problems and troublemakers. But it was nothing like the big city. In Vegas, he hadn’t even known the names of the neighbors who had lived next to him for years.

Three years in Pride and he not only knew everyone’s names, but he pretty much knew their family histories as well.

Nick may not have talked a lot about his sister, but the rest of the town had. Of course, he’d heard all about Kate’s exciting career. He’d even been shown a few pictures of her in full costume on stage. From what he could see, she was one hundred percent ballerina.

“Ready to head out?” Nick asked him half an hour later.

“You know it,” he answered as he finished putting on his rain gear.

“Looks like we got school traffic today,” Nick said with a slight groan.

“Yup.” To tell the truth, Tom didn’t mind directing the cars in and out of the elementary school’s parking area. It was one of the jobs he could do while still allowing his mind to wander. Since it was his first day back from his mini vacation, he was struggling to get his mind back in gear.

An hour later, standing in the pouring rain, soaking wet, he changed his mind.

Nick too seemed to want to be somewhere else. For the first time in the three years that he’d known the guy, he was quiet. He had barely said two words in the last hour.

When the last car left the parking lot, they both climbed into the patrol car, with Tom at the wheel, and headed out to make their rounds on the highway.

“You okay?” he asked Nick as he drove.

“Yeah. Just…” Nick took a deep breath. “You ever think about the future?”

Tom glanced over at him. Nick was his age, roughly his build, and, according to him, a perpetual bachelor. He knew Nick had spent a few years in the Army and when he’d come home, he’d joined the force immediately.