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The rest of the shift was uneventful, a couple of calls to deal with drunken mischief, but overall, a breeze for a Friday night.
Bell was a good rookie, asked intelligent questions, didn’t leap to conclusions, or run toward danger. He didn’t even get in the way most of the time. She told the Watch Commander as much at the end of her shift.
“You should think about retaking the TO exam,” he said.
“Yeah. I’ll think about it.” There were always so many things she had to do that pushed study down the list of priorities. Then again, her career was important. The new recruits needed people training them who weren’t old, straight, white guys.
As she rode home, she thought about Petra. It was probably too late to text, but she did anyway, sitting on her bike parked by the house.
Did you see Mike earlier? What happened? Are you okay?
Riley put her phone back into her jacket and went inside. At almost one in the morning, she didn’t expect anyone to be awake. She put her head into the living room, where her mother was in bed and appeared to be sleeping.
“G’night mom,” Riley whispered, before retreating and quietly closing the door. She went into the kitchen and made herself some microwave mac and cheese. She always got hungry after a shift and tried to limit the amount of take-out she bought to save money. It was too late to cook, she was tired, and it would have woken her mom.
Standing at the kitchen counter, eating her mac and cheese from the paper container, a jiggle and creak alerted Riley that someone had opened the front door.
The footfalls clomped heavily over the wooden floors. Riley winced, hoping her mom would sleep through it. No doubt Maddy had come home from a night out, too drunk to remember to be quiet.
Right on cue, Maddy stomped into the kitchen, pausing at the door.
“It’s you,” Maddy said.
“Yeah. Just finished work.”
“Microwave dinner again, I see.” Maddy’s nose scrunched in disgust, her words slurring together a little.
“You want some?”
“No way.”
“What do you want then?”
“It’s my kitchen too. I’m allowed to be in here.” Maddy’s voice rose in volume with each sentence.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Why?”
“Mom’s sleeping. It’s the middle of the night.”
“Don’t you get sick of telling people what to do?”
“What?”
“You. You’re a cop, you tell people what to do all day. Sit around passing judgment on people, racially profiling kids whose only crime is being born poor. You know,” Maddy paused to take a few wobbly steps closer to Riley and the fridge, “I bet you’ve beaten up some motherfucker who just happened to be in your way. All you cops are the same.”
“You’re drunk. I’ll leave you to it.”
“Too scared to even have a conversation? You used to be a nice person. You used to care about people. You would never have hurt Petra like that if you weren’t so fucking hung up on being right all the time.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you right now.”
Maddy was blocking the doorway to exit the kitchen. Riley couldn’t leave without pushing her sister aside, and the mood she was in, it would probably escalate. Riley knew how to incapacitate her sister, but it would only emphasize Maddy’s point.
“I never understood why you wanted to be a cop. No one in our family has ever done it. Is it just a power trip?” Maddy said, her voice bordering on a shriek. There was no way their mother was still asleep.
“You need to lower your voice.” Riley used all her willpower to keep her own voice steady and measured.
“Fuck you, little miss perfect. Always doing the right thing, telling everyone how to live their life. You’re not my mom.”
“No, I’m not.” Riley sighed. “Mom can’t take care of you, and you’re clearly incapable, so someone has to look out for you. I never asked to be the head of this family, but Dad died, and then Mom had the stroke. What I wanted didn’t come into it. You have no idea what I had to sacrifice to look after everyone.”
“You? Sacrifice? You do whatever you want, you always have, and then you come up with some reason you had to. And now you’re trying the poor me routine? You’re so full of shit.” The color drained from Maddy’s face and she leaned over and vomited all over the linoleum floor. Bright blue liquid, probably from Blue Lagoons—her favorite.
“Christ, how did you get so wasted?”
“I was trying to stop thinking about you.” Maddy stepped back, bumped into the kitchen door frame, and had to steady herself to keep from falling into the puddle of bright blue sick.
“Are you going to help clean this up?”
Maddy shook her head, leaned against the door frame and slowly sank onto the ground. “I’m just gonna close my eyes.”
“Great.” Riley grabbed the paper towels and cleaned up the mess as best she could. It would need to be mopped properly in the morning, but for now, Riley wanted to get out of her sister’s presence.
Being drunk wasn’t an excuse for being an asshole. Why should Riley try to take care of the family when all they did was throw it back in her face? She wanted to cry, but not here.
Riley went to check in on her mom again. “It’s okay, Maddy had too much to drink. She’s okay now,” Georgina lay on her bed, clearly awake. “I’m sorry we woke you.”
Georgina mumbled something indistinct. Riley went upstairs to her room in the attic, stripped off her uniform, showered, and went to bed. She was tired to her bones, her eyes felt like sandpaper, but she lay there, listening in the dark.
Maddy paced around her room. She hadn’t taken her boots off, no doubt keeping their mom awake too.
Despite the strong temptation, going down there to tell her to stop being such a child wouldn’t have helped. At some point she must have fallen asleep, waking a little after nine. She hadn’t slept long enough to feel refreshed by a long shot, and despite staying in bed she didn’t get back to sleep. She had another shift with the rookie today—afternoon shift again on a Saturday night, likely to be a messy one.
Riley looked at her phone. Petra had replied earlier that morning.
Mike wouldn’t see me, so I gave the ring to Cindy. She may as well have it now. I never want to hear from him again.
Though the words were simple, they lacked Petra’s usual bubbliness.
Are you doing okay? I’m here if you wanna talk. I’m working later today.
Riley didn’t need Petra to reply, just wanted her to know she had friend if she wanted one.
Usually, Maddy would have been her confidante, but with the argument the other night, it seemed unlikely Petra would want to talk to her either.
I may as well get up, make sure there are no more drunken spills I need to clean up. Riley threw her legs out from under the covers.
She tiptoed down the stairs—the only thing worse than drunk Maddy was hungover Maddy. Georgina was still in bed and needed help to get up.
“Morning. You doing okay?” Riley asked.
Georgina waggled her head in the way they understood meant yes.
“Sorry about Maddy, she was super bombed when she got home, and then I made the mistake of prodding the bear.”
Georgina exhaled in an exasperated way.
“I know, I know. I need to let her be. It’s hard. She’s being such a royal pain in the ass lately.” Riley bent down to help her mother sit up, and wiped Georgina’s face and hands. “I’ll get you something to eat, yeah?”
Georgina couldn’t eat on her own, at least not very well. Her limbs didn’t do what they were supposed to, and her facial paralysis made it difficult for her to chew anything.
She lived off blended homemade soups and if Riley was pressed for time, or they ran out, baby food. It wasn’t ideal, but Georgina made it clear she didn’t want to go into a home. Not that they could afford it even if she wanted to.
Riley put on a pot of coffee to brew while she helped her mom eat and changed her continence underwear.
When she finished, she went back to the kitchen and poured her first coffee for the day. The old adage about cops and coffee was true in her case. Her blood may as well have been half coffee.
She sat at the battered kitchen table, with her coffee and her chocolate cereal, listening for her sister to come back down.
I wonder if she even remembers the fight.
Riley was a bundle of nervous energy after listening for Maddy to get up for the last half an hour, and decided to get some fresh air.
The worst thing she could do at the start of a Saturday night shift was be on edge. Riley’s preferred method of self-regulation was intense work outs—lifting heavy weights or boxing and sparring—but to do something that taxing before a shift was a mistake. A bit of cardio would be a better plan.
Riley changed into her workout gear, tight shorts with loose joggers on top, a sports bra that held her modest chest almost flat, and a t-shirt with the arms cut off. With her short-cropped hair and boxy frame, she’d been told she looked like a man a number of times, as though it would make her change how she behaved or presented herself.
Riley was secure in her gender—she was a woman who liked women, and the fact that she was not especially curvy had never bothered her. It hadn’t ever been a barrier to getting laid. It was when she spoke to her lovers about her job, or her family, that they usually withdrew.
Janice was different. Riley had been the one to pull away from that relationship. She dropped out of college when her father died suddenly—collateral damage from gang violence was the official line, but Riley had always thought it was a load of shit.
Her dad had been a lawyer, corporate stuff. Riley suspected he was the type who would help a company hide money in off-shore accounts, or manipulate laws to benefit the bottom line, and his bonuses. Knowing he was a serial philanderer only added to her suspicion that he was not a trustworthy person. She’d joined the police because it was a profession with a good career path that didn’t need a college degree, and fulfilled her need to assert herself as law-abiding, morally upstanding, and just.
What a joke she thought being a cop would prove that. It was just as full of rule bending and nepotism as any other industry, and that’s to say nothing of the institutional discrimination. Give someone power, and most of the time it would corrupt them.
Riley tightened the laces of her sneakers and shook out her arms. Being in her head like this wasn’t like her—the last few days had really shaken her up.
“Running off then?” Maddy said from the kitchen as Riley stepped off the stairs on her way out.
“I’m going for a run, yes.”
“Geez, you’re a sourpuss today.”
“I wonder why.” Riley didn’t want to get into this same argument again.
“Just because I don’t think Mike’s a bad guy doesn’t mean we have to fight.”
Riley frowned at her sister. “That’s not why I’m angry.”
“Why then? It’s not your boyfriend.”
“Petra is really hurt. I knew telling her would upset her, but she deserved to know. You didn’t help, and as far as I know, haven’t apologized for the way you behaved to her.”
“Why would I apologize?”
“What you said diminished her. Excusing Mike’s lies, his infidelity, the fact that you were lying on his behalf, that’s a betrayal much deeper than his. You’ve known Petra since you were kids. She’s more like your sister than your friend, and you think she should just accept being treated like that? What happened to you?”
Maddy rolled her eyes. “Typical. You think there’s a right answer. That a person can get through life, and come out on top, without fucking people over. It’s not possible.”
“Does that mean you won’t apologize to her?”
“I don’t need to.”
“Wow. You really don’t know her.” Riley pulled open the front door. This was pointless.
“And you do? Grow up. She’s never going to love you back.” Maddy stared hard at her, waiting for a comeback, but Riley turned away and jogged down the steps.
She ran up the hill, pushing her limbs to climb faster, Maddy’s words echoing in her head in spite of the physical exertion.
She’s never going to love you back. Riley loved Petra like a sister, and Petra felt the same. She loved all the Holmes family. But that wasn’t what Maddy meant—she said it like it was romantic love. That Petra was the reason all Riley’s lovers wouldn’t stay. That she was unavailable, closed off, locked into an unrequited love with a woman who didn’t see her like that. A straight woman.
How dumb could you be, falling in love with your sister’s best friend. If it had been a movie, she would have said it was ridiculous and unrealistic, and yet here she was, literally running away from the truth.
Riley stopped at the top of the hill, looking down over San Destino, suddenly unable to breathe. What she really wanted, what she had wanted for years, in fact, was a woman who didn’t love her back.
***
Petra had managed to fall asleep despite her brain whirling through every interaction she’d had with Mike over the years trying to find signs of when he’d changed.
When she read Riley’s text asking how it went and if she was okay, she started to cry. Again. She’d cried a lot in the last day. For someone who was known for being cheerful and resilient, she was shocked she could cry so much. It felt as though she was releasing things that had been building up inside her for a long time.
Mike had wanted her to be his arm candy, his sounding board, his comfort after a long day of moving other people’s money around. He never had time for her needs. She had asked him to come out to her parents’ place for Thanksgiving once, early in their relationship, but he’d said no.
Grant and Mary lived in Seattle. They even agreed to pay for the plane tickets, but it made no difference. Petra’s parents always invited him to visit when she went to see them, but he never went.
In over five years of dating, he’d never met them. Who knows what he was getting up to while she spent time with her family. She shook her head. Petra wanted to be comforted; she wanted her mom.
“Hey,” Petra said down the phone when her mother picked up.
“Hi sweetheart. What’s happening?” Mary’s voice sounded breathy, as though she’d caught her in the middle of doing something difficult.
“Is now a good time? I can call back.”
“Yes, yes. I’m just bringing groceries up from the car. I did a jazzercize class yesterday, so my legs are full of lactic acid and it’s harder to move than it used to be. I suppose that’s my own fault. I shouldn’t exercise.” Mary laughed, Petra didn’t. “You okay, hun? You normally love my jokes.”
“Mike has been cheating with Cindy, and god knows how many others.” Petra was exhausted. The weight of grief for her failed relationship felt as though she couldn’t breathe, though her eyes were dry this time.
“Oh,” Mary said nothing else for a while, just breathed heavily into the phone. When she had gotten her breath back, she started again. “How did you find out?”
“Riley. She saw him with her.”
“Right... What will you do now?”
“I broke up with him. Gave him the ring back.”
“Good.”
“What?”
“Good. I was always a bit miffed that he wouldn’t come to see us. You know we don’t like to travel, especially to San Destino, too many bad memories, but he didn’t have an excuse. He didn’t want to be outnumbered. Your father said I was being ridiculous, seeing red flags when there weren’t any, but now I feel vindicated.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“I loved him.”
“I know you did.” Mary sighed. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. I thought if my baby girl thinks he’s a good man, maybe I’m wrong. How long has he been cheating, do you think?”
“I don’t know.” Petra chewed her right thumbnail for a moment. “Maybe the whole time. And you know the worst part?”
“There’s a worse part?”
“Maddy knew.”
“Well, fuck me sideways.”
“Mom! You swore.”
“I swear on occasion, when it’s warranted, and that was definitely worth an f-bomb. I thought Maddy Holmes was a good, decent girl. How do you know she knew?”
“I was at her place when Riley told the both of us. She said it was a man’s nature to sleep around. Said her dad did it too.”
“You’re kidding? Poor Georgina. If he wasn’t dead already, I would wish ill on Todd.”
Petra inhaled sharply—it wasn’t like her mother to be this hard.
“I’m sorry, I’ve had a bit of a week. My tolerance for people’s nonsense is much lower than usual.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, nothing of much importance, just reminded me of some old stuff I had hoped to forget.”
Petra waited, knowing her mother’s need to fill any silence.
“I got a letter about my high school reunion, thirty years, and... well, of course I can’t go, but it got me to thinking about how we don’t see you much, and it made me sad.”
“I’m sorry, that does sound like a hard thing to deal with.”
“It is. One day I’ll tell you why we left, the real reason, and why we don’t come to visit, but not today.”
“What do you mean the real reason? You said you lost all your money in a bad investment and had to take jobs in Seattle because no one would hire you.”
“That was part of the reason we relocated, but not the reason we can’t visit. I’m sorry, honey, I can’t give you any more details.”
Petra didn’t know what to say. Her parents had left in a swirl of unanswered questions, but she had always assumed they’d thought her too young to get caught up in the trauma of it all, to fully understand. “Why didn’t you take me with you?”
“To Seattle? To live on a hobby farm with no money?”
“Yes. What if I’d wanted to come? You didn’t even ask.” Why hadn’t she asked her parents in the years since they’d moved? It was as though they all silently agreed not to discuss it.
“I...your father and I thought you would do better in San Destino. Your friends were there, the Holmes’, your grandmother. Just because we were forced to move away didn’t mean we had to ruin your life too.”
Petra said nothing.
“I infer from your silence that you don’t agree.”
“It’s not that, Mom, it’s just... I dunno. It was really hard being left behind. I thought I’d done something wrong.”
“Honey, no.” Mary sniffled down the phone line. “I wish we’d never started this conversation. I’m going to have to go now. Do you have a friend who’ll take you out? Or whatever you want to do? I guess Maddy is in the doghouse for the foreseeable future.”
“Very much. I’ll sort something out. Don’t worry about me.”
“Thanks for calling. Talk soon.” Mary hung up, apparently too upset by reopening old wounds to offer her any further support, though Petra didn’t know why she was surprised. She had always been an absent parent, even when she lived in the same city.
Petra had a couple of yoga classes to teach that day. Saturday was her busiest day, which was unfortunate given her low energy levels. Maybe she should give the classes a bit more of a yin flavor to reflect that.
She put on her workout clothes, gathered her hair into a messy bun on top of her head, and left to grab a coffee on the way to the studio.
Yoga Solutions Studio was in the Sentinel building, a few blocks from her apartment, in Juniper Hollow, the opposite direction to the Holmes’s place, though it didn’t guarantee she wouldn’t run into one of them.
Riley was probably working. She seemed to take all the shifts she could get to pay for her mother’s home care.
Maddy had never been good at supporting her family. Maybe she’d misjudged her best friend the same way she’d been blind to how much of an asshole her fiancé had been. Ex-fiancé. It was as though she’d been looking at life through rose-colored classes for years, and had only now started seeing the real world.
Petra’s favorite coffee place was already packed, with a few locals lingering on the pavement waiting for to-go orders.
“Hey Petra, how’s things?” Martin, her favorite server, smiled.
“I’ve been better, to be honest.” Petra handed him the expensive insulated travel mug Mike had bought her after she complained about the huge amount of waste produced by to-go coffee.
He had given her lots of nice presents over the years, usually to apologize for something, but she could still get use out of those things. The things hadn’t betrayed her.
“What’s up, girl?”
“Heartbreak. Nothing time and a good strong coffee won’t fix.”
“You got it. I’ll yell when it’s done. I hope you’re not in too much of a hurry.” He flicked his eyes over the people milling around and the full seats. She paid for her coffee, but it would be a little while before it would be ready.
Petra hummed to herself, unsure where the song had come from, but the chorus from a Dolly Parton song rattled around in her head. She didn’t even like country music, but it was cheery.
Maybe her brain jukebox had picked an upbeat song to keep her moving until she could collapse in a heap at the end of the day.
“Grande for Petra,” Martin yelled over the crowd. She took the coffee from the counter and headed to the studio. If she made it through the day without crying in front of her students, she would reward herself with a bottle of pinot gris and Thai take-out.
***
The half-full classes gave her a much needed reprieve since she didn’t require as much energy to keep them going, but a disappointment because her pay would be reduced.
As a freelancer, she earned what was left over after the venue took out their fees, and the fewer people in the class the smaller her portion. She’d never been too hard up, her parents could loan her a little if things were too tight, but it embarrassed her when she could only afford dahl and rice to eat or had no cash for advertising her classes.
The route home from the studio went past a small bodega where she got two bottles of wine, one for tomorrow, and an extra-large block of chocolate. The Thai place delivered, so she called to order as she walked. They would arrive five or ten minutes after her if everything went her way, though waiting would be fine.
At home, she pulled off her workout gear and changed into her lounging sweatpants and a tank top. The warm spring day had left her apartment muggy. She opened the balcony doors to get some airflow before pouring herself a glass of wine.
Petra’s tiny balcony had just enough room for one of those hanging chair hammocks, a gift to herself after Mike told her they were far too boho for her if she wanted to be taken seriously. Every time she thought of Mike, she came up with a new reason to dislike him.
How could I have been so blind?
Just as she settled herself in the hammock chair, her doorbell buzzed. Trotting inside, the delivery driver appeared on the screen, holding her dinner.
“Hi, I’ll be right there.”
Ten minutes later, she had settled back into her hammock with a big bowl of pad Thai and green curry balanced on her lap.
The sun set over the water, sparkling with orange and yellow, then later reds and purples. Petra ate all the food she ordered. She usually prided herself on sensible eating—whole foods with lots of vegies—but heartbreak was an acceptable exception.
When the sun had sunk below the horizon, she went inside and put a soppy movie on the TV while she drank more wine.
At some point, she fell asleep on the couch and woke at about two in the morning with furry teeth and a dry mouth. She got up long enough to struggle into the bedroom before falling asleep again.
Full light streaming in through the windows woke her. In her sleepy state, she’d never closed the blinds. Still fully clothed on top of the bedding, she regretted the choices from the night before.
There’s a reason I don’t drink that much. She held her hand to her forehead in the vain hope it would help.
In the kitchen she found both bottles of wine in the sink, one empty, the other half full. No wonder she felt terrible. It was well after eleven, and though her stomach was empty, the thought of eating made her feel nauseated.
She found her phone lodged down the side of the couch after five minutes of searching. There were no notifications. The last message came from Riley yesterday, saying she was there if needed.
Petra had a small social circle—she was picky about her friends—but with Mike’s connections, she had been invited to more parties and lunches and dinners than she had wanted to attend. Now they were over, her friends predominantly consisted of the Holmes sisters, and she wasn’t speaking to one of them. She texted Riley.
Are you up for a chat today? I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself.
With Riley’s work schedule, there was a good chance she would be busy, or else exhausted, but it was worth asking. Petra cleaned her teeth and tipped the remaining wine down the sink lest she be tempted by it later on. Her phone buzzed not long after.
Wanna have dinner? I could bring take-out to your place if you want?
Petra smiled. Riley was so sweet. She’d been steadfast in her support through Petra’s life, especially after her parents had moved away.
It was as though Petra hadn’t thought of her as her own person, more of an extension of Maddy, but through the lens of the last few days, she started to realize the eldest Holmes sister was the best of them.
She’d given up college to come back to San Destino and take care of them after their dad died, and then when Georgina had her first stroke, she’d become the caretaker of the family. In many ways, Petra had taken her for granted the way Maddy and Jen had. None of them had given her the credit she deserved.
Pull yourself together. Take care of Riley for once. She always takes care of everyone else.
How about I cook? I bet no one has cooked for you in a long time. Plus, it’ll give me something to do with my afternoon. Say six o’clock?
She smiled as she sent the reply. Home cooked meals were comforting, and this would allow her to do something nice for a friend who had been there, quietly supporting her without ever asking for anything in return. But what should she make?
Riley was a straightforward eater, meat and potatoes, meat and salad, mac and cheese. Sometimes she’d go as far as a lasagna but that got toward the fancy end of her spectrum.
The Holmes family rarely ate out, and when they did, they chose Chinese egg rolls, fried rice, kung pao chicken.
Petra was more adventurous, often cooking vegetarian curry dishes, and ayurvedic foods preferred by the yoga schools she’d studied at.
Something in between would be best, and nothing with tofu. Riley hated tofu. The family all teased her about it, though most of her police buddies agreed.
A Japanese style curry, with beef and sticky rice came to mind. Petra had bookmarked the recipe online weeks ago, but hadn’t had the opportunity to try it out yet.
She had most of the ingredients in the house, though she needed to buy some beef. With a mission and a deadline, Petra showered, vacuumed her small apartment, cleaned the kitchen ready for cooking, and headed down to the butcher.
Having something to look forward to lifted Petra’s mood, and she even caught herself humming a song she’d heard somewhere but didn’t know the words to. She wasn’t much into music. She had her yoga class soundtracks, with a lot of pan flutes and steel drums, but the rest of the time she let the radio or streaming service choose for her.
Riley had played in bands in her youth, as the drummer. She’d snuck Petra and Maddy into gigs, but after Riley joined the police, she’d given that up too. Petra couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen how much Riley had sacrificed.
Too caught up in my own shit to see it, and maybe too much listening to Maddy.
Back at home she chopped the vegetables. Petra’s clairvoyance, or whatever helped her with the hospice patients must be faulty, or else it required her to direct it.
Now she refocused it to her best friend’s sister and saw all the pain, denial, and self-sacrifice she should have seen years ago.
She’d inadvertently shut off her inner feelings to avoid being hurt by Mike, and it had spilled across everyone else.
A wave of emotions moved through her body—grief, loss, sadness, unrequited love, reined in anger, disappointment—and she reeled back from the kitchen bench, almost dropping the knife. As she came back to herself, the doorbell buzzed.
Riley.
“Hey, come up,” she said into the intercom. All that afternoon, thinking about Riley seemed to have connected them in a way she’d never experienced before. But she must have that wrong. Riley was happily single, or so she said.
As a gay woman in the police force, Petra always assumed she’d chosen not to be in a relationship to avoid the worst of the homophobia. But that fleeting, intense connection to Riley’s center showed it was more than that—she loved someone who didn’t know she existed.
Petra opened her apartment door just in time for Riley to round the last of the stairs. She smiled and waited. Riley’s walk had a little more spring in it when they locked eyes.
It’s me. She loves me. It suddenly made sense how defensive she’d been about Mike, and how upset she was with Maddy. How could I have been so ignorant?
“Thanks for inviting me over,” Riley said, leaning in for a hug. Her strong arms had Petra’s heart beating a little faster, and her breathing fast and shallow. Was she lingering too long?
“Come in.” Petra smiled. “I haven’t got as far as I would have liked with dinner. Sorry about that.” She waved her arm over the kitchen counter, still covered in ingredients for the curry.
“That’s alright. I’m not in a hurry.” Riley stood awkwardly near the dining table.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“Can I give you a hand?” Riley said at the same time. They both laughed. Petra’s face heated giddy as a schoolgirl. This had never happened before, not even with Mike. But then again, she shouldn’t use him as a guide for romance.
“No, just chill out. You can talk to me while I chop. The kitchen is too small for two, anyway.”
Riley sat at the table. “I’ll have a coffee if you’re making something, otherwise water is fine.”
“Coffee coming right up.” Petra busied her hands with the coffee maker before turning back to the cooking. “Tell me about your day?”
Riley smiled wearily. “Last night was hectic. I got given a rookie to look after while a couple of the other TOs were off sick or busy with other assignments. It’s been interesting trying to get him to act like a cop, but he seems like a good kid.”
“I’m sure you’re a great trainer.” You spend so much time coaching your sisters, and me, you’re a pro already.
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
“Here’s your coffee.” Petra handed over the mug, straight up and strong just like Riley.
Her fingertips brushed over Riley’s and a little thrill ran up her arm, down her spine, and settled in her groin. That had never happened with anyone, ever. Petra swallowed hard and turned to throw some onions into the pan.