Accidentally in Love (19 page)

“Of course not. I’m glad you’re here.” Ellie squeezed her mom’s hand and grinned cheekily. “But exactly how much longer are you planning on staying?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“What? I was kidding!”

“I know, but it’s been booked for a week; I just wanted to make sure you understood this before I left.”

“I do. I would have preferred learning about it some other way,” she added with a wince. “But so long as you’re happy, it’s all good.” Ellie pushed out of her chair and gripped the back of it for support. “So I’m going to go upstairs and have a nice long shower now.”

“But you showered before you left this morning.”

“I know, but this time I’ll be trying to scrub images off my retinas, so you might not see me for a while.”

After Ellie left him standing in her driveway, Brett had to force himself to get moving. He still had driving appointments with the other three students, and if he didn’t get his shit together he was liable to let Mrs. G steer them right off the road.

He was only halfway through the lessons with her, and he already knew it wasn’t going to end well. It might have been the hip replacements, it might have been the age, or it might have been a combination, but she couldn’t seem to brake very hard, which made her drive slow to the point of being a hazard. Roundabouts were like a foreign language to her, four-way stops meant stop and go, not stop and wait, and even in her own small car she had trouble judging distance. That afternoon, there wasn’t a curb they didn’t hit or a yellow line they didn’t cross.

“I guess Jeff was right after all, wasn’t he?” She patted Brett’s arm as he helped her out and made sure she had a secure grip on her cane.

Brett hated this. Mrs. G and her husband had helped build this town, the old girl was the sweetest, most generous person he’d ever met, and yet her family treated her like nothing more than a burden. Her grandson Jeff was an idiot, but he was right about her driving.

“It’s okay, dear,” she said. “Not your fault. And to be honest, I don’t really like driving much; I just don’t want Jeff telling me what I can and can’t do.”

Once he had her safely inside, he turned to go, but she called him back.

“Would you be able to get me some of those transfer papers for my car?”

After she’d explained her idea, Brett left there loving Mrs. G even more than he had when he’d picked her up.

It took Junjie a couple of minutes to fully understand what Brett was telling him.

“Miss Goodzen to give me car?”

“That’s right. She can’t use it anymore, so she wants you to have it.”

“But I save for car. The bank is money.”

“I understand, but she wants to give it to someone deserving, and you’re her first choice.”

The poor kid still looked dazed when Brett dropped him off and headed to Angus’s house.

Throughout every lesson that day, as he’d done every other day, Brett remained focused, professional, relaxed. If he wasn’t those things, he couldn’t expect the students to be, so it wasn’t until he’d finished with Angus that he finally let himself exhale.

He’d screwed things up with Ellie, let things push right up against the line, and then he’d made it worse when he couldn’t get out what he’d wanted to say earlier this afternoon. She’d gotten stuff out, though. Boy, had she.

“Don’t go and do something stupid”—that’s what Sarge had told him, and technically, he hadn’t. He’d taken her out, spent time with her, and put on a pretty good show of being her new man. He’d only kissed her twice, and both those times were for the benefit of the case. Okay, they had been for his own benefit as well, but he didn’t have to admit that.

Other than those times, he’d hardly touched her, and if that didn’t prove how dedicated he was to his job, he didn’t know what would. He’d done what Sarge had told him to do. He’d played his part, and he’d played it pretty well, but Ellie was right—when you lived a lie long enough, you started to believe it.

Didn’t make it any less of a lie.

By the time he got to the game the next night, the rest of the team was already warming up, including Ellie, who was as far away from the dugout and him as she could get. She still put on a show, though, waving and flashing him a big smile. If anyone other than him had been looking, they wouldn’t have noticed the slight dimness in her eyes.

That smile might have been big, but it didn’t even come close to reaching her eyes, and it didn’t last more than a second before she turned and started talking to Regan, stretching beside her.

“Hey.” Nick slapped him on the back with his glove. “How’s it?”

“Yeah, good.”

“You ready?”

“Yeah,” he lied. “Let’s do it.”

Out on the field, Ellie was all business. Focused, ready, relaxed, she made every play, called out encouragement to the rest of the team, and laughed with everyone else when the ball dropped right in front of Maya while she was shading her eyes from the sun.

In the dugout, though, she was tense and twitchy. To keep up their lie, she had to at least show some interest in him, so she sat right next to him, her foot bouncing up and down, her fingers tapping her knees.

At one point, he put his hand over hers to try to settle her down, but that only lasted for a couple of seconds before she stood up and walked over to the dugout door, where she stayed for the rest of the inning.

They didn’t win, and neither of them cared. All Brett wanted to do was get the hell out of there. As soon as the game was over, he threw his gear into the truck, gave Ellie a token kiss on the cheek, and took off for home. There, he stood in the middle of his living room staring at the end of the couch where she’d sat a little over a week ago, ogling that skinny goof in her show and somehow, at the same time, pushing Brett just past the line.

It might have started out as a lie, but it wasn’t anymore. Not for him.

“She was right,” he muttered. “You
are
a dipwad.”

He couldn’t just keep standing there, he needed to do something, so even though his movements were mechanical, almost robotic, he wandered from room to room in his stupid condo, always ending up back in the living room, staring at the couch.

Empty the dishwasher, wander out to the living room. Eat Jayne’s leftovers, standing in the living room. Drink a beer and watch the first episode of
The Killing
again.

Hell. Where was his phone? Maybe he’d give Nick a call and see if he wanted to meet for a drink. It took some digging, but he finally found the phone inside his equipment bag, tucked inside his jacket pocket. After ignoring the damn thing all day, he had two messages waiting for him, and it looked like Sarge had called a few times.

The first message was from his contact at the Motor Vehicle Branch. The new guy, Drew Something-or-Other, was all set to start, and he wanted Brett to work out shifting some of the driving lessons over to him.

God, yes. Start with Ellie. Get her away from him, at least in that area, so he could learn how to breathe without her again. She’d become a part of his every day, whether it was driving, playing ball, talking about everything—or nothing—or even playing Scrabble in the dark. Everything had been about her, and these last nine days of trying to ignore that were killing him.

So if he could just get her out of his truck, that’d be a start. First thing he’d do is have the whole vehicle detailed so it’d smell like new again, instead of like her. Instead of that goddamn soft scent that smelled like spring—only better. Way better.

Then he’d have to work on erasing the scent from his brain.
Right.

The next message was from Sarge, but it got cut off when the phone rang in Brett’s hand.

“Hale, did you get my message?”

“Sarge? Uh, no—I mean, yeah, I was just listening to it.”

“I wanted to catch up with you before you finished your shift today.”

“Had to get to a ball game. What’s up?”

“You are. Just talked to Staff Sergeant Toewes in Etobicoke, and you’re in.”

Brett’s mouth opened, he was almost sure of it, but not a sound came out.

“Hale? You there?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” he stammered, ignoring the call waiting buzzing in his ear. He couldn’t handle anything else right then. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“Not for long,” Sarge laughed. “They’re looking to fill the spot pronto, before Finance goes and does something stupid like eliminate the posting altogether, so how soon can you get packed?”

“I…What about my cases?”

“What? You think you’re the only cop who’s ever left a case behind?” Sarge barked out a laugh. “You’ve got a week, Hale. Finish up what you can, then get your ass on a flight by next weekend. We’ll get your shit out to you later.”

“Uh, yeah.” Brett slumped down on the nearest kitchen chair. “Right. Okay.”

“What’s the matter? You’ve been up my ass forever about this.”

“Nothing,” he said, even as the lie sank like a rock to the bottom of his gut. “No, it’s, that’s, uh, that’s great, Sarge. Thanks.”

Brett ended the call, dropped the phone to the table, then slammed his forehead down beside it.

Fuck-shit-bugger-shit-fuck.

Couldn’t have been two seconds later that his phone beeped in a new voice mail, so with a long groan, he slapped around blindly until he found it, then sat up and punched in his passcode.

“Hale, Hudak. Just picked up a message from your girlfriend. A heads-up that she was going out of town might’ve been nice, and if one of you could let me know who she’ll be with while she’s gone, that’d be good. Oh yeah, I heard you’re buggin’ out. ’S good, I guess.”

The line went dead, but it took him a couple of seconds to hit the 7. She guessed it was good? What the hell was that supposed to mean? And no matter how shitty the last week had been, he should have confirmed with Ellie what her plans were for the trade show this weekend. It felt like he was slogging through mud as he dialed her number. Three rings, then to voice mail.

For a second he considered hanging up and redialing just so he could hear her voice again, but one more forehead bash to the table cleared that thought away.

“Ellie. It’s me. We never confirmed if your sister was staying with you tomorrow night in Vancouver or what time you expect to be back, so give me or Tory a call, will ya?”

Should he have mentioned the transfer? No, not until he’d had a chance to talk to Sarge and Hudak about it, because now they were going to have to reassess what to do with their investigation.

He must’ve stared at that damn phone for about three hours, waiting for it to ring.

It never did.

“It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove.”

—Detective Alonzo Harris,
Training Day

Dressed and ready to take on the day, Ellie turned the ringer back up on her phone and checked for messages while she rinsed out the coffeepot.

The first one was from Carter, who was due to pick her up shortly. He always pulled a twenty-four-hour shift down at St. Mark’s Hospital in Vancouver from Friday through Saturday, so he’d offered to chauffeur her there and back.

The next message was from Brett. Yes, the mere sound of his voice was enough to gouge a chink out of her armor, and yes, she’d call him back, but it would have to wait until later, once she’d forced that lump back down her throat. The last message was from Sergeant Schilling.

“Miss Palmer, Sergeant Schilling. I was hoping to set up a time for the two of us to get together with Constable Hudak to go over the file, as we’ll need to discuss changes now that Constable Hale’s leaving. I’m on my way out of the office now and won’t be back until Monday, but Constable Hudak will be on shift Friday and Saturday, so if you wouldn’t mind giving her a call to set something up, that’d be great.”

Ellie replayed the message twice to make sure she hadn’t misunderstood. No, she’d heard it right the first time.

“…now that Constable Hale’s leaving…”

So he’d gotten his transfer. That was good. Ellie nodded in the emptiness of her kitchen, as if that would help her believe it. It’s what he wanted, he’d be closer to his parents again…

He’d be gone. He’d be—

A rapping on the front door made her jump almost right out of her skin.

“Ellie?” Carter’s voice.

Blinking hard, she opened the door with as bright a smile as she could muster.

“All set,” she said. “Thanks again for the rides.”

“No sweat. I’m going that way anyway.” He threw her bag into the back of his old Fiat, and they were off.

They’d just turned onto the highway when her phone rang for the first time.

Ignore.

The second time she ignored it, Carter raised his eyebrows. “Do I want to know?”

“No.” She closed her eyes for a second, then turned to look out the side window. “No, you don’t.”

Carter Scott was a lot of things, but pushy wasn’t one of them, so he just shrugged and let Ellie change the subject.

“I heard Regan got the permit for the beer garden. I still can’t believe Griffin Carr’s going to play ball with us.”

Without fail, the mention of Regan’s name made him grin. Every time.

“Have you ever met anyone who could say no to her?”

“She does have a way about her, doesn’t she?” Tipping her head a little, Ellie studied him for a second. “Can I ask you something?”

“Course.”

“Does it bother you that Griffin Carr keeps coming back to her? Aren’t you ever worried that…you know?”

Carter’s head was shaking before she even finished. “Nope.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He was serious as he spoke, but then he flashed her one of his grins. “I’m not stupid—I’m sure Fancy Pants Griffin’s put a move or two on her since all this started—but what Red and I have…it’s the real deal.”

It wasn’t Ellie’s phone ringing this time, it was his.

“Can you grab that for me?” he asked, pointing to where his phone lay vibrating on the dash. “No Bluetooth.”

Cringing at the name on the display, Ellie hit the Answer button, then immediately hit the Speaker button.

“Carter’s phone. You’re on speaker.”

“Why the hell didn’t you call me back?”

Carter’s dark eyes rounded. “Is he talking to you or me?”

“In that tone of voice?” she asked, giving the phone a pointed look. “He better
not
be talking to me.”

“Ellie!” The louder Brett yelled, the bigger Carter grinned. “Take me off speaker.”

“I’m sorry, but Carter has to be hands-free on his phone, and this relic of a car he drives doesn’t have Bluetooth.”

“It’s not Carter I want to talk to.”

“Then why did you dial his number?”

“Because you won’t answer your goddamn phone!”

“Maybe I should pull over,” Carter chuckled. “Give you two lovebirds a minute.”

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned, then huffed out a breath and lifted the phone slightly closer to her mouth. “You can calm down or I can hang up—the choice is yours.”

Radio static and the garbled voice of the RCMP dispatch crackled through the phone. There was a second or two of Brett’s voice, quiet and distant, talking with dispatch; then he was back on the phone, just as angry.

“You can’t just up and leave, Ellie.”

“Oh, is that right?” She snorted. “Who says I can’t? People leave all the time, Brett. It happens.”

Silence. Just as well, too. Who the hell did he think he was, telling her she couldn’t leave? She could do whatever she wanted, and he had no say in the matter. He hadn’t asked her before he’d decided to leave, had he? No, because she wasn’t his keeper. And sadly, despite the present circumstances, he wasn’t hers, either.

They each had their own lives—that’s what he’d said at the start: she’d do her thing and he’d do his. Well, look at that—they were both doing exactly what they wanted.

“Ellie.” She didn’t have to see him to know he was sitting in his patrol car, eyes closed, trying to be calm. “I have to go. Will you please call me as soon as you get to the hotel?”

“Because you asked so nicely, yes, of course I will.” She hit End before he could bark anything else at her and set Carter’s phone back on the dash.

Carter waited a whole two seconds before choking out a laugh. “Oh, come on, you gotta give me something. Hale yells about as often as he smiles, so you must’ve really done something to piss him off.”

“Me?” she cried. “It’s not my fault he’s got his Kevlar in a twist again.”

“His—” Carter snorted. “Oooh, that’s good.”

Ellie wasn’t even listening to him. “You know what? Yeah, okay, I probably should have called him back this morning—he’s right on that. Maybe, but the last little while has been…well…not good between him and me, so who cares if I go away for the night? He’s not my mother. I don’t need to report my every move to him, do I?
Do I?
”

“Am I supposed to answer that?” Carter asked after a few seconds, his confused glance brushing over her, then back out the front window. “ ’Cause I know that the answer most chicks would want to that question would be ‘No, you don’t have to report your every move,’ but…”

“Oh, please don’t stop,” she snorted. “I’m on pins and needles waiting to hear why there’s a ‘but’ in that sentence.”

“Well, because, Ellie, in case you forgot, you’re dating a cop and you’ve got some crazy guy stalking you.”

“I’m not d—” She slammed her mouth shut before the word could escape. “I’m not dense, Carter. I’ll be surrounded by people all day, and my sister and her boyfriend are coming down from Kelowna to stay with me in the hotel, so no matter where I go or what I do, there’ll be plenty of babysitters.”

The wave of guilt hit her even before she saw Carter’s brow arch.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “That was beyond bitchy. I really do appreciate everyone’s concern, seriously, I do. I just hate what that son of a bitch is doing to all our lives.”

“We just want you to be safe, Ellie, and from the way Hale was barking there a second ago, I’m guessing that goes double for him.”

It took everything she had not to snort. Brett might be worried, but only because it was his job to be. He was getting paid to worry about her. Lucky for him, he’d be free and clear of her in a matter of days.

“Brett’s the one who said I shouldn’t let Kurt hold me prisoner. I still have a life, and I’m not going to just sit back and let him take it.”

“Okay, I get that—we all get that.” He nodded. “And I bet Red would support you a hundred percent, but you chicks don’t understand what it’s like for us. It’s in our genetic makeup to want to protect you, and when you go off like you’re doing now…Seriously, I pity anyone Hale arrests today.”

“Oh, please.” She shook her head, but she couldn’t stop the smile. “He’s fine. Besides, I’m pretty sure you Scotts are the last of the cavemen. It’s a wonder you don’t beat your chest more.”

“It’s not a caveman thing, and it’s not just us.” She expected him to be grinning as he said that, but he wasn’t. “There’s not a man alive who wouldn’t rip someone’s head off if he thought his chick was in trouble.”

“I’m not a chick.”

“Uh-huh.” Now he was grinning again. “That’s what Red used to tell me, too. I’m not saying a chick needs a guy to save her, ’cause most of you could kick our asses with one hand tied behind your back; I’m just saying we’d really like it if you let us do the ass kicking once in a while. Makes us feel useful—’cause let’s face it, we’re not really much good to you otherwise.”

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Ellie smiled down at her hands for a second. “It’d be useful to have someone else take care of things like snaking the drains every once in a while. No ass kicking needed there.”

“See, that’s good. Give that job to Hale, ’cause I’m telling you the God’s honest truth here—he’s yelling because he feels useless, and generally speaking, guys like us don’t do useless very well.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she laughed. “Does Reggie make you do stuff like drain cleaning?”

“Hell, no—we call Nick for shit like that. Red keeps me busy other ways.”

“Oh God,” Ellie laughed. “Just stop—I can’t take any more sex talk this week.”

Carter just shrugged over his grin. “Then Hale’s obviously doing it wrong. Maybe that’s why he’s so bitchy.”

“Not him. My mother.” After that jolt to poor Carter’s system, Ellie spent the rest of the ride into Vancouver telling him what had happened between her parents and how it had ended in her living room. By the time she was done, Carter was all but doubled over the steering wheel laughing.

“Uh-huh,” she chuckled. “You only think it’s funny because it’s not your eyes and ears that have been scarred for life.”

He dropped her at the hotel after extracting a promise that she’d contact Brett once she got to the suite, which she did via text.

@Pan Pacific rm 828. Gabbie & bf should be here later.

She didn’t expect him to respond right away. For starters, he was working, and besides that, she hadn’t exactly ended their call on a friendly note. Yet no more than two minutes later, his reply came back.

Ok. Thank you
.

She had a couple of hours before Gabbie and Zack would arrive, time she could have spent relaxing or reading one of the books she’d brought. Instead, she spent the whole time staring out the window overlooking the harbor.

Brett was leaving. Did she really want his last memory of her to be the bitch who yelled at him? No; it was bad enough that that was probably his first memory of her—she couldn’t let it be the last one, too. If he was still talking to her, she’d call him tonight after his shift and apologize, but in the meantime, she needed to find Gabbie.

It wasn’t completely unheard of for her sister to be late, but she usually called if that was going to happen. When she didn’t, Ellie started calling her.

Four rings, then voice mail. The first time it happened, she didn’t think too much of it, but by the fourth time, panic began a slow steady crawl up her spine. What if something had happened? An accident? Or what if Kurt…No, she wouldn’t think that. Instead, she called her mom to see if Gail had a number for Zack. She didn’t.

Where could they be? Three hours late—how much longer should she wait before she called the cops? Was it twenty-four hours? If Ellie got a cab right now, how long would it take to get up to Kelowna? Four hours? Five?

Forget the cab—she’d rent a car. Except she couldn’t, because she didn’t have a license. Damn it!

She punched her sister’s number in again, and this time Gabbie picked up on the second ring.

“Oh my God, Gabbie, where are you? Are you all right?”

“No. We’re…” There was that horrible distinct sound of gagging, a toilet flushing, then more gagging. “Sick. I’m s-s-sorry, but—”

“Aw, Gabs, that’s awful. Do you want me to come up?”

“No, it’s…
hup…hup
…I gotta go.” The line went dead, but at least Ellie knew that her sister wasn’t.

After calling Gail back to assure her that all was well, sort of, Ellie stared down at the phone in her hand. Her only plan for the night had been to go to dinner with Gabs and Zack. Now that wasn’t going to happen, and she wasn’t about to go wandering around Vancouver in the dark by herself—not while Kurt was still lurking out there. So she had no excuse not to call Brett, especially now that her weekend babysitters weren’t coming.

Texting would be easier; maybe she’d do that instead. That way there wouldn’t be any pressure on either of them—he could respond or not, whatever he wanted.

“Don’t be such a wuss.” Before she could chicken out, Ellie punched in Brett’s number and waited. Maybe it would go to voice mail. Maybe it would—

He picked up on the first ring.

“Are you okay?”

“Do you ever just start with ‘hello’?” She walked over to the window again and watched the lights twinkle against the dark water. “I’m fine. Are you still working?”

“No.”

“Oh, it sounds like you’re driving, so I just thought…”

“I am.” She heard him sigh. “Sorry I yelled before.”

For all the effort she’d put in to arm herself, that sigh about split her wide open.

“I’m sorry, too.” She pressed her hand flat against the cool glass as a wave of something—loneliness, maybe?—washed over her. “I won’t keep you, but I knew you’d be mad if I didn’t tell you. Gabbie and Zack aren’t coming. They’re both sick and—”

“Good.” Not the response she’d expected. “Give me a minute.”

“But—” For the second time that night, the phone line went dead. Great.

At least she’d tried. If he wanted to call her back, he knew her number. If he didn’t…well…shit. She didn’t actually know what she’d do if he didn’t. Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d do if he did call back, so…

Times like this definitely called for pizza.