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Logan: It feels like I dropped a thousand-pound weight.

Logan: I’m…I’m happy, Liam.

Logan: But I miss you like hell. When will it be over?

Logan: Come home.

Liam had just turned nineteen when I cut all ties with my father. He was just a kid. And a tender-hearted one at that. Liam is a nerd at heart. He doesn’t look the part, though.

The one good thing our father passed on to us is his good looks. I’m not being conceited. I have a mirror, and there were always legions of girls after Liam and me. I’ve been worrying a lot about my brother lately. I haven’t heard from him in a long time. Last time we spoke, he said he was going in deep—whatever that means—and wouldn’t be reachable for a while. It’s been over six months now.

Liam is the smarter one between the two of us. He has zero interest in joining the family business. For as long as I can remember, all Liam wanted to do was to be a doctor. The kid read medical journals for fun. He watched every medical show on TV, be it fiction or not. He even joined our town’s junior EMTs at fourteen. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible. At fourteen, all I thought about was playing hockey.

Liam was always trying to rescue every critter he came across—baby birds, stray cats, lost dogs. If it had fur or feathers, he loved it. But we weren’t allowed to have pets. My father believes that love makes people vulnerable and pets would make us weak.

Which I agree with, to an extent. It is true that love does make one vulnerable. But it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Right?

No one saw it coming when Liam joined the Navy. He didn’t confide in me or anyone else. I wish Liam had reached out to me. I was away at Riggins and still don’t know exactly what happened to make him feel that running away from home and enlisting was the only choice he had.

When I tried to pry information out of him, he didn’t open up. He said what was done was done and talking about it wouldn’t change anything.

I know our father had something to do with it. Of that, I’m certain.

One gets to do a lot of thinking sitting alone inside a squad car. I have to figure a way to reach Liam. Maybe Mary knows how.

The buzzing sound of my phone brings me back to reality. I glance at it sitting next to the squad laptop.Skye.

Just seeing her name on the screen makes me happy.

Skye: Hi.

Logan: Hey there.

Skye: Busy?

Logan: Just sitting here and waiting for someone to run a red light.

Skye: Or a yellow light...

I can’t see her, but I know she’s smiling.

Logan: You want to know a secret?

Skye: Yes!

Logan: I never pulled anyone over for running a yellow light unless it turns to red while they’re doing it. And I didn’t see you had a tail light out until I’d already stopped you.

Skye: But it didn’t turn to red when I ran it. I went thru the light while it was green and then it turned yellow.

Logan: I know.

Skye: Then why did you go after me?

Logan: I have no idea. It was the end of my shift and I wasn’t looking forward to doing any paperwork. But something just told me to go after you, and I did.

Skye: Wow!

Logan: Yeah, wow.