Page 37 of Savior
“Hey!” Jack protests. “What can I do? I’m thousands of miles away.”
I just shoot him a look.
“She in some kind of trouble?” Ben asks.
“Uh-oh,” Jack says. “Here we go.”
Rolling my shoulders, I change lanes to head to Ben’s house. “I’m working on it.”
“It’s like he doesn’t even know what he’s walking into.” Jack cackles into the phone while looking at Ben.
I scowl at him. “It’s a good thing you’re deployed.”
“I miss you, too, asshole.”
I glance back at Jack and find his expression has turned serious. “Something wrong?”
“No, I’m just worried about Sofie. Worried she may be pushing herself too hard.”
“What do you mean?” Ben asks.
“I can tell when she has a case is all. She gets tense.”
Both of their eyes turn to me. Calling our police department small is an understatement. There aren’t many other cops aside from me, so even if I weren’t working on the case, I’d know about it.
“She holds her own,” I tell Jack.
“I know she does. She has to in order to put up with the idiots,” he says, referring with male fondness to the two younger brothers they adopted after Sofie’s mom passed. “But I just want you to keep an eye on her. Make sure it doesn’t open old wounds.”
“You don’t even have to ask, man.”
“Thanks. I never would have re-upped if I didn’t think they’d be in good hands when I deployed.”
“She’s stronger than you think she is. I think it helps her to be there for other women going through the same thing.”
“Livvie’s the same way. She says it helps her process. Sofie gave her the idea.”
My head jerks as I break at a stoplight. “What?”
“She is?” Jack asks.
Ben shrugs. “She volunteers with an advocacy group for families with children who have heart conditions. Not necessarily HLHS like Cole, but similar birth defects.”
“When the hell did she start doing that?” Jack demands.
“Since Cole’s heart transplant. It was a rocky time for her and when we thought it was going to fail, she needed an outlet to take her mind off the stress. When he got better, she kept at it.” He lifts a shoulder. “She’s happier now, so I don’t get on her shit about it.”
“It’s not too much for her?” Jack asks.
“Nah, and you know Sofie’s got a lioness packed inside that little body. If she were in over her head, she’d let you know.”
Jack snorts, and he and Ben share a commiserating glance. Then Jack says to me, “Just wait, your time is coming. If you play your cards right, you’ll finally have a woman to worry about.”
“I was under the impression you hated all the women I brought around.”
Jack groans, and Ben says, “Tag chasers. You brought tag chasers home. Even before you got with your ex, the women you brought around were only in it to bang a man in uniform.”
I grin. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”