Page 62 of The Edge of Summer

I sigh. “I love it here.”

“Why does that sound like a bad thing?”

Tears gather in the corners of my eyes. I try to blink them back, but one manages to slip through and slide down my cheek. “Because Parker hates it. Hatesme. And I can’t help but feel guilty for loving something I have solely because my parents are dead.”

He’s quiet for a moment, and I wonder briefly if I’ve scared him off. If these thoughts are toobig for him. Too much. I was always too much for Mitchell. By the end, he tried to whittle me down so much, I could fit inside the box he had made for me. He almost succeeded.

The release of my pictures was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me.

“Parker will come around,” Luke says. He sounds so steady; so sure. It makes me want to believe him. “As for the rest of it, you can’t stop living just because they’re gone.”

I nod, swiping at the tear on my cheek. “I know. Parker and Sophia need me.”

He shakes his head. “Not just them, Shutterbug. You have to think about what you need, too.”

I smile sadly. “I don’t know what that is anymore.”

“Maybe—” He cuts himself off and clears his throat. He almost sounds…nervous? “Maybe winning that photography contest is a start.”

“I feel an awful lot like a fraud,” I admit. I shift, tucking my knees up to my chest and resting my chin on top of them. “I haven’t picked up my camera in a long time.”

His smile is soft. “I think you may have found your answer.”

Perhaps the reason I feel so adrift is because I haven’t done the one thing I love in a really long time. My camera is right inside, sitting on a shelf. It would be so easy to take it from its case and turn it on. Yet the action feels daunting. Maybe that’s the perfect reason to go for it.

“Yeah, I think you might be right.” I turn my head, catching Luke’s eye. “Thank you.”

His chin dips as he nods, and then his eyes settle on thequiet street. The swing starts moving slowly, Luke keeping careful control of the pace. “Anytime, pretty girl.”

I let his words settle between us, hoping that he really means them. And then I close my eyes, letting myself be comforted by his presence. I know I shouldn’t get used to it, but it might already be too late.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

LUKE

“If you don’t stop callingto check in, I’m going to report you for harassment.”

I lean back in my seat, frowning as I look out the windshield of my truck. “It’s my job to check in.”

“No,” Jodi says through my phone, “your job is to be the chief. Not to micromanage us to death. On your day off, no less.”

“I don’t micromanage.”

Jodi laughs. “You haven’t taken a full day off in the past sixty. I keep a tally. Don’t make me sic HR on you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Lori, the human resources manager, has always scared the shit out of me. Never mind that she’s a wisp of a woman, standing at least two feet shorter than me and no more than a hundred pounds soaking wet.

“Don’t test me, Bowman!” I can’t help but chuckle at this. “The probies have settled in. We’ll be fine. If anything major happens, you will be my first call.”

I sigh. “If you’re sure.”

“We’ve trained them well, Luke. Now trust them to make us proud.”

No matter how many times I tell myself that my department knows what it’s doing, letting go of the reins doesn’t get easier. “Do you ever get tired of being right?”