Morning came way too early, but Jerica snuck out of Bridget’s room with kisses and touches that she could so easily have let turn heated. After she dressed in yesterday’s clothes, she grabbed a mug of coffee from the kitchen at Eli’s insistence, and then slid into her cold vehicle.

  The entire drive back to town, she couldn’t stop smiling. In fact, she smiled through her entire shift. People even commented on it throughout the day, and Jerica was remiss in answering why. But she knew why. She was completely in love with Bridget. She’d thought from the start that they had a strong connection, but the night before had proved it for her.

  Bridget was such a caring person, putting Jerica’s wants and needs first when she could, keeping Jerica sated, happy, warm. Jerica shuddered at just the thought. She finished out her shift, feeling so much better than she had for the weeks prior because of her sister’s impending anniversary. It affected the entire family.

  Jerica had been working that night when her sister and sister’s fiancé been brought in, and if it hadn’t been for Chaplain Melville, she would have broken completely apart. This time, Bridget had mended her quickly, as had time.

  As she drove home, she got a text, but she refused to read it until she pulled into the driveway at her house and parked. It was from Bridget, a sweet testament to what they had done the night before along with hopes for doing it again. Jerica grinned from ear to ear.

  She had fallen in love with Bridget already, but the desire and lust she felt to be with her every waking moment was the best possible feeling ever. She’d never been this centered on one person before. She’d loved, yes, but it hadn’t been like this. It hadn’t been so all-consuming. Jerica couldn’t go a day without thinking about Bridget. She wanted to think about her whenever she got a chance. She wanted to take care of her, love her, be with her and be there for her.

  Nothing in the weeks since they’d met had swayed that, and while she’d restrained herself at first, she didn’t have to any longer, and it felt so good. Grabbing her bag and phone, Jerica went to her front door and inside. She took the steps upstairs to the upper level and dropped her bag on the kitchen table.

  She grabbed a drink before she shucked her jacket and hung it over the back of one of the chairs. She wanted all of her friends to meet Bridget. In some ways the isolation together had been good for them. They were able to get to know each other without the influence of others—other than Eli, of course—but Jerica wanted everyone to know the amazing woman she knew. The one who was strong, and bold, the one who had such a big heart that she would do anything for anyone.

  Jerica fell into her couch cushion, exhausted from hardly sleeping and then working a long shift at the hospital. Still, she wanted to talk to Bridget, see her again. The physical distance between them was tough because it meant she couldn’t just randomly show up, but they would figure that out eventually.

  Instead of texting Bridget back, Jerica called her. Lifting the phone to her ear, she waited until Bridget answered, grinning again at the smooth deep tones of her voice. “Hey sexy.”

  “Hey back,” Bridget stated. “How was work?”

  “Long today. We had a lot of cases coming in, which for day shift is kind of unusual.”

  “Anything serious?”

  “Nothing too bad.” Jerica played with her cup. She didn’t want to talk about work. She wanted to talk about the future, about when she would see Bridget again, but also about what all had happened the night before, the changes that they would feel because of the next step they had taken. Jerica whispered, “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  “Me either.” Bridget laughed lightly. “In fact, I stayed half the day in bed, naked, thinking about last night.”

  Jerica’s cheeks heated. “I wish I could have stayed longer.”

  “Next time perhaps.”

  “Yeah.” Jerica set the cup on the coffee table and curled up on the couch, dragging the blanket from the corner of it over her legs. “When can I come up again?”

  “Whenever you want. I don’t think Eli is going to kick you out of the house. I think she rather likes you.”

  “She said as much this morning.” Jerica closed her eyes.

  “You saw her this morning?”

  “Mmhmm.” Exhaustion floated through Jerica’s brain, and she knew she was going to struggle to stay awake and continue the conversation, as much as she wanted to. It had been such a long week, but the best part had been at the end. “She sent me on my way with coffee.”

  Bridget snorted. “Sounds like her. Explains why she invited me to her wedding and told me I could bring anyone I wanted with a wink.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. So…I guess that means I get to ask you. Want to go to my ex-girlfriend’s wedding with me?”

  “If you stop calling her that, I will.”

  “Why?” Bridget sounded confused.

  “Why what?”

  “Stop calling her my ex-girlfriend? It’s what she is.”

  Jerica sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “She is, but I think as everyone can attest, she’s far more your friend now—and then—than she was your girlfriend. You two have found common ground again. You’re more than just exes.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Bridget sighed. “So, then, will you come to my best friend’s wedding with me?”

  Giggling, Jerica nodded even though Bridget couldn’t see her. “Yes, Bridge, I will go to the wedding with you. When is it again?”

  “Um…in a week and a half from now? Not this Saturday, but the next one.”

  “I think I actually have that day off.”

  “Really?” Bridget sounded surprised.

  “Let me check.” Jerica pulled up her phone where she kept her work schedule and skimmed through the next two weeks. Sure enough, she had that one Saturday off the entire month. “It’s our luck in timing. My only Saturday off, and I’m all yours.”

  “Good. It’ll be fun, I promise, though I won’t be doing much dancing with this bum leg of mine.”

  “Then we’ll have to dance at the next party.” Jerica closed her eyes and settled into the couch, weariness sliding its way into every muscle in her body. If she wasn’t careful, she would fall asleep right there while on the phone with Bridget. “Because I would love to dance with you.”

  “I must warn you…I lead.”

  Giving a tired laugh, Jerica stayed right where she was. “Somehow, I suspected that.”

  “I’m sure you did.” Bridget paused. “You sound exhausted.”

  “Someone kept me up all night, and then I had to wake up extra early to get to work on time.”

  “Hmm…sounds like a rough night.”

  “No. No, it was a beautiful night,” Jerica corrected. “One I don’t regret at all. Well, maybe drinking so much. I shouldn’t have had that much.”

  “Did you have a hangover?”

  “Very slight, and something easily remedied with a couple Tylenol and water.”

  “Good. I’d hate for you to be compromised at your job.”

  “Never.” Jerica couldn’t even pry her eyes open anymore. She really was going to fall asleep on the couch, with Bridget talking into her ear on the phone. It wasn’t as perfect as the night before, but it was damn close to as perfect as she could get while being so far away from her. “I saw Chaplain Melville today. She was asking after you.”

  “She was very kind,” Bridget answered. “And I’m beyond grateful for all she did for me when I was in the hospital.”

  “I’ll tell her you said that next time I see her.”

  “Please do.”

  “Bridge?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Holding back her giggle, but barely, Jerica braced herself for an answer she wasn’t sure she wanted to receive. “If I go to this wedding with you, are we going as a couple or friends? I know…I know you’re not exactly out, and it’s fine with me if you want to keep some distance from me while we’re there.”

  Bridget hissed. “No. I’m not doing that. I did that with Eli, and I’m pretty sure that was one of the major reasons we had so many problems. Not the only reason, but definitely up there in the top.”

  “So does that mean…?”

  “Yes, Jerica, it means I want you there as my girlfriend. It means I want to hold your hand, and kiss you, and dance with you—even though I can’t do that well right now—and show you off on my arm.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Good, because I don’t plan on hiding you or our relationship. The rest of the world can fuck off if they have problems with it.”

  Jerica smiled, her heart warming even more. Perhaps Bridget was ready for more, for the confession Jerica wanted to make before they had sex the night before. Still, she held back, wanting that conversation to happen in person, wanting to see the look in Bridget’s eyes as she said it, hear her voice as she responded—whichever way she did, but Jerica suspected the feeling was mutual. They had clicked, and quickly. Her friends had said that could happen, that one minute love wasn’t there and the next it was, but she hadn’t quite believed them. Not until she’d experienced it herself.

  Shifting lower on the couch, Jerica lay down and pulled the blanket up to her shoulder. “I wish you were here with me tonight.”

  “Oh yeah? What would we do?”

  Laughing, Jerica said, “Not that. I’m too fucking tired. But maybe in the morning.”

  “Pity.”

  “I just want to see you again. I don’t know how to explain it other than that.”

  “I think you said it well enough the other day.”

  Furrowing her brow, Jerica tried to remember everything they had talked about. It had been so much. Between texts, phone calls, and being together in person, they had talked about so much together. “What did I say?”

  “You said your intentions were to never find someone else because you’d already found me.”

  Jerica hummed. “I didn’t lie.”

  “I suspected as much, and I want you to know, I feel the same way.”

  Jerica’s heart burst with joy. If she had more energy, she’d be sitting up and grinning from ear to ear instead of curled into a ball. Instead, she struggled to find words to respond, words to skirt around what they weren’t actually saying but what they were actually saying. “I’m so glad you feel the same way.”

  “I want to see you again,” Bridget whispered, her voice dropping.

  “When?”

  “As soon as possible.”

  “Spend the weekend with me. Have Eli bring you here, and stay with me. I’ll have to work, but we’ll get all the other time together.”

  “Yes.”

  Jerica smiled. “It’s settled then.”

  “It is.”

  “Bridge?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m about to fall asleep.”

  Laughing lightly, Bridget whispered in that same beautifully deep tone. “Then go to sleep, love. Don’t let me keep you up this time. Sleep well and dream better.”

  As soon as they hung up, Jerica dragged her weary ass to her bed and collapsed onto it, falling into a deep slumber.

  CHAPTER 16

  She’d done it. She’d asked Jerica to go to the wedding with her, and yet, she couldn’t stop the panic that welled up in her heart. On the one hand, she was ready to stop living in the shadows, but on the other hand, she couldn’t imagine what life would look like going forward.

  Would she lose her job?

  What would Jerica think if she couldn’t do it?

  How much hate would she have to face?

  Rubbing her hands wildly over her face as she sat at the kitchen table that morning, Bridget groaned. She wasn’t sure she could do it. She wanted to, but that didn’t necessarily mean she’d have the strength or the words to say something back when people were assholes to her.

  At least at the wedding it would be relatively supportive people, right? Surely Eli wouldn’t invite anyone from town who was a bigot. Shuddering at the thought of how fast word would get out, Bridget clenched her jaw. No, she was going to do this. She had to do this. It was time to stop living under a rock, because that wasn’t really living.

  Karen stepped into the kitchen to refill her coffee and put a hand on Bridget’s shoulder. “I think I saw your parents’ car coming up the road.”

  “What?” Bridget’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  Karen nodded serenely, the look on her face hard to read, but it looked like a mix of pity and annoyance. “Eli said they’ve stopped by a few times.”

  “Yeah, twice. I had the nurses kick them out of my room at the hospital.”

  Karen cocked her head at Bridget. “What did they do?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Bridget mumbled, spinning her mug in her hand. “Guess it’s a good thing I showered last night and got dressed in clean clothes today.”

  Patting her shoulder again, Karen said, “Do you want me to tell everyone to keep their distance?”

  “Pretty sure they’ll do that naturally.”

  “Maybe. I had some good times with your mom back in the day.”

  Furrowing her brow in confusion and disbelief, Bridget shook her head. “You don’t have to lie to make her seem like a better person.”

  “No, I mean it. She was very nice to me when I first moved here. Sharon just…she seemed to get more bitter as the years passed.”

  “As my father influenced her, you mean.”

  “Perhaps.” Karen slid into the seat next to Bridget. “We were very close when you girls were young, since you and Eli were born the same year, and Bryant and Eddie were. We did a lot of things together.”

  “Because you had to. I know how it works. When there are only twenty kids in each class, you’re stuck with them for life.”

  Karen frowned. “It wasn’t just that. Sharon and I did things together outside of that. Something really changed when you girls hit junior high. I’m not entirely sure what it was, but she closed in on herself and became a completely different person.”

  “Yeah, an old bitter witch.”

  “Bridget, don’t talk about your mother like that. She may not be the most pleasant person or the best parent around, but she did raise you, and in her own way, she does love you.”

  Bridget snorted but wisely chose not to answer. She wasn’t sure it would get her anywhere. She had nearly forgotten what close friends Sharon and Karen had been. They had done so many things together, even though Sharon had been far more involved in school things than Karen simply because Karen had a paying job.

  “Here they are. Do you want them in here or the den?”

  “Here is fine,” Bridget mumbled. She really didn’t want to waste her time moving from one place to the other in order to accommodate them. She was done catering to their wants and needs.

  Karen greeted them as though they were long lost friends, her ability to be hospitable astounding Bridget every single time. These were people Bridget hated, and it was clear from the short conversation they’d had that Karen wasn’t exactly fond of them either, but none of that seemed to matter as she greeted them at the door and showed them into the dining room.

  Sharon sighed heavily as her eyes landed on her daughter. She settled into the chair Karen had just abandoned and sighed again. “You look a mess, Bridget.”

  “Well, it’s easier to wash my hair now, so that’s a bonus.” She raised her now cast-free arm, glad to have that thing off for so many reasons, not least of which was washing her hair.

  “Have you figured out when you’ll be going back to work?” Edward asked.

  “I’m still on leave, Dad. I’ll be back to light duty soon.”

  He frowned but didn’t say anything else, always leaving Bridget to read between the lines. Sharon started in next. “I do wish you’d consider going back now.”

  “She hasn’t been cleared to return,” Karen chimed in from the kitchen where she made extra coffee. “So she can’t simply just walk back in and go.”

  Sharon huffed. “She’s the Sheriff. Of course she can.”

  Bridget was about to speak and remind her mother that wasn’t how it worked, but Karen did it for her. “No, she can’t. She has to go through several clearances in order to come off of leave, and those things take time. I imagine she’ll be back to light duty in the next two to four weeks. Wouldn’t you agree, Bridget?”

  “Yeah.” Impressed that Karen knew that much about her job and how it worked, Bridget raised an eyebrow at her. “I need to pass a basic physical exam, be cleared by the doctor, but also pass a psychological exam, too. They’re not exactly easy to set up since I have to find providers with the proper certs, and out here, those are few and far between.”

  Sharon frowned. “I just don’t understand why you can’t go back to work.”

  Karen handed the coffee over and dropped into a seat next to Bridget. “Because that’s simply not how it works in law enforcement. There are a lot of rules and regulations that must be followed.”

  Bridget’s lips parted, but she didn’t say anything. It had never occurred to her that the rules her parents had set for her growing up—those strict, insane rules she hated—gave her the leg up on navigating the LEO world and figuring out the nuances of each regulation, the ones she could bend and the ones that were hard and fast, never to be moved. Huh, she thought before being dragged back to the conversation at hand.

  “When will you go home?” Sharon probed. “I can’t imagine they want you here much longer with everyone coming to town.”

  Was her mother really so obtuse that she couldn’t even say wedding? Bridget was about to answer again, but Karen interrupted. “She’s welcome to stay here as long as she needs for recovery. We have plenty of room for her.”

  “Thank you,” Bridget replied. “I think I should be home soon, now that I’m mastering crutches up and down stairs. It was hit and miss there for a while. I still can’t drive, though, so some things aren’t easy.”