Steadfast (True North, #2)

by Sarina Bowen

I sat in the Avenger and called Sophie, just to hear her voice.

The sound of my name on her lips made me close my eyes in gratitude.

Marker will hire me, even with the felony conviction.” “SCORE!” Griff shouted, thumping me on the back, and then all the women piled on to hug me.

“Back up. You’re back together with Sophie?” “Yeah.” I pulled open the linens drawer in the dining room hutch. “The green napkins or the white?”

Ruth had more clout.

Someday I’d make this dish for Jude in our kitchen. At the end of a long day we’d cook dinner together and decompress. Jude would tell me stories about the crazy ways people managed to dent their cars, and I’d tell him about the cases on my desk at work.

Even if we had the world’s smallest apartment somewhere, I couldn’t wait to close the door and throw the lock in a home that belonged only to us. It was totally going to happen.

My heart thumped wildly as this new information sunk in. Jude was the passenger, not the driver. He had to be.

“That is not how you speak to your daughter,” I said, my voice cool. I knew he wouldn’t listen, but I needed to say it.

My father continued to stare down at me. Then he did something I hadn’t anticipated. He reached down and plucked his Glock 22 from his ankle holster and fingered the safety.

“Are you ready, Sophie? You said seven o’clock.” Was that Griffin Shipley?

Griff Shipley lifted me up off the ground, leaving my father on the floor. Behind him stood my mother, a broken lamp in her hands.

“Send an ambulance and a county sheriff. Not one of his police officers. There’s a conflict of interest.” “Go, Mom,” I whispered into Sophie’s ear,

“He pulled his gun on me! I just can’t even… What an asshole!”

the chief saw me in the truck with Sophie. “FUCK!” The man actually tried to roll off the stretcher in my direction,

Chief Haines hissed. But it’s hard to look threatening when you’re bleeding from an ass cheek on a stretcher.

I took a seat in her living room for the first time ever.

The criminal case against me was reopened with the help of May’s lawyer friend,

I met him two days after the chief’s arrest. He opened with: “So, I really want to throat-punch the public defender who represented you in court.”

“You didn’t ask me what a guy gets paid for wrongful imprisonment.” I shrugged. “If it comes to that, I figure you’ll let me know. I’m not in this for the money.” “That’s a good attitude.” The lawyer stood up. “But if we’re successful, it could change your life. You could go back to school or buy a house.”

Mom is on the plane to Virginia.” She’d gone to stay with her sister. “So if any hot guys wanted to come over for dinner, I’d be available.” To her house? Now there was a first. “I just happen to know a guy who’s free for dinner.”

“We’re living out my high school fantasies right now. I always wanted to have you in my bed.”

I put on a real suit, a silk blouse and heels. “Dayum,” Jude teased me from the kitchen table. “I’d hire you.” “You’re biased. And I’ve dressed this way only because I want to be fired in style.” “That’s the spirit.”

“Let’s make coffee.” Jude pointed at the machine. “I started it already.” “I could get used to this.”

“He didn’t say it, but I think the job is yours.” “What?” That made no sense. His brown eyes flipped up to meet mine. “It was me. I moved Jude to the top of the waiting list this past spring. Norse asked, and I confessed.”

“The job is yours, Sophie. Come to work for me full time. You’ll be terrific at it.”

He saved my life, and he gets fired for it.”

“I know. Now show me your thing.” “Really baby? Right here?”

“Nothing would make me happier than to make a home for you.”

But I feel optimistic, Soph. For once, I feel like we’re going to come out on top.” I spun around and checked his face and found something unfamiliar there. Hope.

“Something wrong?” he asked. “No! Just waiting for the engine to warm up. You always said it took sixty seconds.” He grinned.

“What’s so funny?” “Oh, you are so fucking cute.” “Why?” “The long warm-up is for a car with a carburetor—like the old Porsche. You need that warm-up time to get the right balance of air and fuel. But your baby has fuel injection.”

He smiled. And, damn it! I loved that smile.

So many things I thought I knew about my life were wrong. But that happened sometimes. All we can do is listen harder, hug harder and hope for the best.

“That dress is like Vermont, baby. Great views everywhere.”

Learning the full extent of my father’s treachery had woken her up. There were many tears when she learned how Gavin had really lost his life, but the shock of it seemed to drain the well of self-pity she’d been drowning in.

As for my father, he was currently incarcerated in the very jail where he’d illegally sent Jude.

He’d blamed Jude rather than let anyone know his own son was a dealer.

Jude’s conviction was officially overturned just two weeks ago. The letter was stuck to our old refrigerator in the kitchen. Jude and I both paused there every time we opened the fridge just to admire it.

He seemed more at peace with himself now than he’d ever been.

“Are you sure you’re in the mood for a party?” “You’re still wearing that dress,” he said. “So yes.”

We were headed to the grand opening of Zara’s brother’s bar.

“Some time soon you should come to a meeting with me,” he said suddenly. “Yeah?” “Yeah. I want you to see what it’s like.

“Everybody is sometimes uncomfortable,” he said, accelerating onto the highway entrance ramp. “It’s what you do about it that defines you.”

Alec was going to do well for himself. I pulled up in front of a gorgeous old brick building with wooden shutters. THE GIN MILL was lit up in neon over the entrance.

“I thought you and Zara’s brothers weren’t close,” I said. Griff leaned in to speak privately. “He likes me more now that I’m not banging his sister.”

God, I loved these guys. It had taken me a long time to feel part of their circle, but I did now. I wasn’t just some guy they’d paid hourly wages to over the summer. Griff and his family were my friends, and I wasn’t ever giving them up.

“What are you dudes gossiping about?” Zara asked, appearing in front of us. “Were you discussing the ridiculous shape of this belly?” She put a hand on what was, indeed, an incredibly large baby bump.

How was this my life? I had everything I’d ever wanted right here.

My heart began to beat a little wildly in my chest, though. And not because weddings scared me. Quite the opposite.