She laughed a little. “I think married and happily married are two different things. Besides, I haven’t been fishing in that river for some time and you know it.”

She didn’t need to remind me. Her last catch had been a wealthy real-estate magnate that believed in true love and had been foolish enough not to make my mother sign a prenup. After a quickie wedding and an even quicker divorce, my mom was rolling in the greenbacks and dating young studs that were closer to my age than her own. She had drifted firmly into cougar territory, and in her typical careless fashion didn’t care about how that made her look or how it might make me feel. Sometimes I wondered if she was acting so outlandishly just for the attention. I couldn’t see her as much or spend as much time with her now that I was working full-time and had actually gone out in the world and made a friend or two. My mother didn’t do well when she was lonely.

“With you I never know.” I never wanted her near a married man again.

“So with the new partner being off-limits, I don’t suppose you’re out there meeting anyone. You know I worry that you’re going to end up all alone and not find anyone to make me beautiful grandchildren with.”

I swore at her and she laughed. “Mom, seriously?”

“I mean it. You aren’t getting any younger and your job is very dangerous, young lady. You need to find a husband before you get old or injured. I want you to be happy and have what I never did.”

“You know you’re crazy, right?” I didn’t need a man to be happy, not that I would run the other way if a certain blond sex god suddenly declared his undying love for me, but still I had plenty of time to worry about stuff like forever after. She would never understand that, though.

“That isn’t how you should talk to your mother.”

I groaned again and pulled into the parking lot for the police station. I settled my hat on my head and looked at myself in the rearview mirror. The shrink was right. I looked like I had twin black eyes and my pallor was straight-up waxy and gross.

“There’s this guy.” I was going to regret telling her anything, I just knew it. “He’s different. I like him a lot but he makes it hard.” He really did. Having feelings for someone shouldn’t feel like so much of a battle.

She squealed loudly and I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “What’s he like? What’s he do? Does he come from money?”

I made sure I had my keys and everything I was going to need before hopping out of the SUV and slamming the door shut behind me with more force than necessary.

“He’s tricky and smart. He’s prettier than me and he knows it. He’s charming when he wants to be. He’s southern and—” She cut me off before I could tell her that he also had the most wonderful whiskey-colored eyes, which were richer than all the money in the world, and that he was a bartender.

“Ohhhhh … southern boys are the best. All they need to do is say your name with that drawl and it’s love. Maybe he comes from old money.”

Who said things like that in this day and age? I rolled my eyes and pulled open the front doors of the station. “Mom, I’m at work, so I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Love you. Stay safe.”

“Love you, too.”

I waved to Barrett as I walked in. I still had to put my vest on and grab my radio and utility belt from my locker. It took a few minutes to get ready to go and Barrett was already out in our patrol car when I was finished. I grabbed some coffee and made my way to where he was waiting. He never really cared who drove, which was a major change from riding with Dom. My best friend always wanted to be behind the wheel and I never argued. The shrink’s words about being Dom’s sidekick sort of slammed into my brain and rattled loudly around. I didn’t like the truth that was obviously embedded in them, and it made me quiet and surly for the entire first part of our shift.

Barrett was mellow, liked to talk about his wife and his kids. He was a third-generation cop and had aspirations of making sergeant soon. He had enough years on the force and his record was spotless, so I was pretty sure his goal was entirely reachable. It was actually similar to listening to Dom talk about his future; the passion was there, and the drive, which made me wonder if I sounded the same when I talked about my future on the force.

We had an early dinner since we were working swing shift, which was two in the afternoon until ten or midnight depending on how the shift went. Scarfing down burgers and shoving fries into our faces got interrupted by a call about domestic violence from dispatch. We were by far the closest unit to the address, so we ditched dinner and rolled out. So far, since I’d been teamed up with Barrett, we hadn’t really had any kind of call that made my nerves ratchet up or my doubts grab hold. But domestic violence calls were so unpredictable that I was starting to sweat and breathe a little harder than normal.