“Yeah. And it’s not a guarantee, either. I can sing your praises, which I will, but it might not be enough. I have a good feeling about it, though.”

Which meant he was close enough that his word would mean a lot.

Braden stood. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

The chief nodded. “You and Fred do need to figure this shit out, though. I’ll talk to him, too but you know as well as I do we can’t have discord in a place like this. You have lives in your hands.”

Yeah, he knew it. The chief was right. “We’ll work it out.”

Braden walked out of the office, wanting to talk to Wes. Hoping the man would ask him to stay. If not, looked like he’d have a new adventure in the form of New York City.

***

Tuesday night, as Wes lay in bed, his phone rang. He thought about ignoring it, but rolled over and plucked it off his bedside table.

He felt like an idiot because his heart rate kicked up when he saw Braden’s name light up the screen.

“Hey.” Wes moved to his back.

“Hey.”

Neither of them spoke for a few moments until Braden said, “Tomorrow’s Wednesday. Can I pick Jessie up from school and stay with her?”

The word “no” wasn’t even a consideration. No matter what went down with them, Wes wouldn’t take Jessie away from seeing Braden as long as he wanted to. “Yeah, sure. She misses you.”

“I miss her, too. We need to talk afterward, Wes. There’s something I need to tell you.”

For the first time in his life, he wished someone called him Wesley instead of Wes. “Okay.”

“Cool. I’ll let you go. You know, so I can get back to my old life and all.” Before Wes could reply, Braden added, “Shit. I’m sorry. I’m being a prick.”

“Eh. I’ve been known to be one before, too.”

Braden chuckled. “Yeah, you have. Listen, I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Wes didn’t sleep the rest of the night. When the alarm went off to get Jessie ready for school, he already sat on the edge of his bed...in Chelle’s old room. When he told Jessie he planned to sleep in there, she didn’t even bat an eye at him. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have questions later, but for now she seemed fine.

He got them both ready, dropped Jessie off at Lydia’s for her to take her to school in a little while, and then drove to work. They were the on-call trauma hospital tonight, which meant they were crazy busy.

They had patients from a four-car accident come in, and of course he had the ER. By the time he got home, all he wanted to do was have a beer and go to bed.

The second he walked into the house he realized there was something else he wanted to do. Fuck Braden, kiss him, hug him—at this point, he was willing to take anything. Braden stood with his hands shoved into his jean pockets, the firm shape of his muscles pressing against the fabric.

Braden cocked a brow at him, obviously knowing what he was thinking. Leave it to Braden not to hold that knowledge back, either.

They had dinner, and then Braden played with Jock while he bathed Jessie. After TV, and homework, which their teacher gave them to prepare for Kindergarten, he was about to put Jessie to bed when Braden called her over to him. “You be a good girl, okay?” He hugged her.

“I will, silly Braden.”

“Love you, Squirt.”

Wes watched the scene play out in front of him with a lump in his throat. There was something different about the way Braden spoke to her tonight. Something that made him hurt clear down to his bones.

He stalled putting Jessie to bed, dread swimming around inside him. When Wes went back into the living room, he saw the front door cracked open and knew Braden must be on the covered porch.

“You moved into the big room,” was the first thing he said to Wes when Wes joined him outside.

“It was time.”

“Good for you.”

“I haven’t gone through the chest at the foot of the bed. It was important to her. It doesn’t feel right going through that stuff. She’s had it since she was a kid.”

“It’s a start. You’ll get there.”

“What’s going on, Braden?” Braden wasn’t one to avoid a topic, and the fact that he did stressed Wes out.

“I got asked about a job in New York...trying to decide if I should take it or not.”

No, fought to jump off Wes’s tongue as the same time his whole body went numb. Braden had been saying goodbye. He’d just told Jessie goodbye. “New York?” His tongue felt swollen, like he had cotton mouth, the way he did when he used to get high as a teenager.