Deep Down (Lockhart Brothers #1) by Brenda Rothert

Author:Brenda Rothert [Rothert, Brenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00X0CF8IY
Publisher: Silver Sky Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2015-05-04T23:00:00+00:00

I STILL FELT A warm glow from seeing Reed at lunch. Margie had delivered his food before I had a chance to grab it, so I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him again. But from what I’d seen of the conversation between him and Walter, it hadn’t gone well.

Just knowing he was interested in me was enough. It made me feel pretty in a way I’d never felt before and not like a piece of ass. Reed was handsome and smart and sweet, and when he looked at me, I felt . . . worthy.

The end of my shift was just a few minutes away and I was cleaning behind the front counter when Larry Waters, the Lovely Police Chief, approached and waved me over.

“You want a carryout order, Chief?” I asked, pulling out my order pad.

“No.” He glanced from side to side before continuing. “I’m here to say I’m real sorry about what happened with Sergeant Marsh. I talked to several witnesses and he’s been suspended pending a review of his employment by the Police Commission.”

“He might get fired?” I shook my head. “If he doesn’t come in here anymore, that’s enough for me. I don’t expect him to get in trouble at work.”

“Is it true that he’s touched you inappropriately?”

I looked off to the side and sighed. “Inappropriate means different things to different people.”

“In any way that was unwanted by you. That would be inappropriate.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like he’s the only one. It kind of goes with the territory of being a waitress.”

“It sure as hell doesn’t have to. If this happens with any customer—anyone at all—you tell him no, and if it happens again, you call me.”

I nodded silently.

“Police officers have to conform to a higher standard, Ivy,” he continued. “We’re in a position of trust. Would it be okay for me to interview you down at the station about how Sergeant Marsh has touched you and any unwelcome comments he’s made?”

“I don’t know. I try to keep a very low profile, and the last thing I need is a police officer mad at me.”

“You let me worry about that. This behavior is often a pattern. You might be protecting another woman from unwanted advances or something even worse.”

Tears welled in my eyes as the past pushed its way into my consciousness. Should I have turned my father in for what he did to me? Keeping it a secret had seemed like the only way I could survive it. In a lot of ways, it still did. I’d reinvented myself in Lovely. Here, I was a single mom who worked and kept to herself. That was who I wanted to be. I couldn’t become a woman whose child was her half-brother. And more importantly, Noah didn’t deserve the stigma the truth would bring. He was completely innocent. I’d protect him from anything.

Though I couldn’t tell anyone what my father had done, I could be honest about Tom. And it was hard to refuse the chief, who was looking at me earnestly.

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