“Was your partner.”
He shrugged. “Still are, as far as I’m concerned. We give each other hell but we look out for each other too.” With a look of sincerity she wasn’t used to seeing on him, he pushed, “Everything okay? Really?”
She sighed.
“Yes. I promise everything is fine. I’m stressed but that’s part of the job. It’s nothing to be concerned about.” Liar, liar.
“All right.” He nodded, but looked more like he was letting it go rather than that he believed her. “Just let me know if you need anything.”
For all the shit he usually gave her, he was actually being pretty decent. And he was right that they looked out for each other. Now that she’d made detective and hadn’t been assigned a partner, it was a little lonelier. She worked better alone but sometimes she missed the camaraderie of a partner.
Joel headed toward the men’s locker room. “See you at the office,” he said over his shoulder. “Roberts is gonna be looking for you soon.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled. He’d want an update on the case and all she had to offer on their lead suspect was that he was very good at giving mind-blowing orgasms. Definitely not the information he wanted. For this meeting, she’d have to improvise.
“Hey, buttercup,” her dad said from behind the row of benches.
She arched a brow. “Really, Dad? You’re gonna call me that here?”
“Am I embarrassing you in front of your friends?”
“You’ve always been good at that.” She chugged water from her bottle.
“It’s a parent’s job.”
After she shoved the bottle back in her bag, she mumbled, “Okay, well, I’m taking notes.”
“Good. I’m gonna be too old to spoil grandchildren if you don’t hurry up.”
She grimaced. “Don’t get your hopes up, old man. It’ll be a while.” It was something she’d given a lot of thought to when entering the force. People had told her cops were married to their jobs, but why couldn’t she add a family to the equation some day? Her dad had. Sure, the stress of the job had probably been one of the reasons her parents had split, but other than that, it hadn’t been too bad. And it wasn’t as if her mom’s job hadn’t been stressful too. So Mila just needed to find a guy willing to be a stay-at-home dad. Or someone with a relaxing day job—a musician or artist maybe. It wasn’t impossible.
“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked him. She knew he’d joined the gym a while back and though he was wearing track pants and a T-shirt, he didn’t look like he was about to break a sweat anytime soon. She had a feeling there was an ulterior motive involved.
“Getting exercise, of course.” His gaze swept across the gym floor as he frowned.
She snorted. “Yeah right. I know you better than that.”
With an eye roll, he grumbled, “You’re too smart for your own good.”
“Well?”
“Fine, fine.” He breathed a heavy sigh. “This is the best spot to hear what’s going on in the force.”
“Spying?” She put her hands on her hips. “Face it, Dad, you’re retired. Shouldn’t you be doing retired stuff like . . . golf or something?”
His face crinkled in disgust. “What do I want to follow a white ball around in the hot sun for?” He picked up a plastic bag from the ground and handed it to her. “Here. Drop these off to your mom at the hospital, will ya?”
Curious, she peeked in the bag. Hand-sewn dolls. About a dozen of them.
“Vero made them,” he explained. “For the kids in the ER.”
Adorable. Smiling, Mila closed the bag and told her dad, “Now there’s a woman who knows how to have a hobby.” She pulled her gym duffle over her shoulder. “I have to shower and get to the office before Roberts starts looking for me.”
He nodded. “I’ll just be here . . . Working out . . .”
Chuckling, she headed toward the locker room, shouting over her shoulder. “Get a hobby, old man!”
His laugh echoed behind her.