Or, more importantly, her father had.
Her father that still didn’t know that I’d married his daughter.
“Go, Jonah.”
So I went, being very sure to pay extra attention everywhere I went. And when we finally arrived at the Harley store, I reluctantly bought a helmet for me as well as her.
I also went ahead and purchased her a leather jacket that would protect her in case something were to happen and I had to lay the bike down.
Hopefully that never happened, but I thought it was better to be prepared for the worst than pray that the worst never happened.
“Thank you,” she whispered when we arrived back outside with my newly purchased helmets. “It means a lot to me that you would make this concession. Thinking about my father’s accident the other day makes me want to throw up. I’m just so glad that he was wearing a helmet. They said that it saved his life.”
I pulled her helmet out of the bag and placed it on her head, being sure to tighten the buckles down tight but not too tight.
Flipping the visor down, I winked at her and followed suit with my own helmet.
It felt claustrophobic and way too tight, but I sucked it up and gestured to the bike again.
“Let’s go to the walking trail,” I murmured.
She clapped her hands. “I heard that they have new ducklings and goslings.”
I rolled my eyes.
The idea of her being excited about new baby geese and ducks was laughable.
Or would’ve been before her.
Now that it was her getting excited? Well, let’s just say that the idea wasn’t anywhere near as funny. It was cute and endearing.
I drove around for a good twenty minutes before stopping at the town’s small pond that they stocked for the children once a year. There was also a walking trail that circled the pond.
It wasn’t much, but it was enough that the place was pretty popular. However, now that it was getting darker, the number of kids was dwindling down to almost zero.
I pulled over and then gestured to the walking trail.
“Let’s walk.”
When I held my hand out to her, she didn’t hesitate to place her hand in mine.
“Talk to me, Goose.”
I squeezed her hand.
“You’re hilarious.”
“And you’re stalling,” she countered. “Tell me what happened.”
I sighed, and then told her what happened.
“When I got there, I was informed in no uncertain terms that I would either take this new assignment, or I was being let go,” I said, sounding just as pissed as I was when I first received the news.
She squeezed my hand.
“What do they want you to do?” she asked.
“They want me to be in the motor patrol department,” I answered. “It’s a new division in the police department. Experimental. Something that they’ve been throwing around for a while. But also, something that they can scrap if it gets to be too much.”
“Why did they give you this ultimatum?” she questioned.
“Captain Morgan informs me that the new mayor’s daughter, who is also the shrink on staff that we have to see, suggested that they give us a second chance,” I said. “Every last person that’s on the team has some sort of disciplinary action being held against them. Everyone but my nephew, Lock, who just had the unfortunate timing to join the police department when they needed a couple of extra key players for their experimental program. And since he knew how to ride, he was the logical choice.”
She hummed something that sounded suspiciously like ‘that’s cool.’
I rolled my eyes.
“I ride my bike for fun, not for work,” I murmured. “And that ridiculous uniform you saw at lunch? You didn’t see the pants.” I paused. “And even better, I’m being forced to go to team morale meetings, and that is the very last thing in the world that I want to do.”
Piper tugged on my hand and turned so that she could see my face.
I looked down at her and raised my brow at her in question.
“I know that you don’t want to be doing this,” she said softly. “But how about you give it a chance before you say you don’t like it.” She held up her hand when I was about to interrupt her. “The circumstances in which you found yourself in this particular program are less than ideal. But, saying that, it could be fun. You could enjoy the job. And despite the uniform being something that you don’t want to wear, they could’ve been complete assholes and fired you after the accident. But they didn’t, because they know that it wasn’t your fault. Show them that you’re an asset. I wouldn’t worry about curbing your attitude, but your police work should reflect your commitment to the job.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips. “And bonus points, I get to see you looking all hot in a police uniform.”