“You driving tonight?” Em asked.

“Not if you’ll take me home,” he said, bracing his hands on the end of their table.

“Have I mentioned I’m a cop?” she said.

“Have I mentioned how hot that is?” he countered.

“She’s with me, pal,” Jack said. Hadley’s lips disappeared.

“Oh, I love that,” Frankie said. “I mean, I may like girls, Jack, but that was delicious, buddy.”

“S’okay, dude,” the guy said. “I getcha. But you, lady, are hot.” He glanced at Frankie. “And you’re not so bad, either.”

“No driving, bub,” Em said.

“Yes, Officer. Though I wouldn’t object if you handcuffed me.”

“Wow. I’ve never heard that one before,” Em said.

Jack started to rise, but the guy grinned—he was pretty cute—and wove away.

Angela clapped in delight. “Oh, Emmaline, does that happen to you all the time?”

“Uh, no,” she said with a grin. Only Angela could ask that with a straight face. “Excuse me, I just want to make sure he’s really not driving.”

“Yes, please do,” Hadley said. “The poor man was so drunk he could barely see straight.” She drained her wine and held her glass out for more.

Em paused. A talent was a talent, and Hadley had certainly mastered the art of the razor-sharp put-down.

She went over to the guy’s table in the corner, where he was sitting with some friends about the same age. “Do we have a designated driver here?” she asked.

“That’d be me,” one of the guys said, holding up his glass. “Seltzer water.”

“Great. Just wanted to check and make sure the Boy Wonder here wasn’t driving. I’m a cop,” she added, just in case.

“You followed me! I knew it!” Drunk Boy said. “You wanna step in the bathroom, have a good time?”

“No,” Emmaline said. Drunk people. Sigh.

“Shut up, idiot,” one of his friends said.

Em turned to leave, but suddenly she heard the scrape of a chair and there was a hand on her shoulder. She turned around fast. “Knock it off,” she said firmly.

But the kid grabbed her and kissed her square on the mouth.

Now, nine months ago, Emmaline would’ve just kneed him in the nuts and left him whimpering on the floor. But now she was a cop, and rather than be accused of police brutality, she opted instead to push her index finger into his Adam’s apple.

And it worked, of course; no one could kiss when his airway was being toyed with. Then all of a sudden, he was yanked back, and Jack had him against the wall with his arm on his throat, and the kid was wheezing and terrified.

The kid’s friends surged, then stopped, not sure what to do. “Stay,” she commanded. “Jack, knock it off.” She put her hand on his shoulder.

The bar grew quiet, only the music from the jukebox playing.

“You okay?” Jack bit out.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m even a little bored.”

“Problem here?” asked Connor O’Rourke, wiping his hands on a dish towel. Lucas stood behind him, as well as half the fire department, ready to rumble.

“No,” Em said. “Just a kid who can’t hold his beer. Jack. Let him go.”

He did (took him long enough), and his face was stony when he looked at her. A tiny muscle under his left eye twitched.

“Fuck you, mister,” the drunk kid said.

“You guys are done here,” Connor said to the youths. “Settle up and off you go.”

Jack’s jaw was still clenched, his eyes burning holes in the drunk kid, and, really, it was kind of hot. No one had ever been jealous over her before. Then again, it was also pretty over the top. “Let’s go back to our table,” she suggested, taking his arm and steering him away. He let her, though he grumbled most attractively. Em smiled.

Then there was a thunk, and Jack staggered forward. Em turned, and there was a rush of people and then Connor and Lucas and half the kid’s friends had the idiot pinned against the wall.

Because Drunk Boy had just hit Jack over the head with a beer bottle, and Jack’s blond hair was steeped with red.

* * *

“SO LET ME GET this straight,” Levi said at the E.R. about an hour later. “My brother-in-law and deputy were brawling in a bar?”

Jack sighed. His head was throbbing, Hadley was yowling like Lazarus during a trip to the vet and he really didn’t need all this...attention.

“Levi, drop the disapproving parent act,” Emmaline said. “The kid coldcocked Jack.”

Jack barely heard. Several floors above, Josh Deiner lay hooked up to his machines.

“Jack, why did the kid coldcock you?” Levi asked.

“Because he kissed me, and Jack was defending my pure and untainted honor,” Emmaline said. Ungratefully. Women. You never could win with them.

Levi raised an eyebrow, then looked over at Hadley, who was still choking with sobs. Frankie sat next to her, reading a magazine. “And why is she here?” he asked.

Why indeed? Because Jack’s ex-wife fed off attention like a vampire. Whatever happened to anyone happened to Hadley more. Just the fact that the shit-faced kid had hit on Emmaline had been guaranteed to make her crazy, so Jack wasn’t surprised when she went the Route Hysterical moments later.

As soon as the drunken idiot coldcocked him, Hadley had started screaming like a banshee (speaking of a lack of sobriety), begging him to speak to her, even though he was standing with a dishcloth of ice against his head, handed to him by Colleen seconds after he was hit. But that wasn’t enough for Hadley, and she’d actually crawled over to him as Frankie tried to pick her up off the floor.

Then Everett Field arrived, in uniform, puffing up with self-importance as he led the handcuffed kid away to the applause of the O’Rourke patrons. Pru and Carl had been at the bar, too, hidden in one of the back booths dressed in Star Trek uniforms, and Pru burst out laughing at the sight of her brother’s blood, which was fairly typical.

Then Levi had come in, as well as Faith, and, against Jack’s wishes, the ambulance was called, much to the delight of his fellow members on the Manningsport volunteer EMS squad.

He really just wanted to be home. With Emmaline.

As if picking up that thought, Hadley paused in her crying, glanced over and burst into renewed sobs.

“I have to interview her,” Levi said, his forehead wrinkling.

“Sucks to be you,” Em said.

“How much longer will this take?” Jack grumbled.

“They’re busy tonight,” Levi said. “Want me to call anyone? Your dad? Mrs. Johnson?”

“I’m sure your wife already has. If Pru didn’t beat her to it.” Privacy wasn’t an ideal the Holland family held dear.

“Hello! I’m looking for John Noble Holland the Fourth? Gorgeous name, right? Come on in!” Jack stood up and walked toward a tiny Asian woman who looked to be about fourteen years old. “Hi! Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Chu. Sorry for the wait! It’s totes crazy here tonight.”

Hadley got up and tried to follow them in, but Jack simply said, “No,” which caused still-louder crying.