“You want him to sing in the bar every night?” Turning to face Cooper, she asked him, “And you’d want to do that? I thought you were a big country star.”

Adam laughed, pulling her attention back to him. “No, I don’t think Coop would be interested in becoming a permanent nightly fixture at The Rusty Nail. He, however, would be good for business.”

“What are you talking about? You handle the entertainment. Why would we need him?” Tessa stared at her brother, trying to comprehend what he was telling her. Or rather what he wasn’t telling her. She knew there was something, but for the life of her she couldn’t put it together. The look on his face told her she wasn’t going to be happy with his news.

“I’m going into the police academy.” Adam’s calm tone sounded as though he were trying to soothe her which meant…

And then his words registered.

Police academy.

Tessa’s heart stopped beating in her chest and she felt faint. Somehow, although her body was hardly cooperating, she managed to put her coffee cup on the railing beside her because she wasn’t interested in wearing what was left of it. Staring up at Adam, she couldn’t get a single word out of her mouth.

“Tessa…” Adam began, sounding as though he were going to start explaining.

“Don’t,” she demanded harshly. “Don’t. I… I don’t even know what to say.”

Pushing to her feet, Tessa forced her legs to move, forced herself to go inside before she lost every ounce of her decorum right there on her front porch in front of God and everyone.

And Cooper Krenshaw.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

So maybe Cooper wasn’t the smartest man on the planet, but he knew immediately that what Adam just announced to his sister was not a good thing. As for why, he had no idea.

“Shit,” Adam said, pulling his ball cap down low on his head before taking it off altogether and turning to face the yard.

“I’m going to take a wild guess on this one, but I don’t think she took that well.” Cooper’s statement was met with silence, and he allowed it to settle around them for a few minutes.

Not only was he uncomfortable being there, Cooper was confused as to why he was there and the answers didn’t appear to be forthcoming. Did Adam think that bringing him along would lessen the sting of that blow? If he did, it damn sure didn’t work.

“Richie died in the line of duty,” Adam explained, although Cooper had no idea who Richie was. Not knowing what he was supposed to say to that, Cooper kept his mouth shut.

“Richie was her husband,” Adam finally explained long seconds later.

Oh, shit. Well, that explained it all too well. Adam just informed his sister that he was going to do the exact thing that got her husband killed? Shit.

Cooper wanted to ask Adam why he thought it was a good idea to do this. Or better yet, why Adam thought it was a nifty idea to bring Cooper along when he announced his intentions? How in the hell did he get caught in the middle?

“I need to talk to her,” Adam stated, but he didn’t move from where he stood.

That would probably be a smart idea, Cooper thought to himself. It was a good thing that the filter was back in place because he knew for sure that he shouldn’t get in the middle of this any more than he already was.

Adam suddenly turned and faced Cooper, a pained look on his face. Pulling his ball cap back on, Adam said, “I’ve wanted to do this my whole life. I was actually going to go into the academy with Richie, but when my stepfather got sick, I decided not to go.”

Cooper knew that Adam’s stepfather had been sick several years back, but he wasn’t aware that his illness had derailed Adam’s future. Nor had he been aware that Adam had a brother-in-law. He knew Adam had a brother and a sister, both younger, knew he had grown up in a small town and that he wasn’t close to either of his parents. Besides the basics of their families, the distance over these last few years hadn’t kept them as close as they had been during those two semesters that they’d roomed together in college.

That was probably mostly Cooper’s fault because when he ventured into the music industry full time, he’d essentially left most of his friends behind. He and Adam talked from time to time, at least once every three or four months, but obviously not enough that Adam felt close enough to share those personal parts of his life. On top of that, Cooper knew Adam well enough to know the man didn’t share much of himself with anyone.

“Do you think she’ll ever be ok with it?” Adam asked, and Cooper merely stared back at him. How would he know? Cooper had never known the type of loss that Tessa had obviously experienced, but he couldn’t imagine it would be easy to deal with.

A second later, the screen door opened, and Tessa joined them on the porch, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Cooper had a sudden need to go to her, to pull her against him and shield her from all of the pains of the world.

He kept his ass planted on the porch swing.

“How about I go take a walk?” Cooper offered when neither sibling spoke.

“No,” Tessa whispered. “Please stay. I’m sorry for…”

When it looked like she was going to cry again, Adam moved toward her and pulled her against his chest, holding her close. “I’m sorry, Sis. I know how hard this is for you, but I need to do this.”

The silence returned for a few minutes, and Cooper was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable sitting there. He was an outsider looking in, and he felt as though he wasn’t invited to witness what was transpiring between the siblings.

When Tessa spoke, Cooper immediately looked away.

“I know you need to do this,” she sobbed against Adam’s chest. “This has been your dream. I get it.”

When Tessa pulled back, the movement caught his attention and Cooper glanced over, noticing the tears once again streaming down her pale cheeks as she continued. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that. Doesn’t mean I won’t be scared every minute of every day.”

Adam sighed and pulled her back against him, leaving Cooper once again sitting on the porch swing feeling like a third wheel who clearly shouldn’t be there.

“When are you going?” she asked, taking a step back and staring at Adam, her hands scrubbing away the wet streaks on her face.