I didn't pull any punches. "Parker’s dog is dead."
Linc didn't say anything, not for a long minute. When he finally did, his voice came out broken, hoarse. "You sure?"
"I gave her an escort to the emergency vet," I explained. "Saw him for myself in the back seat. Nox was with her."
"Fuck." He groaned. "Danny got her Boo."
I knew that. Linc knew that I knew. Hell, the three of us were inseparable our entire lives. To be honest, there wasn't much about Parker and Danny's life together that I didn't know.
"I'm sorry," I told him. "I'm gonna follow her home. You might want to stop by tomorrow."
"Yeah," he sighed deeply. "This is gonna crush everyone."
Linc's family loved Boo. They loved Parker and Nox too. I knew for a fact that losing this piece of Danny was gonna hurt every single Hayes family member in Birch County. I wasn't even a Hayes, and my heart ached.
"Thank you, Remy." Linc sighed again, the sound coming more from his soul than anything else I'd heard from him recently. "It never gets easier, does it?"
"He was your twin." I clenched my fist. "And we were both there when he died. I don't think it'll ever get easier."
There was silence on the other end of the line, followed by a mirthless laugh. "Fuck, man. We gotta stop these late-night heart-to-hearts."
Trying to break the tension, I did the only thing I could, I gave him shit. "I mean, sure thing, as soon as you pull your head out of your ass and tell Kennedy how you feel."
Linc bristled on the other end of the call. I could practically see it, and I heard him shift in his seat. "Shut the fuck up, Remy. You know I can't."
"I know she's my little sister," I pointed out. "And I know that she's got a date to Casper and Cole's wedding in a few months. One that isn't you." The words cut deep, like I knew they would. Anyone else might think that I was an asshole, but I knew Linc. He needed me to get him out of his head. He needed me to help him forget, if even for a moment, that his twin was dead and that we were all left to pick up the pieces. Even if it was five years later. “You’d be crazy to let her go. We already lost Cassie this year, man. I don’t want to lose any more.” The pain of my sister’s death hit again, always there like a weight on my fucking chest.
"I don't care."
The lie burned through the line between us, and we both heard it.
"Keep telling yourself that," I barked. "But remember that when he pops the question and she marries a douche."
"She deserves to be happy." Linc responded so quickly that it was obvious he'd rehearsed the line. Probably over and over, in the mirror, to convince himself not to go after the woman he loved.
"She's gonna marry a lawyer, Linc. A fucking lawyer. My dad is gonna lose his shit." Alex Townsend, the chief of police for Birch, my father and soon-to-be boss, did not like lawyers. He hated them, almost as much as he liked to joke that he hated firefighters. The difference between the two was that he didn't actually hate firefighters. But he hated lawyers. We all did.
"She's not going to marry a lawyer," Linc growled.
"Her date," I took great joy in informing him. "Is a lawyer. And they've been dating for a year, man. Pull your head out of your ass before it's too late."
The muttering on the other end of the line was incoherent, but I knew I'd struck a chord. I just hoped that it wouldn't take him too long to get his act together. Kennedy, as much as I loved my little sister, was a pain in the ass. And having her be in love with one of my best friends for her entire life was an even bigger pain in the ass than she was.
"I've gotta go," he said suddenly. "I'm supposed to be picking something up for my mom before breakfast."
"It's three in the morning."
"Yeah, I forgot to get it before I came on shift last night. Do you think your dad'll care that I shoot over to the convenience store on shift?"
We both laughed at that. Chief Townsend didn't give two fucks what happened or where his officers went on shift, as long as they got their shit done. Linc might be annoying as fuck, too, but he did the job and did it right.
"I'll talk to you later. Don't forget to check in on Parker," I reminded him needlessly.
If I knew Linc at all, he'd already sent a mass text to both his parents, his little sister, and my sisters as well, to let them know about Boo and to check in on her.
"Yeah, yeah." He hung up without another word, and I smiled despite myself.
"Come on, Daisy," I said while turning the cruiser toward my house. "Let's go home and get some rest."
Her bark, a quick and happy one, told me that she was just fine with our plans. When we got to the house, she sat dutifully at her door, waiting to be let out until I pulled into the garage.
"You're the best woman I know." She practically preened at me when I opened her door. Then she proceeded to bolt out her dog door in the side of the garage and take off into the backyard to do her business.
I went inside and took off my utility belt and state police uniform for the last time. After a few days of much-needed rest, I'd be starting at the Birch Police Department, where I'd actually wanted to go to work when I got out of the Marine Corps. Unfortunately, my father didn't play favorites and there hadn't been openings for both me and Linc at once, so I got one with the Maine State Police. Three months in, and one of my father's officers quit unexpectedly. That opened the door for me, and I took hold of it with both hands. After all, Birch County ran through my veins.
Daisy went where I went, and thankfully, she'd be coming along with me to Birch PD.
After I secured my gun and stuck my phone on the charger, I sat down in the living room with a beer in hand. Just like every night, I stared at the picture on the wall.
Me, Linc, Danny, our sisters, and Parker all stared back at me. We were younger, happier, and ready to take on the world in that photo. Me and the twins were all wearing our dress blues, and the girls were in varying stages of dressed-upness. All except Parker, who looked like she'd just crawled out of bed.
I remembered her not even wanting to go, she'd been so afraid for us.
That was the morning after I'd told her to give Danny a chance. The morning after I'd cut my heart out and handed it to her.
After his death, my mom had the photo blown up for me, and I hung it in every room I’d had. The frame was black and heavy, and I'd had more than one commanding officer try to have me remove it from my barracks wall while I was enlisted.
But I kept it up, and eventually they stopped harassing me about it. Either that, or one of the other men in my unit made sure they knew exactly why that picture was hung up.
Every night, I talked to Danny.
Every single night.
"Parker's dog died," I told him. Just like I'd told his brother. "Boo. He got hit by a car."
I took a long swig off the ice-cold beer in my hand and waited for Danny to answer me. He never did.
"I escorted her and Nox to the emergency vet. Man, your son looks just like he was picked out of your ass. I don't know what's in the water for you Hayes boys."