“Dad, Jake has nothing to do with my decision to apply to the academy. I’ve always wanted to be a cop—I just didn’t want to disappoint you and Mom.”

“Then don’t,” he grumbled.

I snorted. “Dad, I’ve got to do what makes me happy. That’s all you and Mom have ever said I should do.”

“Since when,” Mom snapped, “does happiness and mortal danger go hand in hand?”

I released a beleaguered sigh. “Since when did becoming a police officer become such a big deal? Rick is one.”

“Rick’s not my daughter,” Dad growled. “I’ve done everything in my power to keep my kids safe, but you seem intent on thwarting me.”

“Thwarting?” I teased.

Mom gave me a look. “This is not the time to be a smart-ass.”

“When you were five, I caught you trying to turn a coyote into a pet,” Dad reminded me.

“He was wounded,” I argued. “He needed my help.”

“He was a coyote!”

“Jim.” Mom rubbed his shoulder. “Chill.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Chill?”

They glared at me.

“Dad—”

“When you were ten, you almost drowned in the creek trying to save Lacey—”

“Technically, Lacey almost drowned.”

“If Roger Pearson hadn’t been walking his dog nearby, the two of you would’ve gone under! And let’s not forget the time you shoved your sister out of the way of a moving vehicle!”

“Oh, so you would’ve preferred that I let her get hit!” I shouted back, wondering where the hell all of this was coming from.

“I want—” My dad took a deep breath and when he spoke again, his voice had lowered. “I want my kid to be safe. Don’t get me wrong, Charlotte, I am so proud of who you are. But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry myself sick over what situation you’re going to put yourself into because you’ve got it in your damn head you have to save people.”

“I don’t have that in my head,” I promised. “But I was raised by two people who taught me that you don’t stand idly by when someone needs help.”

My parents were quiet for a moment. Then Mom said, “There’s helping when a situation arises, and then there’s looking for that situation. That’s what being a cop is.”

“No, I disagree. It’s being there to help when a situation arises. It’s who I am.”

“And Jake?” Dad said, his words brittle. “Is he who you are? Because last time I checked, he was a selfish coward who broke my daughter’s heart.”

My defenses rose at his insult. “Don’t talk about him that way,” I said, quiet but stern. “I won’t listen to it.”

“You need to think.” Dad leaned toward the camera, his hazel eyes almost pleading. “Just… promise me you’ll take some time away from him to really think.”

“I don’t need to.”

“Charley—”

“Are you going to support me or not?”

My parents looked at each other, something grim passing between them. Finally, my dad looked at the camera. “I won’t ever have that boy in this house again and we are not done discussing law school.”

I knew that look on my father’s face. I knew it because it was the same look I got when I wouldn’t budge. My chest ached and I felt the stinging burn of tears behind my eyes.

For the first time in my life, my parents had really hurt me.

“You always told me people deserve a second chance.”

“Charley—”

“If I don’t have your support, we have nothing left to talk about.” I snapped the laptop shut, trembling.

There had never been discord between my parents and me. The ugly burden of it rested on my shoulders and I hoped that it wasn’t preparing for a long stay there.

I tightened my grip around my cell as Andie waited on my reply. “Yeah, it didn’t go great, but I’ll tell you what I told them. If you don’t support me, don’t bother calling me.”

“You’re putting him before your family?” Andie’s voice was so quiet with anger, I barely heard her question. My skin prickled with unease. “After everything he did? After all the support Mom and Dad have given you. You’re just spitting in their faces with this… and, although I get that you want to be a cop, you could take their feelings into consideration. At least you shouldn’t have just dropped those two bombs on them at the same time.” She was silent a moment. “When did you get this selfish?”

“Selfish?” I whispered in disbelief that my sister, one of my best friends, was talking to me this way. “Is that what you think?”

“I think yesterday I respected my little sister. I think today I feel disillusioned.”

“Disillusioned?” I guffawed, feeling my blood heat. “I haven’t committed a crime here, Andie. I’m just asking you to trust me.”

“I don’t with this.”

My fingers clenched around the phone. “When did I get so selfish? When did you get so self-righteous? Mom and Dad weren’t thrilled with the idea of Rick at first, remember? The guy is ten years your senior. Did I say anything? No. I supported you.”

“That’s completely different. Rick never broke my heart and left my family to pick up the pieces.”

“You know, you’re the one person I thought I could count on to be there for me through this. It isn’t easy. I’m trying to work things through with Jake, and I’m finally taking the reins of my future despite Mom and Dad’s concerns about it, and I need my big sister.”

“No, you want me to tell you that it’s all right to steamroll your way through life without taking other people’s feelings into consideration.”

“Andie, it’s my life. My heart. My career.”

“And I’m telling you, if you don’t dump that loser, he’s going to break your heart and ruin your future.”

“Fuck you,” I bit out before I could stop myself.

There was silence on the other end of the line. All I could hear was the sound of my blood rushing in my ears.

Finally… “No, Charley, fuck you,” she whispered back, the hurt evident in her voice. “And don’t bother calling me until he’s out of your life and you’re you again.”

She hung up.

I stared at the wall in front of me, trembling.

I’d just burned my Andie bridge… for Jake.

But she was wrong. Right? My family was wrong.

They just were.

Right?

I jerked in fright as two strong arms wrapped around my waist, but I relaxed as Jake held me against his chest. His lips burned on my cheek. “You okay?”

No, I wasn’t okay. My sister was no longer talking to me. We’d had the biggest fight of our lives and I wished I had some guarantee that Jake was worth it. Was any guy worth losing Andie over? I was afraid if I dug deep enough, the answer would put Jake and I in an even more precarious position. Yet, Andie’s attitude… she’d never made me feel like a bad person before and I didn’t think that was fair. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Exhausted, I said, “I don’t know.”

“They’ll come around,” he promised, his voice soothing. “They’re Redfords. They don’t know how to be anything but cool.”

I slid my arms over his. “I hope that’s true.” I turned around, dipping my head back to look into Jake’s soulful eyes. “I’m fighting between being hurt that they can’t trust me about this and really grateful they care enough to be mad at me.”

Without me having to say so, Jake knew I was thinking about Claudia and her parents’ neglect. “Yeah, I get it. Maybe, though, you should tell them you’re hurt rather than blowing up at them.”

Wrinkling my nose, I looked away sheepishly. “You caught that?”

“Yup. You do that last night too?”

“Maybe…”

“It’s that fire in your blood,” he grinned wickedly. “I do love it but sometimes it gets you into trouble—and not the good kind.” Jake grabbed my hand and led me back toward our table.

“There’s a good kind of trouble?”

He lifted my bag and held it out to me, a sexy glint in his eyes. “Why don’t we go back to my place and find out?”

And just like that, Jake lifted me out of the bleakness, if only for a moment. Yeah, I had high hopes he was worth it, all right. I giggled, sliding my arm around his waist as he wrapped his around my shoulders. “I walked into that one.”