Fair Trade (Bold Brew #7) - Cate Ashwood Page 0,2

problem. At least until next time.

With six hours to go until the end of our shift, I was feeling even more surly than usual. Then again, this wasn’t just any shift.

“I can’t believe you’re actually leaving.” I was grumbling, and I knew it.

“You know, I’m gonna miss you.” Jody stood on her tiptoes to throw an arm around my shoulder. “Not as much as you’re gonna miss me, but I’ll think about you, every once in a while at least.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I said, pushing her sideways as her laughter cut through the quiet night.

She snaked an arm through mine. “Seriously, though, it wasn’t an easy decision.”

“I know.”

“And if there was any way I could have balanced both…”

“I know.”

“But I gotta do this.”

“I know that too.”

She squeezed my shoulder. “I could ask around, see if they’re looking for another instructor. I think you’d be amazing.”

I shook my head. “I’m too fucking cranky to teach these starry-eyed little shits. You know that.”

In the past, we’d been paired with students for precepting, but normally, Jody was the one to do the handholding. I was the cranky asshole in the front seat, driving them around and trying to hold my tongue so I didn’t get too snippy at their ineptitude.

She was the teacher.

I was the guy who barely tolerated them.

“I think you’d be great at it. You’re not going to sugarcoat the realities of the job, and students need that. Too many of them graduate thinking they’re freshly minted superheroes, riding in to save the day. They don’t realize half the job is dealing with patients like Mr. Mitchell. Cleaning up puke. Scrubbing blood off your uniform pants. And families yelling at you for how long it took you to get there.”

I let her words settle in. It wasn’t like this was the first time I’d considered following Jody to Philly to teach. She’d floated the idea when she’d first applied, and then again when she’d been accepted. I’d balked at the thought of it both times—I didn’t belong in a classroom. I belonged in the back of the ambulance—but now that we had six measly hours left working together, the fact that she was leaving was really sinking in.

Jody and I had been together for fifteen years. We were more in sync than a pair of conjoined twins. She had my back, and I had hers, and anticipating each other’s needs was as second nature as breathing. After what had gone down in Harrison, she was the closest thing I had to family.

And now she was leaving.

I swallowed past the tightening in my throat. This wasn’t the end of the line for us. Philly wasn’t far, and I’d saved up more than enough vacation time to visit. Still, the thought of not seeing her every day…

“I’ll think about it.”

That earned me the brightest smile I’d seen out of her in a while.

“Wanna get some food?”

“Sure. Your choice. Stale donuts or reheated burritos?”

She laughed. “Is there really any question?”

I shook my head. “Both it is.”

I opened my eyes, blinking three times to clear away the remnants of sleep. It was too fucking sunny. Even with blackout curtains, light escaped above the rod, filling my room with cheery brightness that just made me grouchier.

The weather had no business being this fucking pleasant.

Winter was still months away, but it felt like time should have fast-forwarded, the leaves falling overnight and a chill setting in to match my mood. I rolled over and checked my phone for the time. I was supposed to be meeting Jody for one last dinner at Lou’s Diner, our day-off tradition—french toast for dinner—but instead of Jody’s usual check-in message, there was something else entirely.

JODY: Hey, Murphy. I hate to do this, but I have to cancel.

JODY: The school called me this morning and they need me early.

JODY: I’m leaving this afternoon. I’ll stop by on my way out of town to say goodbye.

Well, shit.

This threw a fucking wrench in things, didn’t it?

I forced myself out of bed and threw on some ratty sweats. The last thing Jody needed was her parting memory of me to be my dick hanging out.

I was still tying the drawstring when I heard the front door open.

“You better be awake!” Jody bellowed.

“If I wasn’t, I would be now,” I yelled back, heading toward her voice.

“About goddamn time, anyway. The day’s almost over.”

“It’s not even three. You know I need my sleep.”

“You’ve had plenty.” She shoved a brown paper bag dotted with grease toward me. “I