“They put a kid in the hospital this time. It sounds like whatever your friend the sheriff said to his deputies didn’t exactly take.” There wasn’t even an edge to my voice, I was just tired. I could see the muscles in Easton’s jaw moving and I was wondering if he was trying to decide how much of whatever he heard on that call he was going to tell me.

“Patrice—”

I don’t know if it was my face or what, but something about the situation made him stop talking and when he spoke again the intimate tone was gone. Still friendly, still warm, but I was no longer talking to my lover.

“I don’t know how much you got already,” he said, fidgeting with his phone. “But it was a broken taillight. The deputy flagged them down about five miles out of town. It was pretty routine, until for some fucking inexplicable reason the deputy made them get out of the car.”

The frustration made his voice tight, and I could tell that it wasn’t just about one more incident and optics. Easton was struggling with whatever was happening. I wanted to go to him, I did but I stayed where I was, I could not let this turn into something about me and him.

He glanced skyward then, and I wasn’t sure if he was regrouping or if he just didn’t want to look at me for the next part. “One of the kids started convulsing and ended up passing out. Apparently he has pretty severe asthma, but didn’t want to reach into his coat pocket to get his inhaler.”

Because he was afraid he’d get shot.

“He blacked out.” Easton’s tired exhale said it all. And to think only ten minutes earlier we were ready to start the day playing in bed. “He’s at Ithaca General, stable. The other two are fine.”

I nodded, because I didn’t have to say what we both knew. That things could’ve been much worse if that kid hadn’t been more scared to reach into his pocket than he was of passing out from an asthma attack.

“I’ll deal with this, Patrice,” he offered, his voice pleading.

I ground my teeth together, my hands fist-deep in my coat pocket, hating this shit. Hating, that once again, something I wanted, something I needed, was being taken away by other people’s actions.

“Easton, this is not something you need to resolve to appease me. It’s not even on just you to resolve.”