Nesto scoffed. “Yeah, but you had like one glass of wine and now one of prosecco. That’s not exactly getting your drink on.” He got up and slapped a hand on my shoulder. “My man has to relax a little more.”

From the other end of the table Jude protested, “Leave him alone, Nesto, it’s been a bit stressful in this town for the past couple of months. I don’t blame him for being careful.”

Jude was quiet and very mild mannered, but he did not pull a punch when it came to shit that he felt strongly about. At his words I saw Easton’s back go up. But Jude had those baby blues right on him. It’d been a few days since that last stop. Easton had gone to visit the kid who’d passed out at the hospital. Thankfully he’d made a full recovery, and of course things had quieted down again.

I could see Easton trying to keep his sigh inward instead of responding to Jude.

“I don’t blame him either, even if he is a little bit more intense than I am with these things,” Nesto said ruefully.

Easton took a small sip then gave Jude a serious look. “Day has finally agreed to take a stronger stance and have some kind of diversity training in the department. Honestly I don’t think that’s enough. He needs to make a statement, publicly.”

He’d been trying to get his boss to say something too, but so far, nothing. I was starting to wonder if that was where it would stay.

Jude nodded and looked straight at me, as if he knew we’d be on the same page. “I know you’ll try, Easton. I just hope there’s not a tragedy while they’re sorting themselves out.”

“Me too,” Easton said heavily, pushing his barely touched glass of prosecco away. “It’s what has me considering this run more seriously, maybe I could do some good. Take a different position as DA.” When he looked at me, I reached over and ran a hand over his.

We’d reached a sort of détente since the day Cindy had announced his candidacy; he’d been moving behind the scenes trying to shake things up. I’d ended up participating in the peaceful protest after the last stop, and had been quietly helping some local groups organize. I’d also been intentionally laying off Twitter. I wasn’t sure how long it would work to leave things hanging like this. Those parts of our lives were too big to just keep them to ourselves. Eventually we’d either have to bring them together or they would collide on their own. But the struggle and the law could not go to bed every night, without coming to a standoff at some point.