“Well, if it makes any better, he’s a cop,” I say, rolling my eyes and finishing my coffee.

I feel eyes on us from across the store, and I turn to see the young, blonde bookstore employee watching us carefully. I turn back to Jillian to make small talk, hoping she didn’t just hear what we were talking about.

Jillian and I sit there for another hour before she finally stands to hug me and promises to send me everything she can, and I’m already a ball of nerves just thinking about it.

After she walks out, I sit back at the table and drop my face into my hands. I’ll text her later and tell her to forget about it. She won’t go back to work until tomorrow anyway, so I have time to back out. It’s not worth being suspended.

But how can I help him if I don’t understand what is wrong with him? And why the hell am I trying to help him anyway? Wasn’t I just trying to spy on him for Ezra so I could help make his life hell? Don’t I hate him?

Just then a pair of small white Chucks fills my vision under the table.

“I’m sorry to pry,” the pretty blonde says as she takes the seat opposite me. There are a few other people in the small cafe now, but she keeps her voice down as she stares at me.

“Hi,” I mumble, waiting for her to say she’s going to report me for breaking HIPAA violations.

“You said something, and I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I think the person you’re talking about is a friend of mine.”

Oh Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

“I’m sorry, I’m not actually planning on doing anything—” I stammer.

“I can tell you exactly what is in that file. If it even still exists.”

I fall silent, staring at her with questions flying around my head. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re talking about Rafe Nolan, aren’t you?” she whispers.

I nod.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” she asks.

It’s not so much a walk as her taking me to a quieter part of the boardwalk where she can stare at me skeptically. She tells me her name is Sierra, and I can tell by the way she keeps glancing back at the shop that she’s nervous about talking to me.

“I heard you talking to your friend, and I just have to say something.”

“Listen, I don’t know what you heard, but I’m a nurse, and I was just—”

“It’s fine,” she says, interrupting me. “I understand. He’s...mysterious.”

“You think?” I blurt out with a laugh, and she smiles back at me.

“Can I ask? Are you two…?”

I bite my lip. Are we what, together? How do I answer this? I decide to go with the truth, or at least as much of it as I can part with. “Rafe and I knew each other a long time ago. We were friends in high school, until things went south. I’m trying to make things right with him, but I’m afraid he won’t even let me in enough to do that.”