Chapter Fifteen
“Bax!” Natalie’s harsh voice shakes me out of my reverie.
I’d been so busy replaying my conversation with Grandpa Bernie in my head, watching the traffic go by in both directions, I hadn’t been paying attention. “What?”
Her brow scrunches into a familiar frown. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”
I consider denying her accusation, but then think better of it. “Sorry. I just…have a lot of personal s**t going on right now.”
“You think I don’t?” she counters. “My son might be contracting strep throat, my daughter hates her preschool teacher, and my husband is at the point in the cop’s-spouse monthly cycle where he thinks I care more about my badge than my family.”
“Sorry,” I say with as much empathy as I can. “That’s rough.” While I doubt she has dead relativ
