I Shall Not Want

I

Careful, Chief, careful." Noble hovered over Russ, making his way up the marble steps with the help of his much-loathed cane. He'd already decided he was going to burn the damn thing for the winter solstice.

"I'm not going to fall, Noble." He tried to keep his voice even. "If I couldn't walk, they wouldn't have let me come back to work."

"Well, it might be slippery." Noble bent to study the hallway floor. "Might be some melted snow we didn't get up."

He limped into Harlene's dispatch center, Noble at his back. It was empty. They were in the squad room. He could hear muffled laughter, someone shushing. He sighed. Limped through the door.

"Welcome back!" The shout was deafening. Someone-Harlene, probably-had gotten everyone in, all shifts, the full-timers and the part-time guys, every one of his people. His people. Young, old, men, women. They smiled at him. Waiting for him to give a speech. Not his strong suit.

"So," he said. "This morning would be a good time to rob a bank in town." They laughed.

Lyle came up beside him and faced the small crowd. "There oughta be a nice ceremonial way to show I'm beatin' feet away from the chief's chair, as fast as I can run, and turning it back over to the guy who actually belongs there. I thought maybe I could take the chief's insignia off my collar and pin it on him, except I never put it on." He glanced at Russ. "So I figured I'd put something on myself to indicate I was resuming my life of leisure." He reached back and pulled the grungiest Day-Glo orange hunting cap Russ had ever seen out of his rear pocket, snapped it open, and squared it on his head. He held out his hand. "Welcome back, Russ."

Russ pumped his hand, and everybody cheered and the next thing he knew he was hugging Lyle, who was pounding him on the back and saying, "Don't ever scare me like that again," in Russ's ear.

They broke apart, Lyle shifting from foot to foot, Russ banging his cane on the floor. "One hug every eight years," Russ said. "That's my limit."

Then Harlene and Knox hugged him, and Kevin lugged in boxes of pastries from the Kreemie Kakes diner and he thought, I'm the luckiest sonofabitch in the world.

II

Hadley was helping Hudson and Genny decorate the tree when the doorbell rang. Well, maybe "refereeing" was a better word. Hudson had to place every ornament in a particular place, and God help them all if one of the frosted bulbs got too close to a flying reindeer. Genny, on the other hand, was free-form. Right now she was tossing handfuls of tinsel at her side of the tree. Some of it was even landing on the branches.

"Be good," Hadley told them, as she crossed to the door.

It was Kevin Flynn, taking a break from patrol. He was in uniform, his unit idling curbside. He took off his hat and beat away the snow that had fallen on the shoulders of his coat.

"Flynn?"

"Hi," he said. "I know you have the rest of the week off, so I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas."

"Thanks. Uh, Merry Christmas to you, too."

"Would you like to join the Flynns for our traditional Christmas dinner?"

"Thanks, but we've already made plans."

He glanced past her to where the kids had fallen silent. Undoubtedly taking in every word. "Sledding?"

She stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind her. "No. Flynn, you have to stop asking me out."

"I will. If my feelings change. Until then?" He shrugged, his coat rising and falling.

She stared up at him. "What is it with you?"

He took a step toward her. Stop him, she told herself. He slid his hands along her jawline, her cheekbones. Do something, woman. He bent his head. Just say no. Oh. Oh, my God. He held her as if she were a breakable ornament and kissed her as if she were the only warm thing in winter. "Merry Christmas," he whispered. She was still catching her breath when he bounded down the stairs. She listened to the thump of his cruiser door. Watched his rear lights dwindle in the falling snow.

"Oh, Flynn." She wrapped her arms around herself. "What am I going to do with you?"