Sophia huffed and swatted a lock of hair away. “I did mention that I don’t like exercise, right? At least not running.”
Lily stopped stretching and draped an arm over Sophia’s shoulders. “That’s because you don’t have a routine yet. I’m pretty sure I could make you love it.”
Ian lowered his water bottle and snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that. That’s not going to happen. You’d have a better chance of teaching a cat to sing.”
Sophia shot her brother a dirty look. “Says the guy who scarfs down donuts like there’s no tomorrow.”
Ian narrowed his eyes. “When are you going to let that go already? Everyone has a guilty pleasure, even you.”
“I’ll let it go when you stop bringing up my stress baking,” Sophia fired back, tossing a withering glance in her brother’sdirection. “I heard you at dinner the other day. It’s very irritating.”
Lily draped her arms around the two of them and steered them in the direction of the front door. “Why don’t we run and talk? This way, it’ll be therapeutic on all fronts.”
Sophia and Ian exchanged annoyed looks.
Then they were outside in the early morning sun, a warm breeze drifting past, smelling like freshly cut grass and freesias. Lily released them and set off at a brisque pace, her ponytail swishing back and forth as she did. Ian took off after her and caught up to her easily, pausing to give his sister a smug look. Sophia muttered to herself as she stretched out her hamstrings. When she finally did catch up to them, she was red-faced and out of breath, and Lily didn’t even look winded.
Ian, on the other hand, looked a little green around the edges.
“Looks like someone needs to stop sending other people to chase after the bad guys,” Sophia teased, pausing to stick her tongue out at Ian. “See? This is why you need to lay off the donuts.”
Ian scowled. “Like I don’t know about the dark chocolate you keep hidden in every corner of the house.”
Sophia lifted her chin up. “Dark chocolate is healthy.”
“Not with the quantities you eat.”
“Everyone is allowed to have coping mechanisms,” Lily reminded them, her gaze swinging back and forth between the two. “Ian, how’s it going with the break-ins? You mentioned that they hadn’t happened in a while. Does this mean they’ve given up?”
“No, it usually means they’re waiting for interest to fade before they strike,” Ian replied, his eyes tightening around the edges. “We haven’t had any new leads in a month, though, so the captain isn’t happy.”
“I’m sure you’ll—”
Lily was cut off by the shrill ringing of Ian’s phone. He fished it out of his sweatpants and pressed it to his ear, a furrow appearing between his brows. Then he hung up, shoved it back into his pants, and came to a halt in the middle of an empty, commercial street.
“This has been fun, but I have to go. Station needs me to go in because there’s been another break-in.”
“Stay safe,” Sophia called out to his retreating back. “Let us know how it goes.”
Ian waved back at her and sprinted off. Once he’d turned into a speck on the horizon, Sophia spun around to face her sister and found Lily giving her an odd look.
She tucked her hair behind her ears and paused to scrub her face. “What? Do I have mayo on my nose again?”
Lily shook her head and paused to match her pace to Sophia’s, the two of them slowing to a brusque walk. “No, I was just wondering how you can handle having a brother who’s a cop. Don’t you worry about him all the time?”
“I do, but you learn to handle it,” Sophia replied with a rueful smile. “Otherwise, the worry is going to drive you crazy, and you won’t be able to function.”
Lily nodded. “I definitely feel like that would be. Like I wouldn’t be able to handle it all. Ever since I found out that Ian’s a cop, I’ve been paying more attention to crime rates and statistics and lingering over the morning news. I honestly don’t know how you do it.”
Sophia patted Lily’s back. “You’ll get better; trust me.”
Lily twisted to face Sophia, her eyes softening around the edges. “You did it with Darren too, didn’t you? An ex who’s a firefighter, and a brother who’s a cop… It’s a wonder you aren’t a nervous wreck.”
“Most of the time, I am,” Sophia joked, pausing to shake her head. “When I was married to Darren, it was a lot worse. The first few years of marriage were the worst, up until I got pregnant. I’d wake up in the dead of night, searching for him. I even started sleepwalking.”
And it wasn’t until Darren had insisted on booking an appointment with a therapist that she’d been able to breathe again. Using the coping mechanisms her therapist had given her, Sophia was able to find healthy ways to cope with the stress by giving it an outlet and not allowing herself to be overpowered by it.
It wasn’t always easy, but when she was married to Darren, it helped during the times he had night shifts and the days when there was an actual fire, and she’d go hours without hearing from him.
