Bless the Broken Road that Lead Me Straight to You

Chapter 28

Hank had his steaks marinating in the refrigerator, and he was currently forming ground beef into patties for hamburgers. He had spent the morning preparing for the barbecue, including making his famous special sauce. The one he had been known for at all his previous barbecues.

He hadn't made it in years. He hadn't even thought about bringing out the old family recipe in as much time, and the one time Justin mentioned it, he had completely shot him down.

It had been Camille's family recipe.

She always teased him about it, actually. Look at you, she would say. Standing there and pretending to be all manly by the grill. Then she would come close and whisper in his ear, Little do they all know, that sauce recipe is from a woman! He would always turn and kiss her then, and she would always laugh. Then she would press herself against him and whisper that she found him damn sexy standing by that grill, whether it was his sauce or not.

God, he missed her.

He always missed her. She was the love of his life, his very best friend. She had been his partner in everything.

People thought he was the strong one, but they had no idea. She held this family together, had stayed smiling and holding them all close until her very last breath.

And he missed her even more today, with the smell of her barbecue sauce wafting in the air. He wanted to bury his nose in the scent. He wanted to close his eyes and drift back to those lazy afternoons by the grill.

He wanted to punch something. And then he wanted to burst out into tears.

Instead, he completed the last patty and began washing his hands, allowing the mundane task to dull his emotions.

As he dried his hands, he heard someone banging on his front door.

He peered at his watch. It was only 4:00, and the barbecue was called for 4:30. It could be Erin, but she would never bang on the door like that. And if she did, she would fully expect him to come to the door armed. Plus, he reasoned, she had a key.

And wait, she was living here.

Well, kind of. She pretended she was living here, but she was really living at the Halstead's.

He had originally been bothered by how much time she was spending over there. Not because he was possessive of her time, but more because he was concerned. He could tell she was completely, head over heels, deeply, deeply in love with his detective. And that seriously worried him.

Because that kind of love? Well, that kind of love had a way of completely breaking you. That kind of love had a way of making a grown man want to cry into his barbecue sauce, on what was supposed to be a happy occasion, four fucking years after he lost it.

The second set of banging on the door interrupted his thoughts. He tiptoed over to the door, and then stuck his ear against the wood. Depending on what he heard, he could always go into the living room and retrieve his gun.

"Maybe he forgot about us?" It was Grace's quiet voice he heard emanating through the door.

He just smiled and threw the door open. "Forget about you two?" He said, loud and animated. "Never!"

"Sergeant Voight!" Maddie cried excitedly and then rushed inside.

He helped them out of their jackets and hung the coats on the hook. "Wow," he said. "You two look like princesses." It was true. They looked so damn adorable in their matching pink dresses and mismatching leggings that they completely lifted his mood.