Free Before We Fall by Courtney Cole

shower.”
    Maddy chuckles. “You’re not intimidated by anyone. That’s one of the things I love about you. Suck it up and do your time, Jace. Then you can get your ass out here for a visit. I miss you.”
    “I miss you too,” I reply. “And I’ve got to come out while you’re still pregnant. It’ll be the only time that I get to see you fat.”
    Maddy laughs at that, and I laugh too, because I’m sure that even now, my best friend isn’t fat. She’s gorgeous, like always. But before we can say more, Joe lumbers back into the office, having only been gone for ten minutes.
    “Gotta go, Mad,” I mutter quickly. “I’ll call you later.”
    I hang up quickly and stare at my new boss. He’s a huge man, gray hair, gray whiskers, square jaw, wide shoulders. He actually looks like he could be found on a fisherman’s wharf or something. He’s maybe sixty or so and he has no tact. As in, none.
    “Who the hell does that kid think he is?” he grumbles to me. Or maybe to himself, because he doesn’t even look up at me as he drops heavily into his office chair. “I don’t give a flying rat’s ass if he’s famous. I’m only going through your orientation one time. If he’s not here in five minutes, we’ll start without him and he can just go someplace else to do his time.”
    Joe looks at me sternly now, his steely blue eyes firm. “I don’t put up with laziness or tardiness, Ms. Vincent. You should know that right now.”
    “Yes, sir,” I stammer. For some reason, he just seems like a person I should address as
sir.
He smiles though, for the first time since I met him. It crinkles the corners of his eyes and spreads to the rest of his face, lighting up his wrinkles.
    “Sir. Ha! That’s a good one. Sir was my father. Or my drill sergeant back when I was in the Army. I’m just Joe, young lady.”
    Finally. Something to break the ice with him. Relief washes over me.
    “You were in the Army?” I grab at that straw quickly, before he changes the subject and the topic gets away from me. I don’t want to go back to staring at the clock, waiting for Dominic in uncomfortable silence. “My brother was, too. He was a Ranger. He just got a Medal of Honor, as a matter of fact.”
    Joe stares at me now, sufficiently impressed and curious.
    “You don’t say? That’s impressive. It takes a lot to get one of those. What did he do?”
    “His Humvee got bombed in Afghanistan, and according to the president, he acted with extreme valor in the face of peril, above and beyond the call of duty. Basically, he risked his own ass to save someone else’s.”
    “You don’t get more salt of the earth than that, missy,” Joe drawls sincerely, nodding. “You should take some pointers from your brother. What does he think about you being here?”
    My shoulders slump at the mere thought of what Gabe thinks about it, and Joe laughs.
    “That bad, huh?”
    I smile and he smiles back. Thank god. The ice has definitely been broken.
    “Don’t worry,” he tells me, his tone softening just a bit. “My bark is worse than my bite, as long as you stay on the straight and narrow and do your job. These kids here…”
    He pauses, staring out the window of his door at the teenagers punching at bags out in the sweaty gym.
    “They don’t have much, see? If they don’t come here, they would get into trouble on the streets. And I don’t want that. It’s our job to keep them on the straight and narrow. To do that, you’ve got to be there, too.
Capisce
?”
    I nod quickly. “Joe, seriously, this is the first time I’ve ever been in trouble. That pot wasn’t even mine…” But Joe holds up his hand.
    “That’s not my business,” he tells me. “My business is just making sure that you don’t get into trouble again. You hear?”
    He’s stern again, and I know I’m back at an arm’s length with him. He’s going to be a tough nut to crack, and I’m going to have to earn his respect, but I just get the feeling that deep down