Free The Bull Rider Wears Pink by Jeanine McAdam Page A

Rachel, which was interesting. Back in LA, when taking a five
minute break from fighting the bad guys, John always admired a beautiful woman.
“It's about assuming responsibility for something bad you’ve done and making
amends.”
    “What if you did something bad to
one person, for example a loved one, but your actions helped the greater good?”
Kevin asked, his words coming from the mouths of babes. “Do you still get
redemption?” He scratched his arm pit.
    Cassidy stared at her son for a
moment. When in the world did he become so perceptive? Did he know
instinctively Cassidy left him because she was trying to do something for the
greater good? After eight months of undercover work Cassidy and John had given
their colleagues in uniform enough information to intercept two hundred illegal
firearms and seize twelve million dollars’ worth of cocaine.
    John glanced at Cassidy with wide
eyes. She shook her head. She hadn't told Kevin anything about her life in L.A.
and she would talk to her son later about the greater good. She just needed to
figure out what she was going to say first.
    However, it seemed John wanted to
dive head first into this parenting quagmire. Cassidy had to give him credit
for not being afraid. “Sometimes,” the cop turned preacher said slowly, “families
hurt each other trying to protect people they don't even know.” He looked at
Cassidy with a nod.
    “Sort of like River on Firefly,”
Kevin started. “She had to protect her geeky brother Simon because he was
pathetic and unable to protect himself and occasionally she had to lie to him
for his own good.” Kevin leaned back and smiled. “I hope you folks appreciate
the excellent character study I just gave you.”
    Wow, on top of being impressed by
her son's ability to grasp the situation, Cassidy was also unnerved. The kid
could have been talking about her life. Did he know something that she didn't
want him to know? It wasn’t possible because Logan and Caleb had no idea what
she was doing in Los Angeles so Kevin
wouldn't have an opportunity to figure it out.
    “Right,” John said. He looked a
little bewildered too. “And tomorrow I'm going to talk about Battlestar Galactic during my sermon.” He pushed a flier
toward Kevin. “You may want to show up.” It seemed John had given up on
addressing the meaning of the greater good with Cassidy's son.
    Kevin glanced at the flier. “Not
Firefly?” he asked.
    “Haven’t seen the show,” John
replied.
    Kevin closed his laptop and stood
up. “Okay,” he said to John. He looked again at the nonexistent watch on his
wrist. “Got to go,” he told the rest of them. “A previous
engagement.”
    “Where are you going so fast?” Logan
asked.
    Kevin shook his head. “No place. Just meeting someone.” He shoved his laptop into his backpack.
    “Who the hell do you know around
here?” Logan
continued to interrogate while Kevin bristled and the baby cried.
    Cassidy didn't know much about
parenting but she did know Logan's style wasn't
working. She turned to Rachel, the woman had already
put her hand on Logan's arm. “That's great,
you are meeting people here.” Rachel said evenly to Kevin. The woman was quick
thinking. “Do you have a new friend?” she asked gently. Cassidy needed to watch
and learn.
    “Maybe,” Kevin replied.
    “Do you mind telling us who?”
Rachel asked. She glanced at both Cassidy and Logan but wouldn't look at John. Hmm,
that was interesting as well because Cassidy thought Rachel would notice a good
looking man. Then again maybe John wasn't her type with the ponytail.
    Kevin's eyes shifted back and
forth. “That rodeo clown, Mike Shannon said he would let me interview him.” The
boy shrugged. “I thought maybe I could write an article for my school newspaper
about him.”
    Cassidy was relieved to hear he
wasn't meeting a girl. Kevin was too young for that sort of stuff. Wasn't he?
However, she didn't like that Mike Shannon fellow much either. But she