2. Griffin
Griffin
T here’s a moment when everything feels right in your world.
For me, that moment was the first time I wrapped my hands around Missy’s hips.
Holding her close felt like stepping into church after a long time away.
Holy and sacred. It was an experience that I knew I wanted again and again for the rest of my life.
That’s why I’m hanging around the parking lot of Ernie’s Diner. He’s already flipped the sign to closed, but I’m waiting for Missy, the new waitress in town. She’s a pretty little thing with eyes as blue as a Carolina sky after a rainstorm.
She felt the chemistry between us. I saw it on her face when she was in my arms. But she’s scared of something. I don’t know what it is yet, but I plan to figure it out. Then I’ll help her put those fears to rest so we can start building a life together.
Aunt Dorothy, the woman who raised me, always said love will hit you out of the blue. I didn’t quite know what she meant until today. Now, I get it. The moment I laid eyes on her, my soul took its first breath. I was born the moment she smiled at me.
Standing in the dark behind my truck, I fiddle with my phone.
For a moment, I debate calling Luke, the local sheriff and my boss.
It feels weird to say that about a man I grew up with, but I got tired of being a beat cop in the city.
Saw too much crime and too many politicians hamstringing us from doing our job.
If I had it my way, the victim would get to decide the punishment. Not a district attorney who’s more interested in making a name for himself than actually standing up for truth and justice. Crying shame, if you ask me. No one asked me though, so I quietly left.
I can’t deny that I’ve felt a pull toward home for the past year. Now I can’t help but wonder if it was her. Sweet Missy calling me home. What if I’d continued to ignore the churning in my gut that said to come back? What if I’d never met my sweet angel?
The thought sends an unexpected pang of pain through my being. I laid eyes on her for the first time today, and I’m already having trouble at the thought of letting her go. That’s why I’m still hanging around the parking lot.
I need to know she gets home safe tonight. I need to know she’s safe every day. If that makes me obsessive, I don’t care.
Finally, I pocket my phone. I won’t call Luke and demand he run a background check on the new waitress in town. I’ll be patient and let her tell me what’s made her so skittish.
The door to the diner swings open, and I straighten at the sight of my curvy woman leaving.
Only, she has something she’s carrying. It’s too square shaped to possibly be a garbage bag.
I squint in the dark, trying to make out the shape, when it hits me clear in the chest what it is.
She has a baby car seat clutched in her hand.
My heart skips a beat, and joy fills me. She has a child. A little one I can look after and spoil. I didn’t think life could get better than discovering my soulmate. But now I’m seeing she has a baby. The family I’ve always wanted is being handed right to me. I could fall on my knees in gratitude.
Missy takes a step back, and I realize I must have shifted and drawn attention to myself. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She relaxes when she sees it’s me, and I take that as a good sign. Even though she’s scared, she knows she can trust me on some level. “Don’t worry about it.”
She settles the little one in the backseat. I have a million questions about her and her child, but I don’t let myself pepper her with any of them. There will be time to get to know them , I remind myself.
It’s hard to be patient when I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Only this time, Santa brought me a family. Seems too good to be true.
She climbs into her car. It’s an aging piece of junk. I make a note to replace it soon. I won’t allow her and the little one to want for anything. It’s my job to take care of them now, and that’s what I plan to do.
I listen as she starts her car. The ignition turns over and over again, but nothing is happening. I swear under my breath. Yep, she definitely needs something reliable.
I rap on the window, hating the way she startles. When she rolls it down, I do my best to keep my voice soft. I don’t want to scare her any more than I already have tonight. “Do you and the little one want a lift?”
She doesn’t want to accept my offer. I can see it on her face plain as day, but then her baby lets out a wail. She looks back at the diner and says, more to herself than me, “Ernie and Lorna have already done so much for us. I’d hate to bother them with this.”
She’s out the door faster than I expect and is already opening the baby’s door. “I really appreciate this. Are you sure it’s not too much of a bother? I can walk.”
Courage County is safe enough for a person to walk after dark. But the thought of her wandering the streets alone has my blood pressure rising dangerously fast. “Folks around here help out their neighbors.”
I don’t have to convince her. She has the baby out and strapped into my truck before I can even offer help. She has the car cleared in less than sixty seconds, climbing into the passenger seat with the green diaper bag clutched tightly in her hand.
She rattles off an address at the edge of town as soon as I get in.
I nod and start the engine, glancing into the rearview mirror to see the little one sucking contentedly on a pacifier. I haven’t seen the baby clearly yet. “So, who do I have the pleasure of transporting tonight?”
“Daisy.” There’s no mistaking the warmth and tenderness in her voice when she calls her daughter’s name. She adjusts the knobs on the temperature control like I’ve driven her around a million times. “She’s six months old and has recently discovered the wonder of her toes.”
I stop at the one traffic light in the town and look at her in the mirror. “Excellent work, Daisy.”
“So…” Missy fiddles with the air vents, adjusting them once, then twice. She goes for the volume control next, turning down the soft country song that’s playing. “Did you grow up in Courage County?”
She moves to my dash next, moving the funny little magnets that Aunt Dorothy sent me. She straightens them, and something in me aches at how nervous she is. What has she been through that even being around me makes her so scared?
“I’ve been living in Courage since I was about ten.
That’s when I came to live with my aunt,” I explain.
I pause there, trying to decide what to say next.
I don’t want to get into the full story of how I arrived here.
That part of me will always be a little tender.
“She was busy running her farm, so I spent a lot of time with Ernie and Lorna. They took me under their wing and looked out for me when I was a kid.”
“But you left,” she says in a tone that would make a suspect in a murder investigation sweat.
“Yep, I went to the police academy. I spent the next few years in the city, putting criminals behind bars.”
She stops with the magnets, her body going completely still. I notice and file that away. She’s running from something. Wanting to ease her fears, I say, “Now that I’m back in town, the most interesting thing I investigate is when the local teenagers tip the cows.”
She chuckles, but the sound is wrong. It’s not light and airy like it was back in the diner when I was flirting with her. “Quite the hardened criminals.”
“I enjoy working in a place where I get to focus on helping my neighbors rather than fighting crime,” I tell her, wanting to put her at ease. Whatever is in her past, we’ll face it together. I’ll help her sort it out.
She goes back to fiddling with the magnets, and I try to keep the conversation going. “I missed this town. It’s the perfect place to raise a little one.”
She’s quiet for a minute before she says, “It does seem like a sweet little town.”
There’s an unmistakable note of wistfulness in her voice, so I ask the question that’s making my throat feel tight, “Are you not planning to stick around?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she answers.
Years of listening to people tells me she’s lying, but I don’t push it. Instead, I pull into the driveway of the address she gave me. It’s a rental on the edge of town.
I notice the way she looks around, quickly scanning the place. There’s a sinking feeling in my gut. She’s running from someone.
“Let me walk you up,” I say.
I carry the car seat with Daisy while Missy fumbles with the keys. She gets them in the lock and turns to me. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Anytime. Goodnight, Missy,” I tell her before brushing a soft kiss across her forehead. I don’t know why I do it. Only that the protective gesture feels right.
She swallows with an audible gulp then takes the car seat from me. She disappears into the house. I wait until I hear the sound of the lock engaging before I turn and jog back to my truck. Looks like it’s going to be a long night for me.
The next morning, I wake with stiffness in my neck and back.
I do my best to roll my shoulders in the confines of my truck.
I spent the night sleeping outside of Missy’s house.
The lights never went off for a longer than a few minutes before she was up and moving about, her silhouette going from one room to the next.
It could be that Daisy was restless, but I doubt it.
Not with the way the curtains kept moving in various rooms. No, I’d bet anything that Missy thinks she has to stay alert.
Well, those days are long gone. Now, she has a cowboy who will be standing guard over her and her young daughter.
My phone dings, and I pull it from my pocket to see a new email. It’s about the continuing education classes I have to take in Asheville next month. I confirm the details and forward it to Luke, so he’ll know to leave me off the schedule that day.
I’ve finished with the email when Logan pulls his truck in behind mine.
He flicks his lights twice. I do the same, casting a glance toward the house.
When the first rays of sunlight broke through the night, the curtains stopped moving and the lights inside went out. She finally felt safe enough to sleep.
“Is this all the gear?” I ask when he shoves a thermos of coffee and a duffel bag at me.
He eyes the house. “I don’t know her, but if she needs anything, or you need anything, holler. You’re almost a friend.”
I can’t help grinning at his gentle teasing. “Will do.”
He grunts and nods toward his truck. “Gotta get back.”
I thank him, and he grabs the ladder from his truck. He leans it against the tailgate of mine before he leaves.
I watch him go and take a sip from the thermos. The coffee tastes like swill, but it’s hot and will keep me awake for a few more hours. Opening the bag Logan brought, I grab the tools and get to work.
I start with the back of the house, installing two security cameras to make sure the entire yard is covered. There are trees and bushes further back, but anyone approaching the back door will be recorded.
The sides are next, and I have to fiddle with one of the cameras to get the power source working. But when everything connects, I breathe a sigh of relief and move to the front of the house.
I’m doubtful that whoever is coming after her will show up on her front porch.
Usually when you’re running from the wrong people, they prefer a subtle entrance.
But there’s an idiot born every minute. I plan to be here when the unfortunate soul shows up.
He’ll be lucky if he escapes with all his molars for what he’s put my girl through.
The last camera is almost working, the one that covers Missy’s front porch when the door swings open. She charges outside in nothing but a tank top and some tiny panties that have me thinking all kinds of dirty things.
Her hair is tousled, her curls frizzy and untamed. Her makeup is smudged from where she didn’t wash it off last night. There are deep circles underneath her eyes. She’s still a knockout. Any man would be lucky to have her on his arm. But there will be no other men. Only me.
She clutches a baseball bat tightly in her hands and glares at me. “What are you doing here?”