11. Nina
ELEVEN
Nina
ONE MONTH LATER…
“ A re you ready for this?” Bryce asks, holding out his hand.
I look myself over in the mirror one last time and nod. “Let’s do it.”
We drive into town and to the freshly knocked down building that my center will be built on. Already, people are gathered around the yellow caution tape, and the construction company is here with the architect. Every council member is wearing a bright yellow hard hat even though I can’t figure out why. The building is gone, and they’re not standing around anything dangerous unless you count the big open lot.
We climb out of Bryce’s truck, and immediately, I’m handed a hat of my own. I put it on as Bryce lifts the tape for me to go under. The photographer is already in front of me, camera ready.
“Are you ready to do this?”
“Damn straight I am,” I reply, taking the golden shovel he’s handing me. I put one hand on the shovel, and he does the same. On the count of three, we push the tip of the shovel into the ground while smiling for the camera. We’ve officially broken ground on the youth center.
Everyone claps and cheers while we take a few more pictures—one of me shaking hands with the architect, one of just me with the shovel, and one of me with the whole construction team. I don’t know which is going to get printed and slapped on the front page of the paper, but I know I’m having one framed.
After an hour of meeting everyone and taking pictures, I head back to Bryce, who’s just standing on the sidelines, smiling at me. I can tell by the look on his face how proud he is of me, and it makes my insides feel warm and squishy. I wish I could run to him, throw myself into his arms, and kiss the life out of that man, but our relationship is still a secret.
Technically, I’m still working at the police department. I figured I’d wait until the building is mostly done before walking away from a steady income. There isn’t really a whole lot for me to do until it’s up and ready anyway. So our relationship is still hiding in my office, in his, or at one of our houses. It sucks not being able to dance together when we go to The Place every Friday, but he always makes up for it in some way. He’ll meet me in the bathroom or secretly drag me outside so we can kiss in the shadows. And even though we’re still a secret from the town and the people we work with, things between us seem to be getting serious. When we’re not at work, we’re almost always together. He stays at my house, or I stay at his. I’ve been joining him on his evening runs up and down the mountain, and we usually try to meet up for a secret lunch.
I’ve even caught myself dreaming about what our future would look like. I will be working and running the center while he’ll stay on as sheriff. Maybe we’ll tear down my cabin and build something bigger and nicer, something to accommodate our growing family—I say my property because it’s bigger, with a pond. I can see us having children in the future, and in my opinion, the more, the better. I was adopted and grew up as an only child. Even though my parents were great, there were many times growing up that I felt alone. I always wanted to have multiple children so they’d have someone to grow up and play with. Of course, I haven’t said anything to Bryce about this yet. It’s just a little dream I’ve been having lately. We’ve only been together a month, so it’s not like I’m expecting him to feel the same way yet.
Bryce and I head back to his truck without touching, despite how badly I want to hug him and kiss him, or at least hold his hand.
“I’m going to drop you off at home. I need to go into the office.”
“But it’s Sunday,” I point out. He sometimes works Saturdays, but he never works Sunday unless there’s an emergency call.
“I know, but I just want to check in. Nobody is expecting me today, so I want to go in and surprise them, make sure they’re staying busy and not lazing around.”
I laugh. “Getting all bossy on us now, are you?”
“You know it.” He picks up my hand that’s sitting between us and kisses it. “You know you like it.”
I giggle. “I like everything you do.”
Bryce drops me off at home even though I try to seduce him into staying. He doesn’t fall for it, though, and ends up running away anyway with the promise of being back by dinner time.
I decide to make him something special for dinner instead of the easy stuff we usually eat. I search through the freezer and find a brisket. This will be perfect. I pull my hair back, change my clothes so that I don’t ruin them, and then get to work on preparing a romantic dinner. I even set the patio table and light a candle in the center. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.
Dinner time comes and goes, the sun settling and leaving complete darkness behind it. I don’t know what’s keeping him so long, but our romantic candlelit dinner has officially been moved indoors. I wait another hour before giving in and calling his office phone. It rings and rings, eventually going to voicemail. I try his cell, but it goes directly to voicemail without ringing at all. Worry settles over me. Where is he? He said he’d be back by dinner, and we usually have dinner at…well, three hours ago. Something is keeping him, but what?
I finally call the station, and Joe answers.
“Joe, is Sheriff Moore there by any chance?”
“Sheriff Moore? Nah, he left a few hours ago. What’s up?”
“Oh, umm, I just needed his help with something. He lives just down the mountain from me, and he’s been helping me around the house since, you know, I’m just a tiny woman living on her own.” I feed into the stereotype, knowing he’ll fall for it.
“Oh, well, I can come and help you. You need help opening a pickle jar or something?”
I want to laugh at how stupid he sounds. “Something like that. Look, I’m kind of worried. He said he’d be over to help, but he never showed up, and now he’s not answering his phone. Are you sure you don’t know where he is?”
“No, last I heard, he was going home for dinner.”
“Do you think he got a call? Like, someone needing help? Is his truck there, or is he in the cruiser?”
He breathes heavily. “Hold on. I’ll walk out front and see.”
He’s back to the phone a few minutes later. “His truck is here, so wherever he is, he’s in the cruiser.”
“Joe, would you mind coming to pick me up? We can drive around and see if we can find him. Make sure he didn’t take a call by himself or something and end up in trouble.”
“You really think it’s that serious?”
“I know it is, Joe.”
“Alright. I’ll be there in a few.”
Joe picks me up, and we make our way down the mountain.
“The cruiser isn’t at his place either,” Joe says as we drive past.
Way to state the obvious, I think, but I don’t say it. Joe is just trying to help. He doesn’t need me snapping at him.
Joe and I drive up and down the streets. We check The Place twice, drive back to the station in case he’s switched the cruiser for the truck, but nothing. It’s close to midnight when he calls it a night and drops me off at home, promising we’ll get the whole unit involved if he doesn’t show up tomorrow. I know just as well as him that we can’t file a missing person until he’s been gone twenty-four hours.
I clean up the mess from dinner and put everything away before pulling on one of his baggy T-shirts and sliding into bed. It takes me forever to fall asleep. I keep thinking the worst. What if he took a call by himself? What if he was shot and is lying in a ditch somewhere? What if he’s hurt? What if he’s just tired of me and decided to take off? He wouldn’t do that, would he? He did turn me down for a quick romp before he left, though. Maybe he is tired of me.
By some stroke of luck, I manage to fall asleep around two a.m. I’m sleeping deeply, not even dreaming. Suddenly, I hear a noise that jerks me awake. The sound of a man’s heavy boots walking across the living room floor has me dashing from the bed. I come to a sudden stop when I see Bryce in the living room, shrugging out of his jacket.
I breathe a sigh of relief as I rush toward him, wrap my arms around him, and pull him close. “Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry. I know I missed dinner,” he says, sitting on the couch and pulling me down with him. I sit on his lap with my arms around his neck, twirling the hair at the back of his head. “I was leaving the station when I got a call from Mrs. Winters. She was afraid her husband was having a heart attack, but he refused to go and get checked out. I went up there to check out the situation.”
“You were at the Winters?”
He nods before letting his head fall back against the couch.
“No wonder we couldn’t find you.”
“We?”
“Yeah, I got worried when you wouldn’t answer your phone, and Joe said you weren’t answering his radio call either.”
“I forgot the radio in the cruiser. I was so high up the mountain that I didn’t have any reception for my cell to work. I’m sorry for making you worry.”
I rest my head against his chest. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re alive and not dying in a ditch somewhere.”
He chuckles. “So, does Joe know about us now?”
“No, he’s too stupid to figure it out, even after tonight. It’s good that nobody lets him carry a gun. He’d probably shoot his own eye out,” I joke.
He laughs but checks the time on his watch. “What do you say we catch a few more hours of sleep?”
“Sounds perfect,” I reply as he stands with me in his arms, carrying me to bed.
Snuggling down with his strong arms around me after the night of worry that I had feels better than ever. Deep down, I was really worried I’d never seen him again, despite trying to remain cool and calm about the situation. I wonder if this is how things will always be with him being the sheriff. Will I be scared that every time he kisses me will be the last kiss? I never thought about these things before, and I wish I weren’t thinking them now. He’s snoring behind me, but I’m still wide awake, worrying about things that shouldn’t even cross my mind.