Chapter 16 #2
“I’ve got to admit I was worried the weather would put a damper on the leaf-peeping, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.
” Shane pointed at the floor to the general store below.
“Marjorie says they had one of their best days ever for October. People were snapping up her souvenir shot glasses, T-shirts, and train postcards.”
“I’m so happy to hear that. I would love to see everyone in this town really flourish.”
He cocked his head. “Even if it means relying on tourism?”
“Sure. Why not? OPM.”
“Opium?”
“No,” she laughed. “Other people’s money. I like the idea of other people infusing cash into our economy. It helps us all.” She put down her spoon. “But you’re a local. Does the idea of tourists bother you?”
“I’m reserving judgment until I see it play out a little more.
It’s not that I’m against growth because I’m not.
I’m for fresh blood coming into our community—people like you and Hailey, for instance—but you’re permanent fixtures, running businesses that benefit the town, devoting your time and energy to the greater good.
I mean, look at you. You’re on the town council, so you’re contributing that way too.
Tourists, on the other hand, don’t have the same investment, and I’ve heard good and bad about their effect on mountain towns like ours.
So I’ll sit back and see how it unfolds before I decide which way I lean. ” If I stick around that long.
“Fair, and spoken like a politician.”
He pointed at his chest. “You think I’m a politician?”
“Of course you are. You have to be, considering the amount of negotiating you do on the daily. And a diplomat too.” She leaned toward him, her gaze intensifying as it mined his. “Please tell me you’re thinking of running for sheriff someday.”
“Me?”
“You’d make a great one.”
“I have a looong way to go before I could even consider something that drastic. And I should probably get some experience in a different county.”
Her mouth swung open. “You’d consider leaving Fall River?”
He lifted his spoon and shoveled chili into his mouth. “I’d like to do more than settle fights between neighbors and deal with trespassing elk.”
“You mean you’d prefer to deal with more crime? You want to use your gun?” She gestured at his waist vaguely. “Lock up more people?”
“No, I don’t mean it like that. I just … I want to use my skills somewhere they’re needed.”
“You’re needed here!” A tense beat passed before her expression softened.
“And what’s so drastic about running for sheriff?
You know the county like the back of your hand, and more importantly, the people in it.
You have the right temperament. People trust you.
You’re hardworking and fair. The rest you can learn on the job. ”
“Kinda like I ‘learned on the job’ today?” He let out an amused chuff. “That was close to a disaster.”
She offered him a shy smile. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Deputy. Besides, that was your first run at being a barista. You were getting the hang of it. Tomorrow, you’ll be a pro.”
Neve’s words ricocheted in Shane’s head. “If there’s even a speck of good in someone, she’ll find it.”
“I tell you what,” he quipped. “You’ve got the job as my campaign manager, if and when the day comes that I run for office.”
“Hmm. That could be interesting.”
They chatted amiably over a dinner that should have been over quickly but lingered.
Not that he was complaining. No, he was loving this slice of domestic life, this peek into what his evenings could be like.
At some point, it dawned on him he’d known Amy for years, but he’d never really gotten to know her.
Suddenly he wanted to unravel her mysteries, discover how her mind worked.
He wanted to know every fascinating detail about her.
After dinner, he whisked away the dishes and shooed her to the fold-out with orders to find something for them to watch.
“I should warn you that I rarely get to wield the remote, but when it’s in my clutches, I don’t let go.”
“Duly noted,” he chuckled.
“No, you need to understand. It gets worse. I always put on a rom-com or a chick flick, and if you value your fingers, you won’t take the remote away until the movie’s over.” Her eyes flashed with a fake fury that sparked a belly laugh inside him.
“Then make sure it’s a good one,” he teased. He didn’t care what she picked out, as long as he got to watch it with her.
“Oh, yay!” she squealed and disappeared into the living room.
He shook his head in amusement, but the amusement faded the instant it occurred to him she likely had had very little control over anything at home during her time with Micky.
She’d probably given it up one piece at a time by looking past Micky’s faults, by being herself, eager to please and too bendy for her own preservation.
The notion both infuriated him and filled him with pride that she’d broken away.
The dishes clattered as he washed them by hand, but the noise was pierced by a high-pitched sound. He stilled his hands in the soapy water and strained to hear.
“I already told you!” A beat passed. “No! No way.”
Shane shook off suds and rounded the corner, coming to a halt when his eyes landed on Amy, who paced the few unoccupied feet in his cramped living room.
She gripped her phone tight to her ear, and her full mouth had thinned into a grim line.
Her features twisted with either anger or anguish; it could have been both.
Shane had no doubt who was on the other end of the call.
Micky.
Amy’s eyes flicked to Shane’s and held. Instinctively, he opened his hand, palm up, signaling for her to pass him the phone.
The need to tell the son of a bitch where he could stuff his attitude hammered away inside Shane, but Amy shook her head.
She had to know exactly what was racing through his mind.
“You know what?” she snarled. “You go right ahead. I don’t give a flying fig newton, and it’s not going to change anything.
I’m over it.” Shane could hear Micky ranting, though he couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Micky? Micky!” she yelled, but Micky’s verbal assault continued.
“Hanging up now.” She wrenched the phone from her ear and stabbed at it, ending the call.
Then her thumbs flew furiously over the screen.
When she was done, she pulled in a huge breath through her nose and blew it out through her mouth. She repeated the action twice more, until her breathing slowed. Finally, she looked up at Shane. “That was Micky.” Her voice quavered. “I muted him.”
“You all right?”
Her face crumpled. “No.”
Shane opened his arms wide, and she rushed into them.
He banded them around her and held her close as her body shuddered with tears.
Her hands were balled into fists against his pecs.
Long minutes passed. At last a giant whoosh of air fled her body.
Her fingers unclenched and spread across his chest, and she seemed to melt into him.
He rested his cheek on the top of her head, loving the feel of her silky strands against his skin. She was the perfect height for him.
Don’t go there.
He could have stood here with her enfolded in his arms all night, but he made himself draw back, gripping her upper arms as he held her away from him. “Better?”
She brushed her wet cheeks. “Yes. Thank you.” Her eyebrows knitted together. “I’m so sor—”
He placed two fingers against her soft lips. “Stop. Let me say it again. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
She looked up at him with something akin to wonder, and his insides ignited. “See? I wasn’t wrong when I said you were sweet.”
He released her and stepped back. “Uh, so what’re we watching? Unless you want to talk about what just happened with Micky.”
“I don’t, and nothing happened. He called, and I stupidly picked up because I thought maybe I owed him that.
He told me he’d ‘gotten the point,’ and that it was time I came home.
As if I’d staged the whole thing so I could get his attention,” she snorted.
“I explained why that wasn’t going to happen.
He didn’t like that answer. You probably picked up on that. ”
“Yeah, I got the gist of it.”
She shook her head. “How could I have been so blind for so long, Shane?”
“You saw the good in him, the good that was there when you two first started dating.”
“That’s what Hailey says,” she sighed. “I feel more like I had gauze taped over my eyes, and I just yanked it off. I can’t ever see myself going back to Micky, and I don’t think he gets it.
I actually feel kind of sorry for him, but it’s just …
over. There’s nothing there.” He waited silently for her to spill more if she needed to.
Instead, she slid him a side-eye. “Forget the rom-coms. Let’s see if we can stream Fast and Furious. ”
He barked a laugh. “Which one?”
“All of them!”