4. Brian
FOUR
brIAN
“Brian!” I turned at my name and grinned when I saw the Caffertys sitting at a long table inside Magiano’s Pizza. I was planning on ordering one of their spicy peppers and sausage subs to go, but they waved me over to them.
“Caffertys,” I greeted with a nod before exchanging handshakes with Josh Cafferty and Eli Carter, and giving Josh’s sisters, Shannon and Fiona, kisses on the cheek. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Declan’s back out at the emu farm helping out Chad and Tory, and Zoe has the drone out taking aerial photos of the rodeo prep for Amy to use in advertising,” Shannon said. “Join us?”
“Don’t mind that I do.” I sat down and ordered a sweet tea and my sub while the others ordered a mix of pizza and sandwiches. The restaurant smelled of homemade tomato sauce and fresh garlic, and my mouth was already watering.
Much like the Thorne family, the Caffertys were some of the earliest residents to Poplar Springs.
They’d been horse breeders from way back but now they split their business between breeding and trail rides that’d become incredibly popular.
They were also the first folks to reach out after Luke and my dad died, making sure we were all doing okay, and we’d done the same when they’d suffered their own tragedy when their parents’ plane went down with no survivors.
Luke and Josh had actually been in the same grade together and on Pop High’s football team, but despite all that, I could never say they’d really been friends.
Jake and I, on the other hand, were in the same grade with Fiona and Eli and had always gotten on well with both of them, even when they hadn’t been known for getting along with one another.
Their pranks on each other had been epic throughout school.
At first, it had surprised me when those two had gotten together, but it hadn’t taken long to see how happy they made each other.
Watching them now had me thinking about Caitlin and how she was doing.
“Earth to Thorne.” I shook my head and reached for my tea before shifting my attention to Shannon.
“Uh, sorry. Got a lot on my mind. What were you saying?” I asked her.
“We’re wondering about the rodeo and whether the livestock auction is still a go,” Shannon said and Josh nodded his head.
“That’s a yes. The auction will be over at the 4-H barn and nearby pasture.
It seemed like the best location and folks will be able to use the student parking lot and the service road on the south side of campus to get the trailers in and out.
” Everyone at the table had gone to Pop High, so they knew exactly where I was talking about.
“That’s great. Patrick is currently in love with highland cows.
We heard Roundabout might offer some of the calves up and since the auction’s for such a good cause, we thought we might bid on them,” Eli said.
Patrick was Eli’s son. He was Henry’s age and from what I’d been told, he’d taken to ranch life like a fish to water.
Fiona snorted and then coughed, and I looked to make sure she was okay. Her eyes were alight with mischief and Shannon was frowning. “Whatever it is, don’t say it, Fi,” Shannon said, but Fiona slapped her thigh and cackled before elbowing Eli.
“You said, ‘heard’ and ‘cows’ together.” Then she laughed again and Shannon rolled her eyes.
“She’s been like this for days. Patrick checked some joke books out from the library and he and Fiona have been spouting them like some sort of fortune cookie wisdom.
” Shannon looked at Eli. “I don’t know how you’re handling it having to live with the both of them.
” Shannon gave a shudder, making everyone chuckle.
“I guess there’s worse things than living with someone who likes to tell dad jokes but I can’t really think of anything,” Josh said.
When the food arrived, we all dug in and the talk shifted to the weather and horses.
It was easy enough to hold my own in the conversation.
Despite Jake being the one in our family to run the ranch, I still knew enough to pitch in when needed.
Our dad had seen to that. Not that Jake ever asked for help.
Like all the Thorne men, we preferred to shoulder our own burden rather than push it onto someone else.
Before we finished eating, Zoe walked in.
I didn’t know a whole lot about what she did as a programmer, but she was a damn good photographer and was in high demand with all the local businesses around town.
She’d also rebuilt the town’s website and was working with Amy on all the online marketing they were doing for the rodeo.
“Hey, everyone,” Zoe said, sliding into the seat next to Josh and stealing a slice of pizza from him.
“How did the drone run go?” Shannon asked, and Zoe grinned.
“Not bad. I’ve got a good idea how I want to run the drone during the rodeo. I should be able to get some great panoramic shots from the air,” Zoe said. That gave me an idea.
“Hey, Zoe, is there any chance you could get me video of the whole area from the air? I want to make sure we have all the exits identified and there aren’t any obstacles in the way in case of an emergency.
” I was pretty sure everything would be okay, but it never hurt to confirm. Better safe than sorry.
“I can email you the footage I have. If you need something more, just let me know and I’ll go back out there,” she said.
“That’d be much appreciated.” Before I could say more, my radio crackled with Lois asking my whereabouts. I answered her, then tossed my napkin on the table and rose. I pulled a twenty from my wallet and set it on the table. “Sorry, folks, gotta run. But it was good seeing you.”
“You, too, man,” Josh said, rising to shake my hand. Eli did the same. I waved goodbye to the women before pulling my hat brim down and leaving the restaurant.
Once outside, I could hear the alarm that Lois had told me about.
I jogged across the street toward Lafferty’s Western Wear.
Hopefully, it was just a false alarm from someone pushing open the wrong door by accident.
It was rare for my office to have to deal with much in the way of deliberate criminal mischief.
That was one of the things I appreciated about living in a small town.
Parsons was already there when I arrived, talking to Maggie Lafferty. “Hey, Sheriff,” he said, and I greeted the both of them.
“Any idea what happened?” I asked my deputy. He flipped a couple pages in his notebook and began to talk.
“According to Ms. Lafferty, she could smell smoke coming from the dressing room. When she investigated, she caught a couple kids with cigarettes. When she tried to take them to account, they took off running to the emergency exit, setting off the alarm. Now she can’t seem to turn it off.
She called the alarm company, and they said they’d have to send someone out from Denver,” Parsons said and I winced.
It’d take hours to get someone out here and there’d be a town mutiny if this racket went on much longer.
I cleared my throat and pointed to the store. “Let’s go check it out.” I followed Maggie into the store and over to the alarm setup, which was blinking. There appeared to be some sort of error code on the screen. “Any idea what that means?”
“That’s new,” Parsons said with a shrug, and Maggie agreed.
“Hmm, all right.” I pulled my phone out and called the fire marshal, “Rex, gotta problem and hoping you can help me out,” I said when he answered the phone.
“Well, if you’re referring to that racket I can hear, then you certainly do,” Rex said, making me chuckle. I read him the error code and he had me try a few things until finally, there was a jarring silence.
“Wow, that’s a lot better,” Parsons shouted and cringed. “Sorry, my ears are still ringing.”
“What’d you do?” Maggie asked and after I’d thanked Rex and ended the call.
“Rex talked me through doing the same reset the alarm company would’ve done,” I explained.
“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get someone out here to make sure everything is working properly.
” Maggie thanked me and I pointed to the camera facing the emergency exit.
“Any chance I can get a copy of the security footage so I can pay a visit to the teens’ parents?
I think it’d be a good idea to chat with them to make sure this type of behavior doesn’t happen again.
” Generally, the kids around here were well behaved, but every once in a while, a troublemaker would pop up, and it was a good idea to nip that kind of behavior in the bud before it got worse.
When I got back to the station later that day, I was whistling when I walked inside.
I’d managed to secure a promise from the teens and their parents that smoking in changing rooms would never happen again.
Since nothing had been stolen and there wasn’t any damage, aside form a few things smelling like smoke, Maggie wasn’t interested in pressing charges, which was a relief to everyone.
The teens were both on Pop High’s football team and the coach would’ve kicked the both of them off the team if they’d gotten arrested.
“Evening, Sheriff,” Lois said as she met me at the door. She had her purse on her shoulder and was holding a stack of messages for me.
“Evening.” I took the messages and waved her off for the day, then headed for my office.
Flipping through the pile, I took note of the complaints, sorting through which ones I should handle and which I could hand off to Sofia.
I sat at my desk to review the endless paperwork that came with every single thing we did around here, but my thoughts kept returning to Caitlin.
Seeing Eli and Fiona together today and knowing some of Josh and Zoe’s history, I had to push down the spike of envy that they’d found their happily-ever-after together.
They looked so blissfully happy, and my thoughts were filled with a series of “what ifs.” What if Caitlin and I had stayed together? Would we be as happy as they are?
The streetlights blinked on, making me aware of how late it was.
I’d been sitting here for more than an hour thinking about Caitlin and not getting anywhere.
Tossing the files back into my inbox, I decided to call it a day.
Pining over Caitlin was counterproductive.
Nothing was going to happen, so I needed to stop wishing for it.
My life was here in Polar Springs and hers was in Austin. With a thousand miles between us, nothing was ever going to come of us.