Chapter 2
Bella pulledher sunglasses from her face. At first, she wasn’t sure the voice was directed at her, but the second he called her a ‘cop,’ she knew. Her eyes swept over the disgruntled man. He wasn’t just some gruff, weathered cowboy like his voice had suggested.
Instead, the man she was looking at could have been a model in another life. He was a good four inches taller than her five-foot-seven frame. He had dark hair, a little scruff that was well-maintained, and a pair of dark gray eyes. Everything about him screamed that she needed to keep her distance—not because she was worried for her own safety, but rather that he would steal something far more valuable than anything she could get at a store.
She shoved that thought out of her head, straightening to her full height before lifting her chin with every ounce of authority she possessed. “Are you the father of this child? Were you aware of what he was doing?”
He glanced past her to the kid on the statue before bringing his hard gaze back to her. “I had eyes on him if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said stiffly.
She scoffed. “Having eyes on him isn’t good enough.” She stepped back far enough to give him a better look at the statue. “A fall from this height could lead to broken bones, a concussion, or worse. I know there’s not a handbook when you become a parent, but common sense isn’t something that should need to be taught.”
Bella could hear the irritation in her voice, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t become a sheriff’s deputy to make friends with everyone. Those who broke the rules didn’t have to like her.
“Common sense?” He huffed. “What about the common sense that says climbing a statue in the town square is practically a rite of passage? I’m sure Nick wasn’t the first to get up there, and he definitely won’t be the last.”
Still, this guy was pushing back. She couldn’t tell if he was being defensive or if he was trying to get to her. Bella’s eyes narrowed but before she could toss back a rebuttal, Nick scrambled down from the statue.
He peered up at her with a grin. “See? I can do it myself.”
Bella was acutely aware of the smirk spreading like wildfire across the man’s face. She should walk away. She’d met people like this before. He was likely a tourist, and he was pushing his luck. When were the city folk gonna learn that the welcome signs at the city limits weren’t asking them to stay long?
She snapped her fingers. “I need to see some ID.”
“What?” he choked.
“ID. You probably don’t know this, but tampering with city property holds a fine.”
“You’re kidding,” he said flatly.
“Would you like to discuss this at the station?” She lifted a brow, pleased he hadn’t called her bluff. “If not, I’d suggest you hand me your ID.”
He scowled at her, but then Nick tugged on his shirt. “Just give it to her, Dad.”
The man patted his pockets and sighed. “I left it in my truck.”
She stared at him expectantly and when he didn’t move, she raised a brow. “Why don’t we go get it together?”
He stared at her, his hard gaze unnerving.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Where are you parked?”
When he didn’t answer right away, Nick pointed to a truck across the street. “Over there.”
“Nick!” he muttered with a groan, to which his son gave a sheepish smile.
“Well, you are.”
Bella motioned toward the truck. “Shall we?”
The man muttered something under his breath she couldn’t understand and stalked off toward the vehicle, followed closely by Nick. Bella stayed a few feet behind them, stopping at the tailgate of his truck as he opened the door and dug around for his ID. When he emerged, he marched up to her. Eyes not leaving her face, the man shoved the ID into her hands.
“Before you ask, I haven’t gotten it changed yet.”
Grant Shaw. Nashville, Tennessee.
Her eyes flitted up to meet his. “Changed? What are you doing in Rocky Ridge?” She gave the piece of plastic back and crossed her arms.
“I just moved here. I’m currently helping out at Sagebrush Ranch. If you need references, I’m sure one of them could vouch for me.”
Her focus shifted to the truck and she wandered around it, inspecting it for anything she might be able to add to the growing list of issues he’d need to address. “I’m assuming you plan on registering your vehicle.”
He snorted. “I don’t have to register until next spring.”
“If I were you, I’d get it done sooner rather than later.”
“Of course you would,” he muttered.
She pointed to the front of the truck. “Are you aware that there’s mud caked onto the front of your vehicle?”
“Is it a crime to go off-roading with my boy?” he asked. His eyes dipped to the name stitched on her shirt. “Whitfield.”
She shot him a warning look. “You can call me Officer Whitfield. Take it from someone who has seen things that no human being—parent or otherwise—should see in their lifetime. A child’s safety should never be taken for granted. Those lights could be the difference between you safely making it home or getting in a collision on a dark night.”
Grant stiffened. The blood drained from his face, and he dropped his focus to Nick briefly before returning an even more angry gaze to her. “Are we finished here?”
Her own eyes narrowed. The mud on the lights was enough that she could write him a citation, but it wasn’t restricting any other visibility and Bella really wasn’t the kind of person to nit-pick. This Grant Shaw was completely irritating and it annoyed her that he got under her skin.
Bella’s jaw tightened and she spoke through gritted teeth. “I really hope your lax attitude toward parenting your child doesn’t indicate a similar attitude to following the law in general. I could give you a ticket for those lights, but I’m going to let it go with a warning.”
Grant snorted as if her threat wasn’t a viable one. But before she could throw up her hands and issue him a ticket anyway, Nick tugged on her arm.
“Do you mean like speeding? My dad likes to go real fast. The whole world shoots by my window when we drive on that long road.”
Her brows shot up.
Grant choked this time instead of scoffing at her words. “Whose side are you on, anyway, kid?” he asked.
Bella snickered. Maybe it was the fact that she’d been having a bad day to start with. But this moment, right here, made it all worth it. “Smart kid.”
Grant glowered at her, and for the first time since she’d met him, she didn’t care. He’d lost this one.
“Do yourself a favor and keep a better eye on your son. I know you might think he’s capable of taking care of himself, but he’s still just a kid.”
“I’m almost seven!” Nick burst in.
She offered him the most patient smile she could muster. “You’ve been walking for five years. You’ve been talking for less than that. There’s a lot you don’t know about taking care of yourself.”
“You’re aware that there’s no minimum age a child can be left alone in Montana, right?” Grant cut in.
She sighed. What was it with this guy? “You’re right. But that doesn’t mean you should just leave a kid alone to fend for himself. Even you have to see the logic in that statement.”
He didn’t answer, but his steely gaze remained locked on hers.
“And for the love of all that is holy, take that truck through the car wash. I don’t want to see it looking like that again.”
Bella spun around and headed toward the bookstore that served her favorite coffee. She needed to get as far as she could from that man before she said or did something she might really regret.
Already, she was dealing with insecurities that were dragging themselves up from deep down where she’d buried them. There was no plausible explanation for why that was happening, either. She simply had a hard time keeping her wits about her when she was talking to him.
Bella pulled open the door and headed inside. The second she stepped over the threshold, her heart started to slow. Her pulse returned to normal, and her face cooled from the heat that filled it as she’d all but run away from Grant Shaw.
She made a beeline for the café on the far side of the store. She’d only been in Rocky Ridge for about six months, and she was still getting to know all the residents. There was one person she had gotten close to, however, and that was Megan Reese.
The line moved quickly and by the time she reached the counter, she’d cooled off enough to think clearly.
Without looking up from her tablet, Megan asked. “What can I get for you?”
“The usual.”
Megan glanced up, her eyes snapping to meet Bella’s. “Hey, you! I was expecting you, like, a half-hour ago.”
“I got held up.” Bella leaned on the counter with folded arms. “You wouldn’t believe the guy I just met.”
Megan’s grin widened and her brows lifted. “New guy? Or local?
“Both? Sorta?” Bella shook her head. “And it’s not that kind of meeting. Man, this guy is something else! Can you believe he just let his son run around town square without supervision? The kid is six!”
Megan’s smile faded but only slightly. “That’s weird.”
“I know! But I guess you might actually know him?”
“I do?”
Bella nodded. “Grant Shaw?”
Megan frowned. “You know, it sounds familiar, but…” Her eyes widened and she nodded. “His kid is Nick, right?”
“That’s the one.”
Megan moved away from the counter and started working on Bella’s order. “Yeah, Daniel mentioned that they hired him temporarily. It was more of a favor to their cook, Charlotte.”
That was when the realization hit Bella so hard in the chest it felt like it knocked the wind right out of her. “Please tell me you’re not talking about Charlotte Bradley.”
She turned to look out the windows even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to see the family she’d just lectured. If that was who Megan was talking about, then Nick was actually Nicholas Bradley.
“The very same,” Megan responded.
Bella groaned. “Well, that’s just great.”
“What? Did something happen?”
The heat returned to Bella’s face with a vengeance. “In my defense, I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?” Megan laughed.
“Grant’s truck is covered in mud.”
Megan gave her a funny look, clearly expecting more of an explanation.
Covering her face with her hands, Bella groaned again. “I told him to get a car wash because limited visibility could mean the difference of losing loved ones in a car crash.”
She peeked at Megan through her fingers, already knowing what she’d see.
Megan’s mouth hung open. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” Bella muttered. “I know.”
“I’m sure he didn’t know you were the one called to the scene, though.”
Bella shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. It was just so… inappropriate. The kid lost his mother… in a car accident.” She covered her face with her hands again. “I knew I should have just walked away when I had the chance. I was being so stubborn. Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut?”
“That doesn’t sound like you.” Megan handed Bella her coffee.
“I know. I can’t figure out what came over me.”
“Hopefully it’s a fluke?” Megan offered her an empathetic smile. “And maybe you’ll get lucky and won’t have to see him again.”
“Yeah, right,” Bella muttered. “How much do I owe you?”
“On the house.”
“Megan…”
“Don’t argue with me. Just take it and hopefully your day gets better.”
“Thanks.” Bella lifted her coffee cup. “See you later.”
She hurried out to her squad car and climbed in behind the steering wheel. The embarrassment still seared her face, and she refused to look in the direction where Grant had parked just in case she saw his truck. Today had gone from bad to worse, and now she wished she’d just stayed behind her desk instead of getting her daily coffee from Megan’s shop.
If she was lucky, Grant would forget about the overbearing sheriff’s deputy and laugh it off. While she still firmly believed he needed to improve his parenting style, she could have said so in a better way. Just because he was the epitome of everything she despised didn’t mean she should forget that he was only human.
Bella pushed thoughts of Grant from her mind as she pulled out of the parking space and started toward her office.
“How fast can your car go?”
Startled so badly that she dropped her coffee cup, Bella grabbed the wheel with both hands and jerked it to the side to pull off the road. She scrambled for the slowly leaking cup and spun around to find a familiar cherubic face behind the grate separating her from the back seat.
“Nick? What are you doing in my car?”