Chapter Six #2
“Hey, Blake, I’m sorry about Beth.”
Blake paused.
“Me too.”
Blake refocused her attention as she made her way back to the main dining room. On the way, she passed Corrie. The woman was scowling but also silent. She met Blake’s eye with a barely contained sneer and was gone right after.
Then there was Liam.
Blake stopped next to their table. She handed him the candy in her hand.
“I’m not in the mood for coffee anymore, so how about we do dinner tonight instead?”
LIAM WAS STARING into his closet. Theo was inside and sporting a brown blazer that had only seen the world twice since being purchased at a strip mall in Florida. The teen flapped his arms, then did another twirl.
“This isn’t the worst thing you own,” he said. “It actually looks pretty decent, good with your jeans too.” Theo made a show of looking him up and down. “Unless you want to change into something else.”
Liam almost rolled his eyes. He avoided the urge. Theo had been in his apartment for less than a half hour and, in that time, had already made several jabs about his appearance.
“This isn’t some kind of date,” Liam said, once again. “I’m just going out to dinner. I don’t need to dress up any more than this.”
Theo didn’t hold back his urge to roll his eyes.
“You’re finally doing something social after business hours. With a woman.” He shrugged. “I feel like that’s as close to a date as you’re going to get. Why not make more of an effort?”
“Says the guy who refuses to say hi to his crush of, what did you say, five years?”
That seemed to hit home. Theo took off the blazer. Liam pointed to the hanger.
“Hey, I’m just trying to help a divorced man get his groove back.” He hung the blazer back up. “That’s not a crime. That’s charity.”
“That’s sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” Liam corrected. He backtracked through his bedroom to the kitchen. His badge was on the counter, his cell phone next to it.
Fifteen more minutes until he would be leaving.
Fifteen more minutes until he would be meeting Blake at the restaurant.
“Plus, this isn’t remotely a date. This isn’t even a social call. It’s about work.”
Liam said it with a little too much vigor. Maybe he was trying to underline the reason he had agreed to Blake’s invitation for himself too.
“After work hours though?” Theo prodded. “Do you know how rare that is for you? Sheriff No Work Talk After Clocking Out. You can’t expect me not to question this. Unless there’s something else going on.”
“There’s nothing else going on. Blake just has a busy schedule I’m trying to accommodate. It’s not like turning down Deputy Gavin for some beers when he wants to complain about the medical examiner hurting his pride.”
Theo crossed his arms over his chest. He still looked skeptical.
“You met her for coffee this morning, you’re going to dinner with her tonight. What’s next?” he asked. “Staying at her house until morning?”
The boy cracked a grin.
Liam made sure to be stern.
“Don’t even joke about that,” he warned. “One word like that gets out, and all our ears are going to be filled with gossip that will most definitely put me in a mood. A mood that locks that front door, and that fridge, from a no-good, talkative teen.”
Theo rolled his eyes again but then caught whatever snarky remark he was about to say. Instead, he put his hands up in mock surrender.
“I won’t make a peep about your nighttime work meeting with the beautiful, and rumored to be single, Miss Bennet at the fanciest restaurant in town. My lips are officially sealed.”
So, she was single.
Liam hadn’t asked and hadn’t planned on it either.
But now, he knew.
“Good,” Liam said to the boy’s promised silence. “I’ll grab you a plate to eat tomorrow if you don’t say another word about it, starting now.”
Theo mocked a loud gasp. Then he bowed.
“I won’t tell a soul you even left the complex. Much appreciated.”
This time Liam did roll his eyes.
“Your mom said she won’t be home until tomorrow night, so you can crash here. But you better not stay up too late. I know school is boring for a smarty like you, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to sleep through it. Got it?”
Theo saluted him.
“There’s food in the fridge. Lock the door behind me.”
Theo was fast. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Liam heard the dead bolt slide into place.
Knowing Theo, this wouldn’t be the end of date-talk between the two of him.
It should have grated on Liam, but he was finding that Blake Bennet continually popping up on his radar didn’t exactly bother him.
However, it was starting to bother him when other people forced her to surface.
While Blake had excused herself to the bathroom at the coffee shop—which Liam now knew was her sneaking away to talk to Cassandra herself—Corrie Daniels had tried her best to grill him about the woman. She had been fishing without even throwing her own line in.
Liam hadn’t fallen for it.
After her second mention of Ryan’s name and his sudden reappearance in town, Liam had done something he very rarely did.
He had made small talk.
The weather came first, then the coffee shop and how business was doing.
Liam had stayed in those conversations with his feet dug in and resolution clear.
Maybe that’s why Corrie had been so quick to leave once she had gotten a text on her phone.
Or, maybe, whoever was texting had way more power than he did over the woman.
Either way, she had gone and Blake had come back...different.
It was why he had agreed to her dinner invitation so quickly.
He wanted to know what Cassandra had said, sure, but he wanted to know why it had changed Blake.
So he got into his truck and pointed it in the direction of the restaurant she had picked. The streetlamps outside of the apartment complex gave way to the dark of night while the stretch between residential and commercial held nothing but road, dirt, and trees.
The song on the radio belted out some catchy beat with a guy crooning about love.
He was still singing when Liam found his way back to the light, and the song was still going when Liam saw the woman of the hour standing outside of the restaurant, waiting for him.
Her hair was braided. Her blouse was red. Her jeans looked nice.
Her smile, when she saw him, was warm.
Blake Bennet might have been Sheriff Trouble in the past, but right then and there, she was simply one thing to Liam.
Breathtaking.
Even when she was hustling to his window and motioning for him to roll it down.
She didn’t waste any time in her request.
“I only had your office number or else I would have called, but is there any way we could change locations?” She dove in. “Bruce kind of destroyed the kitchen earlier and threw off our family schedules. Lola is back at the house with him now, and I have Clem with me.”
Liam finally saw the rolled-down window of the car behind her. The little girl from the daycare program was staring intently at them. She seemed calmer than her aunt, that was for sure.
“She’s a good kid, but there’s not a thing she’ll eat off the menu here. The diner, however, has some of her favorite chicken nuggets.”
Blake’s eyebrow rose. She didn’t give him space to respond as she added, “Or we can reschedule? Or maybe I can just talk to you on the phone instead?”
Liam would later wonder if his answer would have been the same had someone else been asking. In the moment, however, his response was quick.
“I happen to be a chicken nugget fan myself. You lead the way and I’ll follow.”