Chapter Twenty-One
He was quiet after that, and when the food was done, I left him to his thoughts, sensing he needed space.
I went to the barn and grabbed Willow so I could track down Riggs.
When I reach him, I have to take a moment to appreciate how much he’s done.
I like that about him. If he says he’ll do something, he does it.
I never have to wait or read between the lines to see if it actually meant something else.
He slows down when he sees me. I mimic eating, hoping he’ll catch my drift. When he stops the tractor altogether, I figure he does. He climbs out and jumps down, heading over to me.
“Hey, cowboy. It’s looking good out here.”
“You’re telling me,” he says, his eyes moving over me and the way my dress has hiked up from riding.
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”
I feel my cheeks heat up as I stroke my hand down Willow’s mane. “You need a lift?”
“You think she’ll let me?”
“If I’m with you, yeah. She trusts me.”
“Alright.”
I scootch forward, glad I decided to forgo the saddle for the short ride. Riggs climbs the fence we’re standing next to and uses it to swing his leg over Willow’s back. His hands slide around my waist, and his thighs cradle my ass as he gets situated.
“You ready?” When he nods, I indicate for Willow to head back with a click of my tongue and a tap of my heel.
Shepard is standing on the deck, watching us approach, his expression unreadable. I feel Riggs sigh behind me as Willow comes to a stop. Riggs slides off and waits for me to swing my leg over before he grabs me by the waist and lifts me down, dragging my front along his.
“I’ll put Willow away and meet you in there,” he offers.
I’m about to protest, but give in. “Fine. Don’t be long.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I smile and shake my head before heading back to Shepard.
“I wasn’t sure where you wanted to eat,” he says, watching me.
“Kitchen is fine.”
“Okay, good.” He holds the door open and waits for me to pass before following me.
My stomach rumbles as I enter the kitchen and see the food laid out on the table. I look at him with a frown. “I thought you weren’t sure where to eat?”
He shrugs. “Just checking.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but decide to pick my battles. I wash my hands before taking a seat in the middle. This means the guys will be facing each other, which I’m sure will be fun. Not.
Riggs walks in a few minutes later, washes his hands and face, then grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. “Anyone want anything?”
“Water for me, too, please,” I call out.
“I’m good with water,” Shepard says.
Riggs grabs an extra couple of bottles and hands them to us before taking his seat. “This looks good, Opie.”
“It’s all Shepard. I just grated the cheese,” I tell him as he digs in. He looks up at Shepard in surprise. “Well, thanks. I’m starving.”
“I—” The sound of Shepard’s phone ringing cuts off his words. “Excuse me.” He gets up, grabs it from the counter, and sighs when he sees the screen.
“You got the sheriff,” he answers when he puts it to his ear. I can’t hear the other person on the phone, but whatever they say has Shepard grinding his teeth. “I’m on my way.” He hangs up, his shoulders falling. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Shit, man, you didn’t even get to eat,” Riggs states, getting a wry smile from Shepard in return.
“Story of my life.”
“I’ll save you some,” I offer.
He waves me off.
“I’m serious. You’ve gotta eat, and you went to all this trouble. Just come back when you’re done.” The offer is out before I can think it through.
“Really?”
He looks between me and Riggs, who says nothing for a second before he shrugs. “Whatever the lady wants. I was gonna make pizzas later. I can make extra just in case. You can take home whatever you don’t eat because I know cooking for one sucks.”
I don’t know who is more surprised by Riggs’s offer, me or Shepard.
“Thanks, man. I don’t know what time I’ll get done.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Riggs replies.
There is something in his tone that I can’t quite get a read on. I keep my mouth shut and instead get to my feet to see Shepard out. I meet him at the door as he holsters his gun and puts his hat back on. “Thanks again for the food.”
“My pleasure. Thanks for the invite back. Sometimes I crave the peace of an empty apartment, but sometimes…”
“Yeah, sometimes the silence is too loud.”
“Exactly.” He moves closer, his body crowding mine as I tip my head back.
“Stay safe out there, Sheriff.”
He dips his head, his lips skating over mine for a moment before he pulls back. He tips his hat and walks out. I watch him as he gets into his cruiser and pulls away, kicking up dust as he goes.
“He gone?”
I whirl when I hear Riggs’s voice and find him right behind me.
“Yeah.”
“Come and eat then. It would be a shame to let it go cold.”
With a nod, I close the door and follow him back to the kitchen, pondering the strange turn of events. Everything in me tells me to steer clear of the sheriff, and yet, there is something magnetic about him that makes it impossible to stay away.
This does not bode well for my future plans.
We’re curled up, watching a creepy movie, when the house stirs. We have company.
“What is it?”
I lift my head from Riggs’s shoulder. “Someone’s here.”
“Stay here.” He gets up and heads to the door as I strain to listen, but the den is too far from the entrance for me to hear. Moments later, Riggs walks back in, with a tired-looking Shepard behind him.
“Hey, Sheriff.”
Riggs takes his seat once more as Shepard hovers in the doorway.
“Come sit down,” I offer.
“I should go. I don’t want to intrude.”
Riggs snorts. “Since when?”
I roll my eyes, but he does have a point. Even Shepard cracks a smile at that.
“Seriously, man, sit the fuck down. You’re making me feel like you’re going to haul me in for something.”
“Guilty conscience?” Shepard asks, taking the chair opposite me.
“I’m a reformed man,” Riggs announces as he gets to his feet. “Let me go grab you some food. You look like you need it.”
He’s gone before Shepard can say anything. “I’m not sure what to make of him,” he admits.
“I’m sure the feeling is mutual.”
He huffs out a laugh. “Probably.”
“How was your day anyway?”
He rubs his hand over his mouth. “As well as I thought it would be.”
I don’t push him for more. Whatever this thing is between us is new and fragile, and I don’t think either of us trusts the other enough to lay our problems at each other’s feet.
“Well, take a load off, get comfortable, and be prepared to get the crap scared out of you.”
“What the hell are you watching anyway?”
“The Conjuring. Riggs said the second movie is his favorite, but insisted I start here.”
“I think I remember seeing this when it came out. Don’t think I saw the rest, though.”
“The rest? Wait, there is more than two?”
“A bunch more, I believe.”
“Well, fuck.” I sigh, not sure I’m up for having the shit scared out of me on a regular basis. Been there, done that.
He laughs at me, the asshole. I bite my lip, not sure what to talk about now.
Thankfully, he takes the lead. “So what’s it like being back after all this time?”
“Surreal. If it weren’t for this place, I wouldn’t have come back at all,” I admit. “What about you? What makes a man become the sheriff of a dying town?”
He opens his mouth to refute my words, but I shake my head at him.
“I remember what it was like before I went to prison, Shepard. It might not have all the trappings of a city, but it was a beautiful, prosperous town. The place I came home to isn’t the same place I left.
So what attracts someone to come here when I can’t see this town lasting another ten years if it doesn’t sort its shit out. ”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as sorting it out.
People work. They try, but crops keep failing.
The weather, until recently, has been erratic and unpredictable.
The town’s largest factory closed, leaving many people out of work and creating a shortage of jobs.
It’s just been one thing after another. It’s hard to prosper when you’re just trying to stay afloat. ”
I nod, conceding his point before leaning forward. “Be that as it may, I didn’t ask why everyone else is still here. I asked what keeps you here, Sheriff.”
He scrubs his hand over his face. “The job offer came up five years ago. My grandparents were gone, and I’d taken a job at my local PD.
But it just felt… hollow somehow. I know they’d have been proud of me.
Heck, my grandfather encouraged me to work in the city.
I got job offers in Boston and Phoenix, but neither appealed to me.
I can’t even tell you why. I was at the point where I thought I’d chosen the wrong career.
I found no joy in strapping on my gun and belt.
And then I ended up at a group therapy session, believe it or not, for grief survivors.
I went to support someone else who wanted to go but didn’t want to go alone, and I don’t know, I guess some of it resonated.
Turns out it wasn’t the job that was messing with me.
It was a whole lot of untackled issues. So I went back every week and eventually worked through things.
The job came up here—it wasn’t far from where my grandparents were raised, or where my mom grew up, and it just felt right. ” He shrugs as I study him.
“I know this town is dying. It fucking kills me to watch it rot from the inside out because I don’t know how to stop it, and somewhere along the way, this place became important to me.”
“It really is all about perspective, isn’t it? Through my eyes, this place was my prison, somewhere to escape from. From your vantage point, it became your haven.”
Before he can say anything else, Riggs walks back in with a tray laden with the leftover pasta from lunch, pizza, a bottle of water, and a beer. “Wasn’t sure what you wanted,” he says, handing the tray to Shepard.
“This is great, thanks.”
“No problem,” Riggs replies before sitting on the sofa beside me again. He starts up the movie, and we settle in. After a few minutes, I realize it’s not nearly as tense between us all as I thought it would be. A cop, a con, and a killer—I guess fate really has a sense of humor.
My eyes get heavy, so I wriggle until I’m comfortable lying on Riggs, who lifts his arm to wrap around me.
I hover for a while in that in-between space between asleep and awake, listening to them talk.
I likely won’t remember much about what they’re saying, but the low timbre of their voices is soothing.
I sink deeper into my trance-like state.
“I don’t get it.” Shepard’s voice is softer than usual as he tries not to wake me.
“What’s there to get? Calliope and me fit together more than you and her ever will. And I’m not saying that to be a dick. It’s just a fact.”
Shepard grunts, and for a moment, I think that’s the end of it before he speaks again. “I read her file. And when you came on the scene, I read yours too.”
“Figured you would.”
“You don’t fit as well as you think.”
Riggs sighs. “Come on, man, is this the part where you try to warn me away? Are you gonna tell me I’m not good enough for her?
If you think I don’t already know that, then you’re not as smart as you think you are.
She quiets something in me. Soothes my rough edges a little.
I don’t know why, and I sure as shit don’t know how to explain it, but I’ve never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
So yeah, she might be able to do better than me, but that means I’ll put in the work to be the man she needs. ”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, just like that. And honestly, Sheriff, if you can’t say the same, then you don’t deserve her either.”
“You’re talking about me being interested in her, and yet it’s your arms she’s lying in.”
“She doesn’t belong to either one of us.
She had half her life stolen from her. Fifteen years of people telling her what to do, how to act, and what to wear.
She hasn’t been allowed to figure out who she is or what she wants, so I’ll be damned if I try to take that power from her now.
She likes me, but I can tell she likes you, too.
Do I find it fucking weird you’re a cop?
Damn straight I do, but it doesn’t matter what I feel.
This is about Calliope. If testing the waters with you is what she wants, then so be it. ”
“And what if she chooses me over you?”
Riggs snorts. “Guess this is where being a criminal comes in handy. I don’t have to play by the rules, Sheriff. I’ll share her if I have to, but I sure as hell won’t give her up. Not for you, not for anyone. And I have no problem playing dirty. Not when I’m playing for keeps.”
I ponder his words as sleep claims me, wondering if that’s even a possibility—dating two men. I can only imagine how scandalized the people of Crowhurst would be.
A smile slides over my face. At least this time, the gasps of shock would be deserved.