A Family For The Sheriff. Elyssa Henry

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      “Why is he here?” Ron demanded when Sam came and pulled Joe off to the game room after they had finished eating.

      “You know why he’s here,” Maria returned angrily.

      “You know what I mean! He should have been in that fancy car of his and gone already. I never expected to actually meet him! Especially not here with you!”

      “Ron, it doesn’t matter to me if someone else does Josh’s job. Especially a stranger. I’ve already had enough of that. So you and Tommy will just have to fight your own battles.”

      Ron was thrown off guard by Maria’s outburst. He was a small, mean man who gloried in any sense of power. His dark hair was thick and greasy, slicked back from his forehead.

      “Maria, honey.” His tone was clearly conciliatory. “I know Josh’s death has been hard for you and the boy, but...you aren’t dating the man, are you?”

      “No.” Maria ground the word out, pushing her last bite of pizza aside. “But it wouldn’t have anything to do with you if I was dating him. He plans on staying, Ron, and after meeting him, I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to change his mind.”

      “He hasn’t seen the house yet.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “After that, we’ll just see, won’t we?”

      “I think you might be surprised,” she informed him darkly. She wasn’t sure what they had expected, but she didn’t think they were prepared for Joe Roberts.

      Ron left her, headed for the game room, found his son and led him out of the restaurant.

      Maria’s headache had turned vicious halfway through the meal. She’d searched her purse for an aspirin but had come up empty.

      It wasn’t anything that had been said between the two men. Ronnie had behaved as though Joe was a long-lost cousin. He didn’t have enough nerve to tackle the taller, clearly better conditioned man by himself.

      But his glances at Maria had told her that it was far from over. He would head to Gold Springs and be on the phone all night telling everyone what had happened at the pizza restaurant.

      Joe had tried to talk to Ronnie about the changes that were coming, about the needs the county felt weren’t being met with the present arrangement.

      Ron nodded and didn’t say anything, preferring to keep his vehemence until Joe had left them alone at the table. Then he had lashed out at Maria, leaving nothing unsaid.

      “Is everything all right?” Joe asked, bringing Sam back with him after Ronnie had gone.

      Maria looked at him, her head pounding. “All right?” she asked scornfully. “No, everything isn’t all right!”

      “Maybe we should leave,” Joe suggested, and Sam nodded.

      “She gets upset sometimes,” he told the older man.

      “Sometimes, women take things the wrong way,” Joe returned with a sigh.

      “I think we should leave right now.” Maria glared at them both and stuck the check for the pizza in Joe’s hand. “Thanks for supper.”

      She stormed past Joe and took Sam’s hand in a firm grip as she pushed open the door into the cool, rainy night.

      “Aren’t we waiting for him like you said?” Sam asked as she headed for the truck. “We can’t just leave him,” he continued when she didn’t answer.

      Behind the wheel of the truck, Maria contemplated doing just that. Helping Joe Roberts wasn’t going to be worth the hell she would go through every time she came in contact with someone from town.

      And he had certainly left her out to dry by announcing who he was to Ron. She had explained the situation to him. He could have kept it to himself. He could have—

      “Mom?” Sam tried to get her attention as Joe walked out of the tire store with a new tire on his arm. “Are we going to let him walk out to his car after you promised him a ride?”

      Maria could hear by the tone in her son’s voice that leaving Joe would be an unforgivable event.

      She sighed and started up the truck. “We’ll give him a ride out there, Sam. But then we won’t see him anymore, okay?”

      “Okay, I guess. But I don’t understand why we can’t see him.”

      Maria knew she had only herself to blame. She should have left well enough alone. There was no way the town would ever accept Joe Roberts as sheriff. Trying to be nice was only prolonging the inevitable.

      But she’d finish what she started. She pulled the truck into the tire store parking lot and waited while Sam opened the truck door.

      “He can put the tire in the back, can’t he, Mom?” Sam turned to her.

      “Sure,” she answered curtly.

      She didn’t look at Joe as he closed the truck door behind him. Nothing that had happened was his fault. She had put herself in an awkward position by picking him up in the first place.

      But she was mad anyway. He seemed like a decent person, but there was no way to win this fight. The best he could do was to change his tire and go on with his life.

      Joe and Sam kept a quick-paced conversation going while the truck took them out of town. They talked about games and science, wondering about virtual reality, a favorite concept of Sam’s.

      “You have a computer with a CD ROM?” Sam whistled. “I’d really like to see that.”

      “Anytime,” Joe promised easily.

      Maria seethed and tried to coax a little more speed out of the old truck. She didn’t like to think of Sam being let down, but once they let him off at his car, they wouldn’t be seeing Joe Roberts again.

      She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the exotic red car in the headlight beams.

      “Here we are,” she said, pulling the truck up behind the car on the shoulder.

      “I appreciate this,” Joe said, climbing out of the truck. “I know it won’t be easy for you to explain.”

      “I can take care of it,” she announced stiffly, wishing he would go.

      “Can’t we wait until the tire is fixed and I can ride back with him?” Sam interrupted.

      “I don’t think—”

      “I’d like that.” Joe agreed hopefully. “It shouldn’t take long.”

      “Sam,” Maria groaned. “You’re not riding in that car.”

      “Mom! He said himself he’s trading it! It might be the last chance I have to ride in a car like that!”

      “No, Sam,” she said.

      “It’s no problem,” Joe assured СКАЧАТЬ