Support Your Local Sheriff. Melinda Curtis

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СКАЧАТЬ He held Nate’s future in his hands. And not in a tight clasp either.

      Would the mayor back him in the race? The breeze shifted, blowing cold air in Nate’s face.

      “They’ll be talking about you.” Julie set down her mug, restored enough with caffeine and a change in topic to take a poke at him.

      It was a weak poke. “I’m a sheriff, not an administrator.” He might be powerless about his career, but he could do something to help Julie’s.

      “Sheriff Nate.” It was Agnes. The short town councilwoman carried a coffee cup from Martin’s and a pastry bag that Julie eyed with envy. “I meant to ask for an introduction last night. Who’s your friend?”

      Nate introduced Julie and Duke. He was going to stop at names, but impulsively, he added, “Duke is my son.”

      “I Duke,” the boy said proudly scratching his head and dragging his hair over the Landry ears. “You Nay.” He pointed at Nate.

      Unexpectedly, happiness buoyed Nate’s cheeks, trying to lift them into a smile.

      Duke’s words seemed to have the opposite effect on Julie. She was frowning.

      “I see the resemblance now. He’s adorable.” Agnes gave Julie a kind, if shrewd, look. “Sheriff, I hadn’t realized you’d been married before.”

      “He wasn’t. He knocked up my sister and jilted her.” The frown vanished and Julie’s face bloomed with color.

      That color, that spark in her eyes. It almost made the awkwardness of his past worth telling.

      “To be fair,” Nate said flatly, the way he gave testimony on the witness stand. “April didn’t tell me she was pregnant.” And didn’t that still sting.

      “Do you mind if I use the town phone tree to spread the word?” Agnes tapped Julie’s shoulder with the back of her hand as if sharing a joke. “I’d like to say I’m pulling your leg, but we love gossip as much as we love our sheriff.” She gave Nate a fond smile. “Well, off to my meeting.” She joined Flynn and the mayor, but fiddled with her phone before engaging in conversation.

      The phone tree. Julie had no idea what she was in for.

      Nate felt compelled to warn her. “By midafternoon, everyone will know your name. But half the population will have gotten the story wrong. They’ll say I jilted you, and that Duke is our son.”

      Our son. His gaze stuck on Julie’s gray eyes.

      “I’ll gladly correct them.” Julie beamed.

      She hadn’t smiled at him like that in years. A feeling long buried in his chest climbed into his throat. He didn’t have a word for that feeling. April had tried to call it love. But... Love for Julie? Love for her mercurial moods and her broad smile? For her dedication to her career, her need for justice and her bighearted, slightly naive view of the world? He appreciated all those things about her. He’d missed all those things about her. But love? If he truly loved her, how could he have lived without her for more than two years?

      Arturo appeared with Duke’s sippy cup refill and three plates of food.

      “Ooh.” Duke clapped his hands when he saw his pancake and eggs.

      Arturo set Julie’s plate down last. “I had the kitchen add cinnamon glaze to your empanada.”

      Julie’s eyes lit up. “Arturo, your wife is one lucky woman.”

      “I’m not married.” Arturo clucked his tongue and gave her an appreciative once-over. “And neither are you.”

      “She’s not interested,” Nate growled, feeling proprietary. He buttered Duke’s pancakes to keep from growling further at his friend.

      “Who says I’m not interested?” Julie gave Arturo a calculated smile.

      “This is why I’m single. Too many arguments.” Arturo laughed and moved to the next table.

      “That’s not why he’s single.” Nate narrowed his eyes. “He thinks of himself as a ladies’ man.”

      “The ladies love me,” Arturo tossed over his shoulder.

      “Ladies over sixty-five,” Nate said, qualifying and loading his fork. “Ladies who tip well.”

      Julie said nothing. Her attention had dropped to her plate. She’d never been much good at multitasking.

      There was a lull in both conversation and argument while they dug into their food. Several minutes later, Duke was slowing down on his pancake, eating with his fingers and getting nearly as much in his mouth as on his face, hands and sweatshirt.

      Julie was perking up. The empanada was nearly gone. Her coffee cup had been refilled again. But sugar and caffeine couldn’t erase the look of exhaustion on her face. She needed someone to care for her. Fat chance of her letting it be him.

      Nate cleared his throat. “What was April’s criteria for my gaining custody?”

      Julie pinned him with an intense gaze. “She called it the Daddy Test.”

      Just hearing the name made him uneasy. “I take it April made the test up.”

      “She did.” Julie nodded, a mix of superiority and satisfaction in her eyes. She didn’t expect him to pass.

      The quickest way out of fatherhood was to fail. Little Duke was awesome and deserved a loving home with someone who knew how to provide it for him. Julie had already offered. She’d do an excellent job. So it made no sense that he said, “Your test won’t hold up in a court of law.”

      “I know.” Color appeared in her cheeks. Arguing with him seemed to do that to her. “But I also know you won’t push the issue. We were friends once. You’ll wait to hear my evaluation.”

      He shouldn’t. And he wouldn’t have. Except, the longer it took Julie to assess him, the longer she’d stay in Harmony Valley. Worst case, she’d have a chance to find some peace from the shooting. “If I agree, you have to stay for a month.”

      She frowned. “I don’t have to agree to anything.”

      “You can stay until the doctor clears you for duty.” He could make amends to April if he helped her get through this. Troubled and injured as she was, she couldn’t properly care for Duke or herself.

      “The doctor will clear me for a desk job sooner if I pass my psych eval.” Her frown deepened to a scowl. She knew she wouldn’t pass anytime soon. “Besides, I can’t afford to stay here a month.”

      “You could stay with me for free.” Before she made a decision, Nate’s phone chirped and vibrated.

      In the distance, a siren split the spring air.

      “I have to go.” Nate stood, hesitating as he looked down at his son, suddenly loathe to leave. He stroked Duke’s unruly black curls and said, “Be good.” And then Nate looked at Julie. “You, too.”

      She scoffed.

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