The Sheriff's Son. Barbara Daille White

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      After greeting Tanner, he waved them both to chairs pulled up to the desk.

      “We’ve got ourselves a situation here,” he said. “A couple of vending machines damaged, the coin slots filled with glue. And it seems like your boy caused the problem.”

      “Seems like?” She grabbed at the most important words.

      “Just an expression. To tell the truth, he was caught in the act. He also had a couple of extra tubes of glue in his back pocket. Looks like he had quite a spree in mind.” He shot a glance toward the open doorway, then continued in a lower voice, “Considering all the upset that’s going on around town, I felt Deputy Jones ought to have a few words with Kevin, maybe let the uniform make an impression.”

      “Good idea, Sam,” Tanner said. “I’ll talk with him alone for a bit, if you don’t mind.”

      She started, ready to protest, but Sam nodded. “Fine. Sarah and I have a lot to discuss ourselves. Including how her boy’s going to pay for the damages he’s done.”

      Her stomach clenched.

      Money shouldn’t concern her most, and didn’t. Kevin’s actions that morning had shot right to the top of her long list of worries. Still, she dreaded hearing what it would cost to fix what Kevin had done.

      A bill for repairs that might just bankrupt her.

      Sam came around from behind his desk. “Let me go speak to Ella for a minute, Sarah. On the way out, I’ll explain to Kevin that the Deputy will want to talk with him.”

      Tanner spoke up again. “Ask him to wait for me outside by the front steps.”

      Sam nodded and left the room. He’d barely cleared the threshold when Sarah twisted in her seat to face Tanner.

      “You’re not going to question Kevin alone.”

      “I said talk, not question. And I know how to handle kids.”

      “Not that I’ve experienced,” she mumbled.

      To her surprise, he laughed. “You haven’t seen the full workout. Hang around till I get the thumbscrews.”

      “Tanner!”

      “That’s Deputy right now, ma’am. And I hope you’re not thinking of refusing to let me speak with your son.”

      She opened her mouth, but he cut in.

      “We don’t have time for this now.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “If you hadn’t found it necessary to shut me out in the parking lot…”

      His sudden quiet unnerved her even more.

      “I don’t want to add to your troubles, Sarah, but there’s something you need to know. I pulled a few of the kids here at the grade school aside earlier today. They claim there’s a gang of high-school boys who’ve taken to hanging around the younger ones.”

      “Well, that’s a start. We can talk to the older boys. Later. Right now, I’ve got—”

      “One of them thinks Kevin’s running with the gang.”

      Her mouth dropped open. She clamped it shut and shook her head violently. “That’s impossible. And you’re just accepting this, without giving Kevin a chance?”

      “What do you take me for, Sarah?” Tanner stared at her, his eyes bleak and icy-blue, his face set in stone. “Don’t you know me better than that?”

      No, she wanted to shout, I don’t know you at all. Maybe I never did.

      She swallowed hard and looked away, trying not to think of her shattered past, trying to focus on the horrible here and now. Kevin, in a gang? She refused to believe it. He was only seven years old!

      Tanner reached out and clamped his hand on her arm as if trying to still her sudden trembling. “This stunt with the vending machines. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.”

      “How could that be?”

      “I’m not so sure about placing full blame on Kevin.”

      Her gaze shot to his again. “You don’t think he did it?”

      Tanner shrugged. “Not by himself, at any rate. Doesn’t seem like something a kid his age would come up with on his own.”

      She looked eagerly at him.

      And now, she saw something different in his expression, something…no longer bleak or cold or hard…something she couldn’t define. A yielding, maybe. A compassion she had never expected from him again.

      He reached up with his free hand and touched her jaw. “Chin up, Sarah. Things’ll work out all right.”

      If only they could.

      Abruptly, he frowned, dropped his hand from her face and let go of her arm. “Sam’s got the right idea. Your boy needs a taste of what’ll happen if he keeps heading down this wrong path. Far as I can see, you’re not having much luck with him yourself. I want to talk to Kevin alone, man-to-man—and that sure won’t happen with his mom hanging over his shoulder.” He grinned.

      Her already shaky emotions threatened to collapse. How could he treat this awful situation so lightly? And manage to insult her again, at the same time?

      He stood up, leaving her so incensed, she couldn’t find the words to respond.

      Leaving her, also, with a clear view of the doorway. Kevin stood outside in the hall, staring at them.

      “Kev—” She snapped her mouth shut. Too late.

      Tanner pivoted, then started toward the doorway.

      Kevin fled.

      Tanner took off after him and Sarah rose to follow. The sound of Sam’s voice made her drop back into her chair, feeling like Kevin on his hallway bench. She passed a hand over her face, trying to brush away any trace of Tanner’s touch. Trying to ease the heat that suffused her cheeks before Sam could enter the room.

      What had Kevin seen? What had he thought?

      What had she thought, by leaving her imagination to fly off on its own? By letting Tanner get so close to her?

      Her heart throbbed extra hard for a beat or three. Made her think things she would never have considered until that moment.

      How would her life have been if Tanner had never left her? How might this situation play out if they had raised Kevin as their son? How would Tanner react if she just blurted the truth to him now?

      Rubbing her fingertips in small circles on her temples, she thought back to what he had said—before his smart remark about her lack of success with her son.

      Kevin hadn’t acted alone. At least, so Tanner seemed to think. Thank heaven, he’d opened his mind enough to start looking in other directions. She only hoped he would keep that mind open wide when he spoke to Kevin.

      Man-to-man.

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