The Cowboy Sheriff. Trish Milburn

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       “Little late for a doughnut, isn’t it?” she asked, not relinquishing her hold on the edge of the door.

       He didn’t toss a snappy comeback her way or offer up one of the smiles that he had to know annoyed her. The fact he wasn’t acting normal worried her more than his unexpected appearance outside the bakery.

       “Can I come in?”

       She wanted to say “no” and ignore the very bad feeling pooling in her middle. Instead, she took a step back and opened the door wide enough for him to fit through. Once he was inside, she shut the door on the unholy cold and crossed her arms across her chest.

       “Is it Carter?”

       Simon had removed his hat and picked at the edge of the brim without looking. He shifted from one leg to the other then nodded at the tables to his right. “Let’s sit.”

       “No, thanks. Just come on out with whatever it is you think my brother has done this time.”

       Simon winced. If she hadn’t been watching him closely, she wouldn’t have noticed.

       “It’s not Carter.”

       “Then what?” She paused and reminded herself to not get so irritated. “I’ve still got work to do before I can go home. And I’d like to head out soon since it’s snowing.”

       The discomfort tugging at the lines of his face sent another surge of worry through her, making her wish she’d ignored his presence out on the sidewalk. Instinct told her she didn’t want to hear whatever he’d come to tell her.

       “A few minutes ago, I received a call from Dallas P.D. Sammi was in an accident.”

       She went still, not even sure her lungs were pumping air.

       “Is she okay?” The words came out in a ragged whisper.

       Simon stood silent for a moment too long, a moment in which she grasped the terrible truth of what he was going to say next. Her mind screamed at her to flee. If she didn’t hear the words, they wouldn’t be true.

       “I’m so sorry, Keri. She and Ben were both killed.”

       She stared at Simon without really seeing him. He was no more than a hulking blur in a world suddenly gone very dark. It took so much effort to form a single word.

       “Both?”

       Simon took a step forward, and his footfalls on the floor sounded so much louder than they actually were, like the booming of cannons instead of the normal tread of boots. Keri retreated away from his outstretched hand. She couldn’t let him touch her. If he made contact, she’d know he was real, that what he’d said wasn’t just part of a horrendous nightmare. She could convince herself that she was really already at home, curled up in that chair in front of the fire asleep.

       From somewhere beyond the disbelief, she managed to find the breath to utter another word. “Hannah?” As soon as she asked, she hated herself. She didn’t want to know, couldn’t imagine going on in a world where that precious little girl had died before seeing her first Christmas.

       “She’s fine, no injuries.”

       She collapsed into a chair and latched onto that one glimmer of good news among an ocean of bad. “Where is she?”

       “In state custody until you can arrive.”

       It took several seconds for the words to travel from her eardrum to the part of her brain that actually understood. Memories jerked her back more than a year, to when she and Sammi had sat on Keri’s front porch enjoying the pleasant October air.

       “I have a favor to ask you,” Sammi had said as she ran a hand over her slight baby bump.

       “Sure.”

       “Ben and I are drawing up legal documents, and we want to name you as the baby’s guardian should anything happen to us.”

       “Nothing’s going to happen to you. You’re both healthy as a horse.”

       “You know things happen unexpectedly sometimes.” Like their parents dying within a year of each other, both from cancer. “Ben’s parents already love this child, but they can’t take on raising a baby.”

       The Spencers were wonderful people, but they were already in their seventies. Ben was their only child, born after they’d given up on having children.

       Oh, God, they’d just lost their only child. Something about the brutality of that pain hit Keri more than her own.

       Simon bent down in front of her, but he didn’t say something asinine like, “Are you okay?” She almost wished he would so she could get angry and scream at him. She wanted to kill the messenger, do something that would fill the growing emptiness, show some emotion before her mind shut down and forgot how.

       He didn’t touch her, but she got the impression he was there to catch her if she suddenly fell over. Normally, that would make her mad, Simon Teague thinking she needed saving. Really, anyone thinking she needed saving. But tonight wasn’t normal, was it?

       They sat in silence, the only sounds the drone of the heating unit running and the whistle of the wind around the edge of the building. After what seemed like hours, Simon was the one to speak first.

       “It’s too dangerous to drive up there tonight, but we can go in the morning.”

       His words made no sense. Go where? Why would he be going anywhere with her?

       “Keri?” When his hand came to rest atop hers in her lap, she jerked as if he’d hit her with a branding iron.

       Keri snatched her hand away and felt tears burn her eyes. Hot, searing tears that would surely make her go blind. “No, you’re wrong. I don’t believe it.”

       It was the way Simon sat without speaking, how his expression continued to convey sorrow that broke through her final denial. Her fight dissolved and her chin trembled, but she somehow held her tears back. If she fell apart, she’d never be able to find and reassemble all the pieces.

       She pushed her chair back, away from him and the truth written all over his face. When she stood, her legs shook so much she expected to fall into a heap on the floor. She walked over and grabbed the mop and bucket of dirty water. As she carried them to the utility room and set about dumping the water down the drain and rinsing the mop, she sensed Simon in the doorway. She ignored him as she finished her work then headed for her coat and purse.

       She flicked off the lights to the kitchen and made for the front door. Simon caught her arm halfway there.

       “Where are you going?”

       “To Dallas.”

       “Not tonight.”

       “Yes, tonight. My niece needs me.”

       He increased the pressure on her arm enough to make her look up at him. “Yes, she does. But she needs you alive.”

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