“But if I had—”
“No, no more I should’ve, or I could’ve. What happened, happened. And it wasn’t your fault. You hear me? You have to let this go, okay? You can’t take this back. If you could, we wouldn’t be here right now, together. And I think you’re right. I think my dad did send you to me. He knew you were a good man who would do anything to protect me.”
Without another word, she presses her lips to mine and kisses me until I can’t remember what we were even talking about. There’s no thought of the past or worry of the future. Right now, I can’t think of anything but her and the way she’s holding onto me for dear life.
I stand with her in my arms and carry her to the bedroom. I gently lay her down and cover her body with mine, more than ready to slide into my fate.
Eleven
Nina
One Month Later…
* * *
“Are you ready for this?” Bryce asks, holding out his hand.
I look myself over in the mirror one last time and nod. “Let’s do it.”
We drive into town and to the freshly knocked down building that my center will be built on. Already, people are gathered around the yellow caution tape, and the construction company is here with the architect. Every council member is wearing a bright yellow hard hat even though I can’t figure out why. The building is gone, and they’re not standing around anything dangerous unless you count the big open lot.
We climb out of Bryce’s truck, and immediately, I’m handed a hat of my own. I put it on as Bryce lifts the tape for me to go under. The photographer is already in front of me, camera ready.
“Are you ready to do this?”
“Damn straight I am,” I reply, taking the golden shovel he’s handing me. I put one hand on the shovel, and he does the same. On the count of three, we push the tip of the shovel into the ground while smiling for the camera. We’ve officially broken ground on the youth center.
Everyone claps and cheers while we take a few more pictures—one of me shaking hands with the architect, one of just me with the shovel, and one of me with the whole construction team. I don’t know which is going to get printed and slapped on the front page of the paper, but I know I’m having one framed.
After an hour of meeting everyone and taking pictures, I head back to Bryce, who’s just standing on the sidelines, smiling at me. I can tell by the look on his face how proud he is of me, and it makes my insides feel warm and squishy. I wish I could run to him, throw myself into his arms, and kiss the life out of that man, but our relationship is still a secret.
Technically, I’m still working at the police department. I figured I’d wait until the building is mostly done before walking away from a steady income. There isn’t really a whole lot for me to do until it’s up and ready anyway. So our relationship is still hiding in my office, in his, or at one of our houses. It sucks not being able to dance together when we go to The Place every Friday, but he always makes up for it in some way. He’ll meet me in the bathroom or secretly drag me outside so we can kiss in the shadows. And even though we’re still a secret from the town and the people we work with, things between us seem to be getting serious. When we’re not at work, we’re almost always together. He stays at my house, or I stay at his. I’ve been joining him on his evening runs up and down the mountain, and we usually try to meet up for a secret lunch.
I’ve even caught myself dreaming about what our future would look like. I will be working and running the center while he’ll stay on as sheriff. Maybe we’ll tear down my cabin and build something bigger and nicer, something to accommodate our growing family—I say my property because it’s bigger, with a pond. I can see us having children in the future, and in my opinion, the more, the better. I was adopted and grew up as an only child. Even though my parents were great, there were many times growing up that I felt alone. I always wanted to have multiple children so they’d have someone to grow up and play with. Of course, I haven’t said anything to Bryce about this yet. It’s just a little dream I’ve been having lately. We’ve only been together a month, so it’s not like I’m expecting him to feel the same way yet.
Bryce and I head back to his truck without touching, despite how badly I want to hug him and kiss him, or at least hold his hand.
“I’m going to drop you off at home. I need to go into the office.”
“But it’s Sunday,” I point out. He sometimes works Saturdays, but he never works Sunday unless there’s an emergency call.
“I know, but I just want to check in. Nobody is expecting me today, so I want to go in and surprise them, make sure they’re staying busy and not lazing around.”
I laugh. “Getting all bossy on us now, are you?”
“You know it.” He picks up my hand that’s sitting between us and kisses it. “You know you like it.”
I giggle. “I like everything you do.”
Bryce drops me off at home even though I try to seduce him into staying. He doesn’t fall for it, though, and ends up running away anyway with the promise of being back by dinner time.
I decide to make him something special for dinner instead of the easy stuff we usually eat. I search through the freezer and find a brisket. This will be perfect. I pull my hair back, change my clothes so that I don’t ruin them, and then get to work on preparing a romantic dinner. I even set the patio table and light a candle in the center. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.
Dinner time comes and goes, the sun settling and leaving complete darkness behind it. I don’t know what’s keeping him so long, but our romantic candlelit dinner has officially been moved indoors. I wait another hour before giving in and calling his office phone. It rings and rings, eventually going to voicemail. I try his cell, but it goes directly to voicemail without ringing at all. Worry settles over me. Where is he? He said he’d be back by dinner, and we usually have dinner at…well, three hours ago. Something is keeping him, but what?
I finally call the station, and Joe answers.
“Joe, is Sheriff Moore there by any chance?”
“Sheriff Moore? Nah, he left a few hours ago. What’s up?”
“Oh, umm, I just needed his help with something. He lives just down the mountain from me, and he’s been helping me around the house since, you know, I’m just a tiny woman living on her own.” I feed into the stereotype, knowing he’ll fall for it.
“Oh, well, I can come and help you. You need help opening a pickle jar or something?”
I want to laugh at how stupid he sounds. “Something like that. Look, I’m kind of worried. He said he’d be over to help, but he never showed up, and now he’s not answering his phone. Are you sure you don’t know where he is?”
“No, last I heard, he was going home for dinner.”
“Do you think he got a call? Like, someone needing help? Is his truck there, or is he in the cruiser?”
He breathes heavily. “Hold on. I’ll walk out front and see.”
He’s back to the phone a few minutes later. “His truck is here, so wherever he is, he’s in the cruiser.”