Caleb pulled her in for another kiss and drove them across the street.
“Pull around back if you’d like. We can go up from the back stairs. The room is just at the top, anyway. It’s—” she blushed again, “it’s a little more private.”
Caleb didn’t care who knew, but maybe she did. After all, she had maintained this secret boyfriend for so long to protect her privacy. He pulled around back and followed her up the short flight of steps. She turned and kissed him deeply as they disappeared into her room.
Caleb stopped just short of pulling off her panties. “Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes meeting hers.
Everly discarded the thin slip of lace that separated them and pulled him closer. “I’ve never been so sure of anything my whole life.”
Breathless and sweat-slickened, Everly answered her incessantly ringing cellphone.
“Hello?”
“It’s Edna. I’m at the cafe. I’m sorry I was late. I-I-I...” Everly sat up as Edna’s sadness filtered through the receiver. “Jim went missing overnight. I was with the sheriff’s department all morning.”
Everly gasped. She’d heard Jim taking out the trash yesterday but thought he’d left when she heard a car pull away. “I’m so sorry, Edna.”
Caleb’s eyebrows rose, and Everly put her hand over her phone.
“Jim’s missing,” she said. “Edna’s at the cafe all torn up about it.”
Caleb nodded, planted a kiss on her cheek, and got dressed. He collected Everly’s clothes from the floor as she soothed Edna on the phone, and she smiled gratefully at him.
“I’m jumping in the shower, Caleb,” she said when she’d disconnected the call. “You should head on out. Will you be at the cafe later?”
Caleb was reluctant to leave her. “I don’t mind waiting. I can drive you over.”
Everly blushed. She bit her lip. “Please understand. I would love for nothing more than for you to wait for me, but under the circumstances, I think it would be better that we didn’t arrive together. She might be watching the bar from the cafe as it is.”
“And if she is?” Caleb tried to understand, but his concern for Everly’s safety overrode his ability to find compassion for Edna.
“Then she’ll know, anyway. But if she’s not watching—”
“You saw how she reacted yesterday. Do you really think she’ll care?”
Everly frowned. Was she a trophy on Caleb’s wall now? He had never seemed the type to her, but she’d been wrong before. Why was he so eager to announce their relationship to the world? She pulled the covers over her body.
“I think you should go now.”
Caleb’s face fell into his hands. He blew it. How could he fix it? He knelt in front of her. “I’m sorry. I handled that wrong.” He took her hands in his and stared into her eyes. “Of course, Edna’s feelings matter right now. I’m just concerned for your safety. Jim knew about the curfew. Jim knew about the fog. And he disappeared anyway.”
Everly took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. “It’s broad daylight. There’s no fog around. I’ll be fine. It’s only across the street.”
“And Garvey was only crossing the street when he disappeared,” Caleb countered. He sounded just like his mother. His mouth dropped open. “Oh. I get it now, Ma.”
Everly laughed. “I can’t believe your mom found her way into my bed.”
Caleb’s cheeks turned scarlet. “She didn’t. It just dawned on me why Ma’s always on my case about leaving right now. She said someday I would understand, and well, that moment arrived.”
It was Everly’s turn to blush, but Caleb didn’t get up.
“Everly, I’m falling in love with you. It’s that simple and that complicated, too. You told me yesterday you couldn’t imagine living in Rickdale without me, and today, I can’t imagine living life anywhere without you. I don’t know if I really believe in all this ghost stuff, but I can’t deny something strange is happening. Please don’t hate me for wanting to keep you safe.”
“Oh, Caleb, I could never hate you.” To prove her point, she leaned forward and kissed him deeply, drawing him back onto the bed. Her cellphone rang again, interrupting them, and Caleb sat up. He spied the familiar number of the cafe on her smartphone.
“As much as I don’t want to, we need to stop or neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon,” he said, stroking her hair and letting his hand run down her silky skin.
“You’re right,” Everly agreed and jumped out of the bed. “I’m still taking that shower, and I still need us to not show up together, but if you want to wait, I’m okay with that.” Her index finger crooked as she disappeared in the bathroom, and Caleb needed no further invitation.
Chapter Fourteen
Sheriff Greyson entered the hospital with a heavy heart. Gladys waved when she saw him, and he worked his way to her desk.
“Hello, sheriff. You here to see Jim?”
Tom nodded. A lump caught in his throat on the drive over, and no matter how much he cleared his throat, it wouldn’t go away. His father weighed on his mind, a memory he couldn’t shake. It was his graduation day from the police academy, one of the last moments of his dad’s life.
“I love you, son.” His dad reached out and enveloped Tom in a tight hug. “I may have failed Rickdale, but I’m proud of you. You’ll make a fine sheriff one day.”
People stopped to offer congratulations, and his dad stepped away to collect himself, but as they drove back to Rickdale, his father bared his soul.
His dad choked down a sob as they pulled into the driveway. “I hope you’ll never have to experience how I feel. I’m not fit to be sheriff if I can’t even protect the people when they need it most. I am so proud of you today, son. So very proud. You are the one thing I ever did right. Go on and celebrate with your friends. You deserve it.”
And Tom had done exactly that, but when he returned home, it was too late. His dad lay on the floor, his Glock still in his hand, half his face blown away.
Sorry, dad. I know exactly how you feel, and it's not even over yet.
Gladys stared at him; concern laced in her dark mud-brown eyes. “Sheriff?” She held a door pass in her hand with his picture on it. “You alright?”
Tom snapped back to reality. “Thanks, Gladys,” he answered, taking the badge from her.
She told him the room number, and he thanked her again. She shook her head as he made his way to the elevator.
“Something’s eating at him,” she said.
A nurse looked in her direction. “Did you say something?”
“Just talking to myself.”
The nurse followed Gladys’ eyes and caught sight of Tom just as he boarded the elevator.
“Hold the door!” she yelled.
Tom’s hand stuck out and pressed against the doors, and when the nurse entered, he released the open-door button. “What floor?”
The nurse looked at the buttons. He’d pressed the three.
“Three. Guess we’re riding up together, Sheriff. You here to see Jim?” she asked.