“But I opened my eyes, and there was this couple. The man wanted to help me, but he was afraid to leave his wife behind. I remember him heading for me. Then there was this blinding pain that pulled me out of the darkness. My eyes opened again, and they locked on the man. He was applying pressure to the bullet wound to help slow the blood loss. I had all these questions for the man. Like why are you helping me? They should have been trying to get to safety. Most of the gunfire had ceased, or at least, I didn’t hear it going off like crazy. I opened my mouth to ask the man, but I couldn’t form the words. I didn’t know if I was in shock or what was happening. And it was like the man knew what I was asking. He said, ‘Because the world needs you.’ The next thing I know, I’m being packed into the back of an ambulance. I was in the hospital for nearly a month trying to recover from the gunshot wound, and I had inhaled a lot of smoke and dust and shit from the explosion. I ended up with a pretty serious respiratory infection, and the infection spread to my blood. I went septic, but since I was already in the hospital, they caught it soon enough to stop it all in time.
“When I got out, I looked up all the victims from the robbery. I put a name with the face. That face belonged to your dad. Your dad used his last minutes to save my life and protect your mom as best as he could while having little to no control over the situation. I know you miss them, Nina, but your father, he died a hero. At least in my eyes. Without him, I would’ve bled out. I would never have moved here. I never would’ve met you.” I reach up, cupping her face in my hands and drawing her watery eyes to mine. “I like to think he brought us together, Nina. I’m only here because of him.”
Tears overflow her blue eyes quickly and roll down her cheeks. “You met my dad?” she asks between sobs.
“I did. He was a good man, Nina. And even though I only got to meet him at the worst moment of my life, I could tell he was a good man. He loved you and your mom like nothing else. I know that because a man who knows love knows to cherish all life, even mine, a man he didn’t even know.”
She rests her head against my shoulder, crying and soaking my shirt. Guilt eats at me.
“I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t save him. I wish I would’ve pushed him away and told him to run and save himself, to get your mom out. Had I done that, they might still be here with you today. But I was weak. I couldn’t think of anything other than the fact that I was dying. I wish I could’ve saved them for you.”
She pulls her head back, and this time, she cups my face, keeping my eyes locked with hers. “It wasn’t your fault, Bryce. You didn’t make them stay in there. You didn’t come in to rob the bank. Hell, you didn’t make them go to the bank that day. It was just a horrible coincidence. I don’t blame you or anyone for the loss of my parents.”
“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 h
air 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.”
“Joe, would you mind coming to pick me up? We can drive around and see if we can find him. Make sure he didn’t take a call by himself or something and end up in trouble.”
“You really think it’s that serious?”
“I know it is, Joe.”
“Alright. I’ll be there in a few.”
Joe picks me up, and we make our way down the mountain.
“The cruiser isn’t at his place either,” Joe says as we drive past.
Way to state the obvious, I think, but I don’t say it. Joe is just trying to help. He doesn’t need me snapping at him.
Joe and I drive up and down the streets. We check The Place twice, drive back to the station in case he’s switched the cruiser for the truck, but nothing. It’s close to midnight when he calls it a night and drops me off at home, promising we’ll get the whole unit involved if he doesn’t show up tomorrow. I know just as well as him that we can’t file a missing person until he’s been gone twenty-four hours.
I clean up the mess from dinner and put everything away before pulling on one of his baggy T-shirts and sliding into bed. It takes me forever to fall asleep. I keep thinking the worst. What if he took a call by himself? What if he was shot and is lying in a ditch somewhere? What if he’s hurt? What if he’s just tired of me and decided to take off? He wouldn’t do that, would he? He did turn me down for a quick romp before he left, though. Maybe he is tired of me.
By some stroke of luck, I manage to fall asleep around two a.m. I’m sleeping deeply, not even dreaming. Suddenly, I hear a noise that jerks me awake. The sound of a man’s heavy boots walking across the living room floor has me dashing from the bed. I come to a sudden stop when I see Bryce in the living room, shrugging out of his jacket.
I breathe a sigh of relief as I rush toward him, wrap my arms around him, and pull him close. “Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry. I know I missed dinner,” he says, sitting on the couch and pulling me down with him. I sit on his lap with my arms around his neck, twirling the hair at the back of his head. “I was leaving the station when I got a call from Mrs. Winters. She was afraid her husband was having a heart attack, but he refused to go and get checked out. I went up there to check out the situation.”
“You were at the Winters?”
He nods before letting his head fall back against the couch.
“No wonder we couldn’t find you.”
“We?”
“Yeah, I got worried when you wouldn’t answer your phone, and Joe said you weren’t answering his radio call either.”
“I forgot the radio in the cruiser. I was so high up the mountain that I didn’t have any reception for my cell to work. I’m sorry for making you worry.”
I rest my head against his chest. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re alive and not dying in a ditch somewhere.”
He chuckles. “So, does Joe know about us now?”
“No, he’s too stupid to figure it out, even after tonight. It’s good that nobody lets him carry a gun. He’d probably shoot his own eye out,” I joke.
He laughs but checks the time on his watch. “What do you say we catch a few more hours of sleep?”
“Sounds perfect,” I reply as he stands with me in his arms, carrying me to bed.
Snuggling down with his strong arms around me after the night of worry that I had feels better than ever. Deep down, I was really worried I’d never seen him again, despite trying to remain cool and calm about the situation. I wonder if this is how things will always be with him being the sheriff. Will I be scared that every time he kisses me will be the last kiss? I never thought about these things before, and I wish I weren’t thinking them now. He’s snoring behind me, but I’m still wide awake, worrying about things that shouldn’t even cross my mind.
Twelve
Bryce
Now that she’s sound asleep and her shaking has stopped, I crawl out of bed for a shower. I can’t believe she was so worried, and a part of me feels terrible for making her worry. It never crossed my mind to try checking in with her some way, but I make a mental note to keep her in the know next time. I don’t think she even realized how badly she was shaking. It makes my gut knot up with guilt.
I shower off quickly, just needing to wash off the day. I pull on a pair of boxers and crawl back into bed. She’s breathing heavily and not moving a muscle. She must be wiped out. I slide my left arm under her pillow and pull her against my chest. I press a kiss to the side of her neck. “God, I wish you knew how much I love you,” I whisper into the darkness, even though I know she can’t hear me. It’s relieving getting the words out there even if she doesn’t acknowledge them. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” I say, laying my head down on the pillow. Moments later, sleep takes me.
When I wake up in the morning, the bed is empty. I roll to my side to see the clock. It’s going on nine a.m.
“Shit,” I mumble under my breath as I push myself to get out of bed. “Nina, we overslept,” I shout, but she never answers.
I stand up, use the bathroom, and go in search of her. I check the kitchen and the living room, but they’re both empty. I peek out the front window to see that her car’s not even in the drive. She went to work without me and left me sleeping in her bed. Why would she do that?
I bust my ass to get dressed and rush to the station. I make it fifteen minutes later, and instead of going to my office, I go to hers.
“Why’d you let me sleep in?” I ask, jarring her.
She spins her chair around. “Sorry, I came in early and just assumed you had your alarms set.”
“My phone is dead. It spent all night searching for a signal while I was on the mountain. It drained the battery. And I was too busy trying to calm you down last night to remember to charge it.”
She stands up and wraps her arms around my waist. She rests her head against my chest. “I really am sorry. I didn’t want to wake you earlier. You’d barely gotten any sleep.”
I hug her tightly. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault that I didn’t charge my phone. I was just hoping to wake up with you in my arms instead of an empty bed.”
She looks up at me
with her shining blue eyes. “I should get back to work.”
I place my finger beneath her chin and hold her a moment longer, just long enough to kiss those thick lips of hers that I love so much. “Lunch at home today?”
She nods. “Sure.”
Sure? I wonder what’s up with her today. Maybe she just didn’t get enough sleep. I shrug it off and leave her office, heading for mine.
At lunchtime, we each drive our own vehicles back to her place, and she gets busy making us both a sandwich while I pour us each a glass of iced tea. We sit at the kitchen table, eating in silence. Finally, I can’t take it anymore. “Is something wrong?” I ask, taking a sip of tea.
“No. Why would you think that?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. You’ve just been acting strangely today.
She offers up a small smile. “I’m just tired. I’m cranky when I don’t get enough sleep.”
I laugh. “Noted.” From now till the end of my days, I’ll forever make sure she gets a full eight hours of sleep.
When we finish eating, I help her clean up. She’s washing our dishes, so I walk up behind her after wiping down the table and wrap my arms around her stomach. I pull her back to my chest and press a kiss to her shoulder. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off and catch up on some sleep?”
Grand Lake Colorado Series: A Complete Small Town Contemporary Romance Collection Page 24