Caught by the Sheriff--A Clean Romance

by Rula Sinara

  They hit the main part of the beach and picked up their pace. White-tipped waves rolled in and fizzled against the shoreline. Gulls squawked and eyed them as they flew by. This place really felt like an escape. Surely it was busier during the summer months, but right now, it was as though she’d crossed a bridge to heaven. Nim had fallen asleep against her chest. She was glad she’d chosen to have Nim face inward when she’d read the instructions on the toddler carrier. Her first thought had been to protect her face if need be, but right now, Nim’s cheek against her chest felt as comforting to her as it seemed to be for Nim. The rhythm of the walk probably helped lull the kiddo back to sleep too, though all this catching up would mean another sleepless night for both of them. She’d have to find a way for Nim to burn some energy before bedtime. Maybe dancing to music in Eve’s living room? Her parents used to do that. Her mom would play songs for Clara and Faye to dance to until they had burned up any energy left from the day. She mentioned years later, while reminiscing through photo albums after Mia’s birth, that the dancing used to work like a charm. Without it, getting the twins to sleep simultaneously had been a challenge, with one constantly waking the other up for entertainment. Clara and Faye had definitely not been as mellow as Nim.

  Faye closed her eyes and let the pack’s pace and tension on the leashes guide her. She was giving up a touch of control, yes, but the seconds of letting them lead felt like an eternity. She felt free and careless, yet still in charge.

  The sound of the waves crashing and wind in her ears was hypnotizing. Mesmerizing. Meditative. She began humming the same tune she always sang while grooming or walking dogs as part of their training sessions. It was a calming melody, much like the sounds about her right now. There was something about being on a beach so far away from the rest of the world that washed away worry and stress. Even if she knew they still existed and could be tossed back on shore at any moment.

  She added in the words, pretending the wind was the harmony Clara would have sung. It had been their favorite as kids. An old Irish song that they’d performed once for a talent show in the fifth grade. She wondered if Clara still sang it as often as Faye did. If she’d ever shared it with her baby. She opened her eyes and scanned the horizon, her peace gone as swiftly as it had come.

  “Come on. Time to head back.”

  She turned the group around and made for the same reed-lined path over the dune and into town that they’d come from, this time with a draining fatigue that clawed at her muscles as she trudged through the sand. Bison and Casanova barked and pulled toward a kite someone was flying farther down the beach. Laddie circled around, his herding genes kicking in until the other dogs gave up on the kite and beachgoer.

  The sight of a police SUV in the parking lot of the vet clinic had both her feet and pulse tripping. They were on to her. They’d questioned Krinks and Chanda and everyone else and knew her walking route. She looked behind her and back at the handful of leashes. Laddie wagged and went straight for the clinic door. Casanova barked. Bison grumbled. Nim started to whimper and rub her eyes. There was no running. She’d never get away. She’d be endangering Nim in the process. Think. Think, Faye.

  Chanda stepped outside, let Laddie in and waved as she walked over to Faye with cash in hand. She was smiling and about to pay her. That made no sense. Or maybe it was a good sign. Perhaps the vehicle was Carlos’s and he’d brought Pepper here for some reason. Oh, jeez. Now she was worried about the old dog.

  “Hi. Laddie was a big help. Wonderful dog. Kept the group together.” Her voice sounded hoarse. Almost squeaky. She took a deep breath. Nim started to cry and the sound rattled her nerves even more. She took a pacifier out from the pocket opposite the cheese and offered it to her. Thank goodness the child took it. Her eyes stared ahead in that groggy half asleep, half awake liminal zone a person found themselves in after a nap.

  “Good to hear. Zale asked me to give this to you and thank you. It has been a busy day or he’d come out himself. He said he’d love to take you up on walks or dropping off or picking up Laddie for reading hours.”

  Her eyes flicked over to the SUV. Did that mean no one was after her? Yet?

  “Excellent. Is Pepper okay?”

  “Pepper?” Chanda followed Faye’s line of sight and something shifted in her face. The corners of her mouth lifted and her brown eyes caught the sunlight. “Oh, you mean Carlos’s Pepper. Hon, that’s not his car. That’s my brother’s. He’s a deputy.”

  The dots connected and Faye threw her head back in relief.

  “Jordan, by any chance? I met him at Castaway Books. He said something about adopting a puppy.”

  “The one and only.”

  The clinic door swung open and Jordan stepped out with a not-so-small bundle of pup in his arms.

  “It’s all good,” he called out. “I changed her food too quickly last night. Upset her stomach. That’s all. Hi, Faye. I see folks wasted no time in taking advantage of you.”

  “Maybe I’m the one taking advantage. Good company on my daily walk.”

  And possibly good protection, come to think of it.

  “Watch out. He’ll try to coax you into puppy sitting. He already tried it on me,” his sister said, planting a kiss on his puppy’s head.

  “He already has. Had to really twist my elbow because who wants to spend time with an adorable puppy?” Faye teased. “Congratulations, by the way. Did you pick a name?”

  “Shamu. She’s going to be big and her breed loves to swim, so I figured name her after a whale.”

  “Creative. I like it. Hey, Shamu.” Faye reached over and scratched behind the pup’s ear and then under her chin. Shamu licked at her hand. “Goodness, so much puppy love. If you ever come home and don’t find her, you’ll know who kidnapped her,” Faye teased. Her heart stopped the second she realized what she’d just said. What was wrong with her? “Uh, so I should get these other pooches back to their homes. I’ll see you two around.”

  She waved and turned on her heels, almost tangling the two leads. She put distance between her and the clinic as quickly as she could. She was a numbskull. An idiot. She shook her head and took a comforting whiff of Nim’s baby scent. Perhaps she wasn’t that bad. She was talking freely. Acting like her normal self. That was akin to hiding in plain sight, wasn’t it? Wouldn’t choosing her words a bit too carefully come off as fake and raise even more suspicion? Or was she just trying to make herself feel better?

  She wasted no time in dropping off Casanova and hurried over to Krinks’ Hardware.

  “How’d it go?” Mr. Krinks asked, as he finished hanging a supply of shovels.

  “Beautifully. He burned calories and enough energy that hopefully he won’t go about eating your merchandise.”

  “He did chew up a roll of duct tape once, but mostly it’s the trash or things that fall on the floor by accident.” He laughed, knelt down slowly, holding the edge of the counter to give his knee support, and gave Bison some love. “Good boy. Missed me?”

  Bison licked his face, then went over to a spot by the window and settled down for a nap.

  “See. All tired out,” Faye said, searching her pockets for her keys. She was so ready to get back to the cottage. She needed a nap too. Only Nim had already had hers. No wonder parents of babies and toddlers were always exhausted. One little thing like not syncing sleep time and things went downhill from there. This was like that lesson in abstinence the teachers taught in middle school, where they made kids carry around dolls that needed to be fed and changed. Only Nim wasn’t a doll and her well-being was at stake.

  Speaking of dolls, she’d given the rubber dolphin to her to play with. The key chain. Nim didn’t have anything in her hands but the pacifier she’d pulled out of her mouth. Oh, man. She’d probably dropped it during the walk and Faye hadn’t noticed. She’d have to backtrack the whole way. What if it had been on the beach and by now it was buried or washed
away? A loud burp and whine came from Bison. Oh, no. She turned slowly and looked at him. Whining, tired, grumbling. Stomachache? Obstruction? She pressed her hands to her face. Oh, God. She was making a dog sick on her first outing. Possibly endangering his life. She rushed over to him and tried to coax him up.

  “I swear I’ll cover his vet expenses. Maybe he didn’t eat it, but I’ll get him over there and see if they can do an emergency X-ray before I look anywhere else. He comes first. I’m so sorry. I had him with me the entire time. He never got away. But Nim was holding my keys and she must have dropped them when she fell asleep. I know you warned me about Bison eating everything and—”

  “These here?” Mr. Krinks dangled the dolphin key chain in one hand and held her payment in the other. The air swooshed out her lungs. She slapped a hand to her forehead.

  “You have them.”

  “I think she dropped them before you left the store. I figured you wouldn’t need them until after the walk and that you’d be back with Bison. You thought he ate them?” Krinks belted a laugh. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had.”

  Bison farted. The odor was brow raising. Faye waved the air in front of her as she accepted the keys and money.

  “Thanks. I’m sorry I overreacted.”

  “I’m sorry for his gassiness. It’s always coming out one end or the other. I’m told it’s a breed thing. The snoring too.” Bison was already in dreamland.

  “No worries.” She caught herself this time. She had been close to saying that she was used to it. She had several gassy dogs as customers back home. She kept that detail to herself. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

  A really bad headache was brewing. The sunglasses helped a little, but she hoped the mass of clouds over the ocean would hurry up and mask the glare. Sometimes a person needed a day to crawl under the covers, listen to rain and not do anything else.

  “Banna. Mi banna.”

  “Are you hungry? You’re probably hungry.” She crossed the street and headed for the only intersection. “I know you’re getting stir-crazy. I’ll get you out of this contraption in a few minutes. As soon as we’re at the house. Trust me, my back is aching. You’re not as light as you look.”

  “Banna.” This time Nim added a wail and kicked her legs around. Faye held on to Nim’s shoes to keep from getting knocked.

  “Are you hungry for banana? You want a banana?”

  Nim nodded and simmered down.

  “Okay. There’s some at Auntie Eve’s. We’re going to get it right now and you can gobble it up. How about singing ‘Five Little Lemurs Jumping on a Bed’?”

  She started the rhyme, reciting it to the beat of each step she took, hoping it would buy her time before Nim cried again. Next time, she’d remember to bring along a snack for her. She stopped at the intersection before taking a left toward the cottage and looked to her right. The sheriff stepped out from the side of the law office and looked right in her direction, before moving on. Had he been watching her this whole time? Standing where he had a clear view of most of the town and the beach beyond? Goose bumps trailed up her arms and down her back. Carlos Ryker knew more than he was letting on. What she couldn’t figure out was why he didn’t just arrest her on the spot. She needed to keep her distance. If anything, she needed to pray that Carlos wouldn’t ask her to walk his dog too. She needed the money, but taking care of Pepper would put him much too close for comfort.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “YOU HAVE TO GO. Come on. We won’t stay long. Actually, I’m feeling run-down so we really won’t stay too late, but it’s part of town tradition. You’ll get to meet more people,” Eve insisted, wiping her nose with a tissue. Meeting more people, having to deal with small talk, was what Faye wanted to avoid.

  “I already walked the dogs today and took Shamu out for two separate potty breaks. I’m tired. Nim’s tired from all the teething. You go and we’ll hold down the fort.” She was beginning to see the cottage as just that—her fort or castle. If it weren’t for bridges, boats and planes, the waters surrounding the barrier reef would serve as her old-fashioned moat. A barrier to potential invaders...like Jim. If she was living a couple of hundred years in the past, she wouldn’t be worrying about getting tracked online or through computerized police systems.

  “This will help you relax. It’s a gorgeous evening.”

  That much was true. Yesterday’s winds had died down and the temps had warmed up a few degrees. Without a wind chill, it had felt downright balmy for mid-February. Then again, she was farther south than she was used to.

  “I don’t know. I could sit on your back deck and watch from here.”

  “All you’d see is a flicker from the bonfire. Where’s the fun in that? Besides, I didn’t write up all these cards for nothing, so I have to go. I always hand them out, especially to singles. I even have generic ones in case I miss someone or there’s someone from out of town. In fact, I’ll give you yours now.”

  She held out a giant, handmade envelope made from photocopies of old black-and-white pictures.

  “These are of us,” Faye said, dumbfounded. She angled the envelope and took a closer look. A few were from a carnival photo booth. One was from a party. Another looked like it had been taken in a restaurant.

  “I don’t have a color printer here, hence the black and white, but I think it makes the red card inside stand out.”

  Faye pulled it out.

  Faye,

  Happy Valentine’s Day to an incredible friend and mother. You deserve the best, always. You deserve to love and be loved. May your future bring you happiness.

  Here for you always,

  Eve

  Tears ran down her cheeks. Mother? Eve believed she was a mother. One who’d suffered. When in fact, it was Clara who deserved this card and this kind of friendship.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “It’s okay. It’s the nicest card I’ve ever gotten. I’m sorry that I didn’t make you one.”

  “I didn’t expect you to. I’m the one trying to convince you that Valentine’s Day can be more than just about romance. Love makes the world go round. I’m trying to spread it.”

  “You’re such a hippie. And I love you back for it. You have at least four peace signs integrated into the decor of this one room alone.” Faye grinned.

  “This is for Nim.” She handed over a board book from her shop that told a story about a mother’s love. “I noticed she liked it when she was playing around there.”

  “Thank you so much. Again, I feel bad for being empty-handed.”

  “Nonsense. Your being here is the best thing I could ask for.” Eve narrowed her eyes. “But if you really want me to guilt you, there’s this bonfire going on at the beach...”

  “Alright, alright. I’ll go for a bit. But I’m heading back if Nim gets restless.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  Faye nodded, putting the card back in its envelope. Clara had gone to a different college than she had. Eve had never met her. Surely, Faye must have told her at some point that she was a twin. Friends did that. Shared tidbits about family, but it didn’t mean the details were remembered. Faye remembered Eve once mentioning that she was an only child, but she couldn’t recall details about her parents. Maybe Eve didn’t remember much about Faye’s sister...or that she had a twin. Or that they were identical. She would have said something, wouldn’t she? The question was how long would it take for Eve to remember?

  * * *

  CARLOS STOOD AT the edge of the shadows where the firelight began to fade. He wasn’t on duty tonight as planned—schedule changes—but that didn’t matter. He was responsible for the town and everyone’s safety. That meant he was never really off the clock. At least not in his mind. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and patted Pepper’s shoulder. The girl seemed content. He wasn’t sure if the crowd would make her nervous or not, but she was do
ing just fine. She wasn’t the only dog. A few other people had brought theirs along...about three or four total. So long as they picked up after them, he didn’t mind. No one wanted their evening ruined by stepping in poop.

  “You can’t roast marshmallows from here,” Jordan said as he joined him. He had Shamu with him. Pepper immediately sniffed the pup and began wagging her tail.

  “I’m good.”

  They both raised their cups to Damon as he approached.

  “What’s up?” Damon asked, putting the last bite of a hot dog in his mouth. He brushed off his hands. “You guys look pitiful standing over here alone. It is a social event, in case you missed the memo.”

  “We’re trying to help you out. If we were mingling you wouldn’t stand a chance,” Carlos said.

  Damon laughed and Suzie from the jewelry shop glanced over from her spot by the fire and smiled.

  “See. The mere sound of my voice breaks hearts,” he said.

  “You’re delusional. She was looking my way. It’s called puppy power,” Jordan said.

  “So that’s the real reason you got Shamu?” Carlos said. “To pick up women? Need I remind you that by the time summer hits and the beaches are full, that dog isn’t going to look like a puppy anymore.” Carlos crouched down and gave Shamu a belly rub. “Where’s her mama, Damon? We could have had a family reunion.”

  “I left her at home. She still needs more training. She kept dragging a rookie I was training out of the water before he could paddle out more than two feet. If I brought her tonight, I’d be trying to keep her out of the surf the whole time. Still trying to teach her commands.”

  “You do know Suzie’s allergic to dogs, don’t you?” Carlos pointed out.

  “First off, I never said I was interested in her. Secondly, how would you know that?”

  “I drink hot chocolate and I know things.” He lifted his cup in salute.