by Jill Sanders
She knew she must look a wreck. She hadn’t even changed out of her scrubs and lab coat. Her eyes were probably all puffy and red from the tears that had flown down her face on the drive down here.
He looked the same, from what she could see. It was almost too dark in the shade of the tree to see his face clearly. His dark hair was cut shorter and his eyes were darker than she remembered.
“Thank you. I didn’t know you were back in town.”
“I’ve been back for over two months.” He stepped forward, and she noticed that he was wearing a uniform much like the one her dad had always worn, but his shirt stretched tight over muscles she didn’t remember him having the last time she’d seen him. His arms and chest were wide and she realized she’d been wrong; he had changed, a lot. His eyes showed a deepness that she hadn’t seen before. He seemed taller and more powerful than the boy she remembered.
“I hear you’re a veterinarian now. Your dad was always talking about how proud he was of you.”
She could feel the tears building. She knew she was stalling, putting off going into the house so she could avoid the realization that he wasn’t there.
Robert must have noticed, because he walked forward and engulfed her in his arms. It was nothing more than a brotherly hug, but it did wonders for settling her heart.
She didn’t realize she was crying until he said, “Shh, it’s okay. You can get it all out.” He ran his hands into her hair and held her to his chest.
He was practically a stranger and here she was blabbering all over him. Why did he always have to see her when she was the most vulnerable? His arms were wrapped tightly around her, one of his hands at the back of her head, holding her close to his chest. She could feel that she’d gotten his shirt wet with her tears and felt stupid that she’d soaked it.
Leaning away, she looked into his eyes and could see that none of it mattered. He was looking at her with kind eyes and had a slight smile on his lips. She’d dreamed of kissing those lips so many times over the years.
Taking a step back, she used her hands to wipe the tears from her face.
“I’m sorry. I lost it for a minute.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I can only imagine what you’re going through.” They stood there in silence, watching each other for a few seconds. Finally, he grabbed her hand and started walking her towards the house. “I’m sure your mother is going to be happy to see you. There are so many people in your house. I needed to step out and get some fresh air. Everyone is going to be glad that you’re home.”
When she entered the house everyone stopped and looked at them. She didn’t even register that he was still holding her hand. Then she saw her mother sitting on the couch and rushed over to engulf her in a hug.
After the funeral two days later, the house was packed once again. Amelia was dressed in her simple black dress pants and a black sweater and was thankful it hadn’t rained that day; the weather had held for the simple ceremony. The whole county had shown up for her father’s funeral.
He’d been sheriff for as long as she could remember, over thirty years of service. He had been set to retire in three years. Her parents had planned for their retirement her whole life. They had taken family vacations when she was a child, but had only driven up or down the west coast. Once, they had traveled to Yellowstone National Park, but that was as far as her mother would allow them to go.
Maybe that was why she’d had such a huge desire to travel after high school. She felt like her parents were content to live their lives in Pride and had no real desire to ever leave.
Not that she didn’t like Pride. After all, it was home. She knew everyone in town and felt warm and comfortable here. But she had wanted to see the world in her youth.
After her travels, she’d had a better understanding of why her parents had picked Pride as a place to live. People here were generally good. You could really count on them in a time of need, and for the most part, everyone helped everyone else out.
Her mother had yet to be left alone since Amelia had arrived home. Her friends all stayed with her and made sure her needs were taken care of, which made Amelia think about her own future. She knew her mother had lost most of her sight over the last five years. She was looking frailer than she had in the past, and Amelia just couldn’t imagine her living in the house alone.
By the end of the day she knew that she needed to move back home to care for her. For now she was surrounded by the whole town, but once things settled down, there was no way her mother could live without someone here.
Within three weeks she’d closed up her life in Portland. She’d called and given her employer her notice the day after her father’s funeral. She’d also called her landlord and told him she’d be moving out at the end of the month. She was breaking her lease, but due to the dire circumstances, he’d waived all the fees.
Now, as she drove in front of the small moving van back to Pride, she wondered what the next few years would hold for her. She knew she could ask Tammy, the head veterinarian at the local clinic, for a job. Hopefully, there was an opening. If not, she could always find something else to do. After all, living with her mother, she wouldn’t be hurting financially.
Her dad had had life insurance and since the house had been paid off in the seventies, her mother’s bills were quite low. As for her, she still had car payments she had to make and two credit cards she needed to pay off, but that was all.
Her mother had been so excited when she’d told her she was moving back, she’d told everyone she could. Since her eyesight had started to fail, she’d hardly left the house. Her mother had really relied on her father to take care of her. He’d done all the shopping, but she’d still done all the cooking and cleaning around the house. She may not have been able to see very well, but she could still fight dust and make a mean meat loaf.
When Amelia pulled into the driveway, she noticed the cruiser was back. Quickly checking her reflection in the mirror, she cringed at the image that stared back at her. Her red hair had frizzed and was falling out of the bandana she’d tied it up with. She hadn’t worn any makeup that day, because she’d spent her entire morning packing and loading boxes.
She fixed her hair quickly and hoped she didn’t look too ragged in her faded jeans and oversized sweatshirt. She stepped out of her car and watched the movers pull into her mother’s drive. She motioned for them to back into the garage where she would store all her stuff until she decided what she was going to do.
Looking back to the house, she saw her mother and Robert walk out the front door. He had a smile on his face as he helped her mother to the chair on the deck. She walked over to them and couldn’t help but smile when she noticed the new badge on his lapel.
“Hello, Sheriff Brogan.”
He nodded and smiled. “They made it official this afternoon. I can’t believe they trust me to run this town, at least temporarily until election time. Then I’ll have to run officially.”
“Well, of course they made him sheriff,” Her mother chimed in. “You deserve it, too. After all, you saved our Amelia from the thugs back in school.” Leave it to her mother to bring that up again. After that incident, her parents had idolized him. She’d heard so often what a great young man Robert was, she’d almost gotten sick of it. Almost.
Her dad had always told her that she needed to find someone like him to settle down with. She supposed when Robert moved back into town, her dad had jumped at the chance to make him a deputy. That’s probably how he’d gotten the job, anyway.
Looking at him now, she realized he did look mighty fine in the uniform.
Chapter Four
Robert couldn’t stop smiling at Amelia. He watched her boss the moving men around like they were her minions. She looked very sexy in her torn jeans and faded sweatshirt. He kept telling himself he should leave, but just couldn’t seem to pull himself away.
He’d stopped by originally because he wanted Mrs. Blake to find out from him personally that he’d bee
n voted by the city council to take over for her husband. He thought it best to tell her himself and had asked the board members not to call her. He knew some of the town women had quietly, and disappointingly, put down their phones.
He’d been nervous driving over here, not knowing how she’d take it. But she’d hugged him and told him how proud she was. Then, Amelia had driven up and he’d found another reason to stay. Looking at her was a delight.
As he sat on her mother’s porch and watched her coordinate the movers, he remembered being pleased when he’d first moved back into town and had found out that she was unmarried. He knew she lived out of town, but hearing from her father how her life had turned out had been wonderful. David had always been proud of his little girl and he had shown it every day that they had worked together.
“You know, David and I always hoped you would come back into town. We knew that your aunt has missed you since you left.”
He looked at the older woman and remembered that she and his aunt had been very close. Since his aunt’s last stroke, she hadn’t been able to drive. One of her friends, Martha, had moved in and taken care of her, which was one of the main reasons he’d quickly moved into the apartment above the store.
“I know my aunt is happy that I’m staying. It just tickles her to think that I’m sheriff now. Her words, not mine,” he said as she laughed.
An hour later, as he walked into his apartment for the night, he couldn’t get Amelia out of his mind, the way she’d smiled at him, the way she walked, and how she smelled of flowers.
He’d always known he was attracted to her. Hell, he had been for years. But he hadn’t expected the pull of desire he’d had when she’d smiled at him tonight.
His new job was going to be a lot more demanding and he knew he needed to focus. He still had two deputies to hire, not a small task in a town of eighteen hundred people, especially with the budget the town council had given him.
Tossing his belt off, he took his service weapon and put it in the small safe he had installed the day he’d gotten the job. His own 9 mm sat in there as well. He’d been fascinated with weapons, ever since he was a young child, and he enjoyed carrying his gun around. He could remember his father showing him his service weapon. He’d been a policeman on the force in New Mexico, and Robert wondered if that’s what had called him to the force.
Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to give it up. He had every intention of running for sheriff next year. He had even started looking for a house of his own. He couldn’t stay in the small apartment for much longer. He would never really have any privacy with Patty O’Neil downstairs.
By the end of the next day he was seriously questioning his sanity, as the small town was flooded with reporters from all over the world.
George and Iian Jordan were missing somewhere off the coast of Oregon. They’d left yesterday for Iian’s birthday sail and had gotten into trouble. The last message from them had been received earlier that day when they’d relayed a distress call to the coast guard.
George Jordan was head of Jordan Shipping, a large international company, so of course reporters from all over had gotten a hold of the story and flocked to the small town.
Since Robert hadn’t had time to hire anyone yet, he’d quickly called in two school friends to help him take care of the growing crowd that was hell bent on disobeying his orders.
He shook his head as he noticed a few cars were double parked on Main Street, blocking traffic. After getting them to move, he made sure to block off the small road leading to the Jordan house so the rest of the family could have some privacy.
When he swung by the Golden Oar, the family’s restaurant, he noticed it had been closed for the day. That didn’t stop a few reporters from trying to camp out there. Since it was private property, he told them to move on.
But for the most part, everyone spent the day waiting down at the docks, knowing the first word of what was happening would be from there.
Later that next evening, he received a call from the office that Iian had been found alive and had been flown by helicopter to the hospital in Edgeview. The search for Mr. Jordan had been called off due to bad weather.
Robert stood in front of a group of reporters and relayed the information. They had all shouted questions after his statement, none of which he knew the answers to.
Finally, after leaving there, he went into Edgeview to see if there was anything he could do for the family. Todd had been in the same grade as him in school and had always been a close friend.
When he arrived, he saw Amelia hugging Lacey, Todd and Iian’s sister. Todd’s wife, Sara, was sitting next to Amelia, looking very pale. He’d forgotten how small Lacey was. Her short dark hair made her look even more petite next to Amelia’s vibrant, long red tresses. He wondered how Amelia had made it there so quickly.
When he approached, the three of them looked up. “How is he?”
Amelia answered, “He’s banged up. He hasn’t woken yet, but they say he’s going to make it. He has a mild case of hypothermia and quite a concussion, not to mention a few broken ribs.”
Lacey just sat there, staring off into space. He felt bad for her so he sat next to her and took her hand in his. It was so much smaller, almost childlike.
“Lacey, if there is anything I can do, just let me know.” She nodded her head and a tear slipped down her cheek.
He looked up in time to see Todd walking across the room towards them.
“Has he woken yet?” Lacey asked, eagerly jumping up from the chair. When Todd shook his head no, she slumped back. Sara stood and walked over to hug Todd quickly. Robert stood as Todd walked over and shook his hand. “Thanks for handling all the press.”
Robert looked at him questioningly.
“You were all over the news here.” Todd motioned towards the television set and sure enough, Robert could see his own face on the screen as the news station replayed his statement.
“I only wish they’d leave. It’s my second official day on the job and I haven’t even made it into the office yet. I’m sorry they called off the search for your dad temporarily.”
“If he was still alive, he would have been with Iian.” Todd looked at Lacey, and Robert could tell they had both accepted the fact that their father was gone.
Just then a few more townspeople rushed in and headed towards the family.
“If you want to be alone, I can corral everyone out of here.” He asked Todd.
“No, it’ll be good for us, I think.” He pulled his sister up and into a hug. “We’ll deal with this, with our family by our side.”
He sat down next to Amelia and looked at her. He noticed the short black skirt she was wearing. The tight silver shirt hadn’t escaped his notice either. Her hair was curled and pulled up so that small ringlets dropped down around her face. How could he not be distracted with how she looked? “How did you get here so fast?”
“I was visiting Lacey at the restaurant and decided to come along for support. Lacey and I used to be really close in school.” She turned and looked at him. “Actually, I drove her car over here since she was too upset to drive. When you leave, if you can give me a ride back home…?”
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind riding in the back.” She smiled at him.
She’d thought he was joking, but as she sat in the back of the cruiser she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are you really going to make me sit back here the entire trip back to Pride?”
He smiled at her in the mirror. “It’s the law.”
“When did you get so picky about following the rules?”
He smiled at her. “Besides, this way you can’t distract me.”
“Distract you? Has anyone ever told you the seat back here is sticky?”