“And you?” she asked.
“I have to go back to work.” She tried not to show her disappointment. “I leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Yeah. And there don’t seem to be any rooms available in this town.”
“That could be a problem…unless of course, you’re willing to share a bed.”
Matt smiled. “Bed sharing happens to be one of the things I will not be giving up.”
“Then I think I might have something that will suit you.”
Ten months later
“BEIGE MAY NOT BE your best color, but I like this uniform better than your last one.”
Matt smiled as Tara reached out and adjusted his collar, and then he captured her hand. She raised her eyebrows and pulled it back.
“No. You are not going to be late on your first day.”
“I can be quick.”
“I like it better when you’re not.”
“Okay. Pencil me in for tonight. Slow.”
“Noted. Now get out of here.” Matt started for the door. Tara followed even though it was a windy day. She usually did, regardless of the weather, waiting on the porch that he rebuilt almost a year ago until he’d driven out of sight. But today he wasn’t heading back to Reno. He began his first day of duty as a sworn deputy of Night Sky County, Nevada. She gave a wave as he turned the truck around and then she disappeared back into the house. The slightly thinner fat cat waddled out from under the porch to take her place.
Matt’s first weeks back on the job in Reno had not been easy, but they’d been better than expected because he’d finally gotten his priorities straight. He knew the danger signs of stress and when they started to sneak up on him, he took the time to reassess. A couple of times he’d even talked to Luke.
He’d made a tenuous peace with the lieutenant, had begun to reestablish relationships with his colleagues and peers, and he simply learned to live with the suspicion some of his fellow officers had that he would eventually be retiring to a beach in the Caribbean. Little did they know that his heart was actually set on a piece of desert property that had finally been refinanced. He was hoping to help Tara pay it off soon.
He was eventually able to set the issues with his father aside for the most part. If Tara could do it, so could he. He had other things to focus on.
The future looked bright in Night Sky. Luke was making noises about becoming a great-uncle one of these days, but Matt and Tara planned to hold off on children for a while. They’d only been married for a month and wanted time together.
Matt smiled as he made the final turn into Night Sky and slowed to let a couple of quail run across the street.
Maybe, just maybe, there was something to this small-town cure….
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1870-3
A DIFFICULT WOMAN
Copyright © 2006 by Jeannie Steinman.
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