"Lily doing okay?"
Her lashes lowered and hid her eyes. "Mostly. We had a...fight, I guess. Last night. And this morning we were both tiptoeing around each other."
"What happened?"
She shrugged. "Just little girl stuff. She didn't want to go to bed."
"But this was the first time you'd fought, right?"
Her eyes skittered across the parking lot and finally came to meet his. She nodded.
"Congratulations." He held up his hand for a high-five.
Her brows knit.
"Welcome to being a real parent," he said.
Her confusion increased, and she shook her head slightly. But she slipped her hand out of her pocket and met his high-five. He curled his fingers over hers and lowered their now-linked hands between them, edging slightly closer.
She allowed it, although she looked away again, and pink rose in her cheeks.
"If you were just a guest in the house, she wouldn't pick a fight with you," he said. "She's gotten used to having you around. And she's comfortable enough with you to fight with you."
Her nose wrinkled. "I wish she wasn't quite that comfortable."
He chuckled, and a couple of heads turned their way. Courtney tried to disentangle their hands, but he gave her a squeeze and held on.
She sighed. "It's not just that..."
He waited, giving her an encouraging raise of his eyebrows when she didn't immediately go on. Her pause lengthened.
"It's December," she said. "And Jake's got this history of giving her these huge, impractical gifts. As Santa, of course." She whispered the last, looking around for small children waiting with their moms.
"Ah." And he knew she worked at a fast food joint in Weatherford. She wasn't making a lot of money and had living expenses...
"I don't think this Christmas is about the presents she gets," he said.
She tilted her head. Man, he wanted to kiss her again.
"I think you are the best gift she can have this year. It should be about the experience. You know, make cookies together. Go ice skating. Do crafts. Little girls love crafts, don't they?"
Her shoulders had straightened slightly, but as talked, she seemed to deflate.
"I'm not good at that kind of stuff."
He jiggled their linked hands. "It can't be that hard."
Her eyes dropped. Hiding from him again. He didn't like it at all.
He leaned closer. "Don't tell anyone"—his jaw brushed strands of her hair flying in the breeze—"or I'll lose my man card, but there's this website. It's all about crafts and cooking and stuff. They have tons of ideas on there. Most of them have pictures that show you how to do it. All you'd have to do is search for Christmas."
She looked up at him, her eyes open and maybe slightly curious. Good. "How do you know about it?"
He looked left and right, playing up the secrecy aspect. "Ever since my sister-in-law has been out of the picture, my brother has had to help with every school project. I might've heard about it from him."
"You mean you might've used it at his house..." she murmured.
She was teasing him! His heart leapt, and he grinned at her.
Kids filtered out the door, and the line of moms began moving.
And then he caught sight of Bea's teacher waving from the doorway. She was looking right at Courtney. Oh no.
Courtney dropped his hand, and this time he didn't attempt to hold onto her. But he did follow her when she cut from the line and walked straight to the door.
"Is your brother here?" the teacher asked him.
"I'm doing pickup today," he answered. A bad feeling settled in his gut.
"Well, I guess you'll have to do. Both of you need to come in. Your girls got in a fight this afternoon."
* * *
The ground shifted beneath Courtney's feet. She could hear voices from far off.
Lily's teacher was already marching down the hallway, past an ocean of students.
Then Eric's hand brushed her wrist, but he couldn't be her anchor, not now.
Lily had been in a fight? With his niece, no less? What was going on? Was this because of the screaming match they'd had last night?
Was this her fault?
"Just take a breath," he said in her ear. "We'll sort through it."
He'd said he was her friend. But how could he be when his niece needed him?
She swallowed, but anxiety remained lodged in her throat. The school atmosphere heightened her emotion. The hallways smelled like children's sweat, glue, and pencil shavings.
The noise level abated some as they passed through streams of kids and turned down a hallway. She had a quick glimpse of a bulletin board of first grader artwork—not even time to look for Lily's lopsided Christmas tree—before the teacher disappeared through the classroom doorway.
They followed, Eric slightly behind.
Lily sat at one round table. One of the two little girls she recognized from the program sat at another, and a harried-looking middle-aged woman stood in front of a desk.
Lily's teacher joined her near the desk. "This is our school counselor, Mrs. Partridge."
Courtney went to Lily as Eric went to his niece, though he glanced at Courtney. Lily stared at the table, her backpack on the floor at her feet, her coat laid across her lap. Courtney could see her mussed, hair and maybe the shadow of a bruise on her cheek. Beneath the hem of her T-shirt, her elbow was covered in a large rectangular Band-aid. Other than that, she appeared unharmed.
It didn't stop her worried mother's heart from pounding.
Eric knelt next to his niece, who also had her shoulders hunched and hands clasped in her lap. There was a dark smear on her upper lip, as if she'd had a bloody nose.
"What happened?" Courtney asked.
It was Lily's teacher who answered. "The girls were playing on the playground equipment at recess. Apparently, there was some confusion over who was next in line for the swings, then there was some name calling, and then Lily pushed Bea. Bea pushed back. They both fell down before a teacher could get to them. Lily's elbow was scraped and Bea had a bloody nose. They both saw the school nurse."
Lily had pushed Eric's niece?
It was so unlike her usually happy-go-lucky daughter. Jake had never mentioned any violent behavior before.
Lily looked up, her chin tilted at a defiant angle. "She said you were a jailbird, so I pushed her!"
The words hit like a blow in Courtney's gut. Eric rose and put his hand on Bea's shoulder, but he didn't look her direction.
Her throat closed up.
Mrs. Partridge spoke. "We've had a meeting with the principal, and there will be no suspension, but this is a serious matter." The counselor looked between Courtney and Eric. "I understand there are background issues on both sides. Because of that, the principal and I have agreed it would be best for Lily and Bea to attend joint counseling sessions with me once a week. The sessions will start after the new year. I've put a schedule in the girls' backpacks."
Her mind swirled. Should she punish Lily at home? How could she punish her daughter for defending her?
What was the right thing to do?
She would have to talk with Jake. She might as well just tell the world she wasn't a good mother. But what choice did she have? She needed help.
Her throat ached just thinking about it.
Mrs. Partridge left, and Lily's teacher began packing up her desk. It must be time to go. Courtney straightened, and Lily stood up from the table, her hand slipping into her mom's.
Courtney didn't now where they were going from here or what she was going to do, but clearly, they were in it together.
They took their leave, and she was keenly aware that Eric didn't look up from where he still knelt next to Bea.
* * *
Eric sat in the cab of his department SUV, almost too tired to go inside. He was parked in his driveway but not ready to go in and heat up leftovers out of the fridge.
He'd forgotten to turn on the po
rch light and it was dark in the shadow of the house. No moon out tonight.
He touched the screen of his phone, lighting it. There was no response to his text.
He re-read the text he'd spent a good ten minutes composing. It had to be just right.
Here's a fun project, more of the same on the website. He'd included a link that would take her to the crafty site.
He'd sent the text almost half an hour ago, and she still hadn't responded. He'd had her number since he'd filed the report on her smashed mailbox.
He could only imagine how upset she'd been this afternoon after the meeting with Lily's teacher. He'd wanted to talk to her, but by the time he'd picked up Piper from her kindergarten class and herded both girls outside, Courtney and Lily had been gone.
Jailbird.
He knew how words could hurt and could only imagine how that had cut. Especially when it had been said to her daughter. He'd had a long talk with his brother, and James had promised to talk with Bea about her behavior.
But what about Courtney?
6
Two weeks later, Eric slowed his SUV as he turned onto the residential street two blocks from his. His growling stomach was telling him it was lunchtime. Maybe he'd stop in and grab a sandwich before he headed back out on patrol.
Several of the bungalows had cars parked in their drives. This street had several elderly residents.
Nosy ones.
He saw a curtain twitch in the window of the house on the corner. Mrs. Edwards's place.
She'd called in suspicious activity, claiming someone in a car was casing houses along the street.
It wasn't her first time. She was known to the department as a busybody. But it was kind of nice going on a call like this instead of something violent or drug-related.
The sedan parked along the curb just ahead was out of place. The driver's side was occupied. And there came a little sprite skipping down the sidewalk toward the car.
Lily Sutton.
He pulled up behind Courtney's car and turned of the ignition. Stepped out.
Lily paused on the curb, her eyes huge. "Are we in trouble?"
It was telling that those were her first words. Maybe after the trouble she'd been in at school, she was jumpy.
Courtney's window cranked down.
He strolled next to her and stopped far enough away that she wouldn't get a crick in her neck talking to him.
"Officer." She sounded so serious, and she wore reflective shades that kept him from seeing her eyes.
"This isn't a traffic stop," he said.
There was an imperceptible relaxing to the set of her shoulders. "You just...decided you wanted some cookies?"
"Cookies?"
Lily opened the door and got into the passenger seat. "Are we in trouble?"
Courtney turned to the girl. "No, honey. Can you hand me one of those boxes?"
Lily handed her something shiny, and Courtney passed it out the window. "Merry Christmas, Officer."
She placed it in his ungloved hand. It was a small cardboard or pasteboard box, and it had been decorated with stamps in Christmas shapes—a star, a candy can, a stocking, and a Santa—and glitter. Copious amounts of glitter.
Courtney murmured something he couldn't hear, and then Lily piped a grudging, "Merry Christmas," from inside the car.
He pulled off the lid, ignoring the waterfall of glitter that fell onto his feet, and found a dozen cookies inside, wrapped in white paper. He fingered through them, noticing the slightly lopsided shapes where the cookie cutter must've slipped and the piped icing that wasn't quite in the right place. Christmas cookies.
Courtney and Lily continued their conversation inside, and then Lily got out of the passenger door again and started up the sidewalk toward the house next door to the one she'd just visited.
"You found your Christmas project," he said when the little girl was out of earshot.
"We did." Through the open window, he saw her hands tighten on the bottom rung of the steering wheel. She didn't look directly at him. "I guess I should say thank you for suggesting that website."
"You probably should, since you never answered my text."
Her hands flexed on the wheel. "That...wasn't a good day."
"I wasn't trying to make it worse."
She didn't respond, and he decided he hated those glasses that hid her eyes from him. "You know, sometimes a friend can help when you're going through a tough day like that. Or at least give you somebody to talk to."
"I talked to Jake plenty," she muttered to the steering wheel.
"Somebody impartial, then."
He glanced over the top of her car to see Lily on the stoop, chatting animatedly with Mr. Anderson, a retiree whose family lived in Ohio.
"Are you impartial?" she asked suddenly, bringing his attention back to the car window. Her chin jutted out at a stubborn angle that reminded him of Lily. "'Cause I get the feeling that you don't really want to be just friends."
She looked half-petulant and half-petrified, and he couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips.
She averted her gaze.
"I'm not laughing at you," he said, realizing that might be what she was thinking. "I'm just impressed that you called me out. Sometimes people are intimidated by the badge. But not you and Lily."
At least that got her to face him again, though he still couldn't see her eyes behind those glasses. He sat the cookie box on top of her car and reached out with both hands to slip off the glasses. She didn't stop him. He folded the earpieces in and held the glasses loosely between his hands.
The vulnerability she'd been hiding behind the reflective plastic was a kick in the gut. She'd never confronted him about being Zorro or the Halloween night kiss. Maybe she still didn't know it had been him.
Even so, he'd been pretty obvious about his intentions.
He held the glasses just above the window frame, and when she reached out to take them, he used the movement to tangle their fingers together. "I'm not gonna lie," he said quietly, aware that Lily was coming down Mr. Anderson's front walk. She wasn't within hearing distance, but he had one shot to say this right before she would be.
"I think you're a pretty amazing person." Not the least, that she was brave enough to intentionally put herself out there, delivering Christmas cookies with her daughter. "And I'm sorta hoping that if you hang around me enough, you'll fall in love with my sparkling, witty personality." That drew the ghost of a smile from her.
Lily had gained the sidewalk now, getting closer.
"But if all that happens is we both gain a solid friendship, I think we'd both be the better for it."
Her eyes searched his face, and his instinct was to show his cop face, a poker face that was hard to read. But he did the hard thing and tried to open up, so she could see he was serious. He wanted a relationship with her, but he wouldn't push.
Lily came even with the car, and he let go of Courtney's hand. The glasses fell to her lap, and the connection was broken.
He bent to see inside the car. "Can you do me a favor? Before you do any other houses, can you visit Mrs. Edwards, over there?" He pointed over his shoulder to the house on the corner. He winked at Lily, who had her own poker face going on and didn't crack a smile. Tough crowd.
* * *
Courtney followed Eric's pointing finger to the brick bungalow on the corner. Even as she watched, a curtain in one of the front windows twitched, like someone was watching.
Her stomach sank like a ball of lead.
Eric had said this wasn't a traffic stop, but he hadn't ever said he wasn't here on official business.
"Somebody called the sheriff's office on us?" That strangled whisper must've come from her mouth, because Lily was rummaging in the canvas bag they'd packed all the cookie boxes in.
"Don't worry about it," he said softly. "I doubt she even knew it was you in the car. Two weeks ago, she called in about a burglar at her next-door neighbor's. Turned out to be a possum rummaging in the garbage
during the night. Before that, it was a noise complaint when the guy two doors down was mowing his lawn." He aimed his gaze at Lily, across the console. "I think Mrs. Edwards gets a little lonely. I'll bet having some cookies would cheer her up."
His words were an attempt to make Courtney feel better, but nothing he could say was going to loosen the rock that was her stomach.
Why did she even try changing people's mind about her? She'd grown up here. She knew that once the folks of Redbud Trails set their mind about something—or someone—it would take an act of God to change them.
But that one lousy kernel of hope had sprouted in her heart. She'd wanted...everything.
The friendship that Eric dangled in front of her—she couldn't focus on what he'd said about wanting her to fall in love with him. That was too much of a leap.
She'd wanted Lily not to be punished because of her mother's mistakes.
She'd wanted a fresh start.
She should have known it was impossible. Someone had called the cops on her for delivering Christmas cookies with her daughter.
He seemed to read her emotions straight off her face, and she wished she hadn't let him take her glasses.
"Why don't both of you make the delivery to Mrs. Edwards, and I'll come with you," he offered.
Courtney glanced at Lily, who wore the stubborn look she seemed to reserve only for the sheriff. Courtney had no idea what the girl's problem was, but it would have to be solved sometime later.
She shored up a smile for her daughter's sake. "Sure."
She opened the car door and got out, Lily scrambling out behind her.
Lily walked in front but shot suspicious glances over her shoulder at both Eric and Courtney as they followed her across the street and up Mrs. Edwards' walk.
Lily knocked.
"Hey, Mrs. E.," Eric said when an older woman opened the door a crack.
"Did you arrest the culprits?" The voice emerged weaker than Courtney had expected.
"I did find the car that was loitering in the street."
Courtney found her gaze drawn to him. Loitering?
"But it wasn't any bad guys. You want to open the door a little? Meet Lily and Courtney Sutton."
Prodigal Cowgirl Page 4