“He’s walking back with Dev,” Charity said. She had no idea how she managed to form words with her head spinning like this. “They should be here any minute.”
“I’ve brought out some lemonade.” Mrs. Jenkins carried a tray through the door. “And an icepack for poor Gracie too.” She set the tray on a small table next to where Gracie sat in a lounge chair. Charity looked at the girl’s ankle, all swollen and black and blue. God, Bodie was lucky it hadn’t been worse.
“Thank you, Mrs. Jenkins,” Naomi said, taking a seat next to her daughter. She carefully tucked the icepack in a towel and wrapped it around Gracie’s ankle. “We appreciate all of your help.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” The older woman took her husband by the hand and led him back inside. “We’re going to get some lunch on for everyone. I’m sure y’all are starvin’.” The older couple disappeared inside, and Charity didn’t know what to say. She was at a complete loss for how to deal with this.
“Well, at least things weren’t worse.” Naomi planted a kiss on Gracie’s forehead. “Everything will be fine.”
Charity didn’t feel fine. She still felt like she was five seconds away from emptying her stomach again.
“Why would you go off like that without telling anyone?” Lucas demanded. He didn’t seem to think things were fine either.
“It was Bodie’s idea to go for a ride.” Charity stepped forward. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve kept a better eye on them.” Once again, she’d given her nephew too much freedom. But she would find a way to fix this. “He’s definitely going to be grounded.” She wouldn’t be able to let him out of her sight. “And he’ll pay all the doctor’s bills. He can work them off at the ranch and—”
“No, it was me,” Gracie blurted through a sob. “It was all my idea to go riding instead of down to the barn. Bodie wanted to turn around but I didn’t listen. I wanted him to like me. To think I was cool.” She choked out another mournful sob. “So I made Peaches keep going. It was all my fault.”
“Your fault?” Was she trying to protect Bodie? Charity lowered into the chair next to her. “You said it was Bodie’s idea. I heard you.”
“I know.” Gracie sniffled. “I’m so so so so sorry.” She peeked up at her parents. “I was afraid Mom would take away riding, so I lied. But I don’t want Bodie to get in trouble. I’m sure he hates me now.”
“Of course he doesn’t hate you.” Charity gave her hand a squeeze right as her own heart sank. She’d been so hard on Bodie. So angry. And he hadn’t even tried to defend himself.
“I bet he’ll never talk to me again,” the girl whimpered. “He probably wishes he never met me.”
Charity refocused on Gracie and tried to smile. “You’ve been so nice to him since he started school. And he obviously tried to protect you. Which means he likes you.”
That seemed to stop her tears. “You think?”
“Yes.” Her nephew definitely had a little crush on Gracie.
“I’m so sorry I said it was him.” She swiped her nose with her shirtsleeve.
“Oh sweetie,” Naomi said, studying her daughter’s face. “Honey, you know the rules. You’re only supposed to ride on the road.”
“I know. It was a mistake.” A hopeless sigh turned into a sob.
Lucas and Naomi shared a look. “It’s okay. We’ll talk about the consequences later,” her stepfather said. “Right now we need to get you to the doctor.” He leaned over and lifted Gracie into his arms. On his way down the steps, Lucas glanced at Charity over his shoulder. “We’ll come by your place later. So I can apologize to Bodie for how I acted.”
“I need to apologize too,” Gracie blubbered.
“Sure. That’s fine. Anytime.” Charity couldn’t seem to stand up. She’d yelled at Bodie too. She’d been horrible to him. She hadn’t even bothered to ask him for the truth. She’d simply assumed it was all his fault.
“You okay?” Naomi leaned down to hug her.
“Nope.” No sense in lying. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for this parenting stuff.”
“It’s not for the faint of heart,” her friend agreed. “I’ll call you later. After we’re finished at the doctor.”
“Thanks.” She watched Naomi follow Lucas to his truck. They both fussed over Gracie, getting her settled in the back seat, and then they drove away.
Charity kept her eyes trained on the very edge of the meadow, waiting and watching. When Dev and Bodie finally came into view, she slowly rose from the chair. By the time they’d made it up the porch steps, she was crying. Without saying anything, she walked over to her nephew and wrapped him in a hug. He was still shorter than her—it probably wouldn’t be that way for long, but she took advantage of his height and planted a kiss on the top of his head.
“Uh…you okay, Aunt Charity?” Her shoulder muffled his voice, and she gave him a little more space to breathe. Only a little.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should’ve asked you what happened.” She pulled back so he could see her face. “Next time, I will.”
“How did you—”
“Gracie told us the truth,” she interrupted, desperate for his forgiveness.
“Well, good. I’m glad the truth is out.” Dev stood a few feet away, as if he wanted to give them two of them some space.
“You told Dev the truth?” But not her. He’d simply taken the brunt of everyone’s fear and frustration.
“I figured it out,” Dev offered. “But I had a feeling Gracie would come clean eventually.”
“Do her parents know?” It was sweet how Bodie’s face got all concerned.
“Yes. They’re all going to stop over later so they can apologize to you.”
He brushed off the whole thing with a shrug. “They don’t have to. It’s no big deal.”
Charity took his shoulders in her hands and directed him to face her. “Yes, it is. It’s a big deal. Bodie…you have to trust me. You have to tell me things. So I can help you.”
“Why?” Her nephew stared down at his boots. “What’s the point? I’ll probably never see you again after my mom comes back anyway.”
“Of course you will.” Charity staggered back a step. Before she could say more, the screen door opened and Mrs. Jenkins poked out her head. “Oh, Bodie, thank heavens you’re back! Why don’t you come on in? Get some water and have a little snack? I’m sure you’re starving after such an ordeal.”
“Thanks.” He moved swiftly past Charity as though he couldn’t wait to escape, and disappeared into the house. Mrs. Jenkins continued holding open the door, but Dev walked over and gently pushed it closed. “We’ll be in soon.”
“Of course.” His mom smiled at them in a knowing way and scurried off.
Charity walked over to the railing, curled her fingers around the solid wood, and gazed out at the clouds building over the peaks on the horizon. She found it hard to breathe past the scorch marks Bodie’s words had left on her heart. I’ll probably never see you again.
“Hey.” Dev came over and stood next to her. “He does trust you, you know. As much as he can trust anyone.”
Charity went back to the chair and sank down. “That’s the thing. He can’t. He can’t trust anyone. His life is in limbo right now.” She glanced at Dev from behind a fresh curtain of tears. “Maybe I need to try harder to find Melody. Maybe he’d be better off with her. I mean, look at what’s happened since he came to stay with me. He crashed my truck, ditched school, got drunk…” All in a couple of weeks. How was she going to help him when she couldn’t get through to him?
Dev pulled over a chair and sat across from her. “He wouldn’t be better off with Melody. I know that much.”
She used her shirtsleeves to dry her eyes. “How do you know?” Because she was doing a pretty crappy job of being a parent. For all her sister’s issues, Bodie seemed to love his mom. He seemed to trust her, even though she’d left him.
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
Charity raised her
head to look at him, to see into his eyes. They were drawn and sad.
“I did some research, looked up crime reports in Oklahoma a while back,” he said, holding her gaze. “A month ago, two suspects robbed a convenience store near Stillwater. One of them was a woman. With blond hair.”
Not this again. “Are you serious? You’re still looking for some crime to accuse her of? Why would she rob a convenience store?” Her sister was irresponsible, not violent.
Dev leaned closer, like he wanted her to listen carefully. “Bodie said she lost her job a month ago. Then he told me someone had given them money right before they left. To help them out.”
Suddenly a chair seemed like the worst place to be. She couldn’t sit still, not with the anger sending streaks of heat through her chest. “When did he tell you that?” She swiftly rose to her feet, standing over Dev. “And why? Were you trying to get information out of him?” Was that why he’d offered to spend time with Bodie?
“No. He just mentioned it. When we were working.” Dev stood too. “But I couldn’t let it go, Charity. I’m a cop. I called the detective working the case. Melody is a person of interest in the robbery. They’d like to find her so they can question her.”
The news hollowed her out. Empty. Her body felt empty. Especially her heart, which had just only started to open up to this man. “How long have you known?” The words barely squeaked past the lump in her throat.
Dev hesitated. “A while,” he finally said.
“And you didn’t tell me. You kissed me, but you didn’t want to tell me you were working on building a case against my sister behind my back.”
“I’m not building a case. I was trying to help you find her. But I had an obligation to report what I learned. And I didn’t want to tell you anything until they had evidence against her. I’m sorry.” He reached out for her, his hands grazing her arms before she jolted back.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me. God, Dev. Do you even know what it’ll do to Bodie if his mom goes to prison?”
“There’s a chance she committed a crime.” His arms dropped to his sides. “If she was really involved in something like that, Bodie will be better off with you. I did what I thought was best.”
But that didn’t change the fact that he’d lied to her. That he’d been lying to her for weeks. And to Bodie too. “We’re done,” she told him. “Bodie and I are going home and we’re done.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dev had never been any good at pretending. He sat up on the stage at the old Episcopal Church, which had been turned into the town hall, and folded his hands on the table in front of him. Months ago, Hank Green had scheduled an official question-and-answer session with the sheriff candidate—trying to cast Dev in a friendly light for local voters, he suspected. At the time, he’d agreed it might be a good chance for people to get to know him, but tonight was not the best night for him to stand up in front of the whole town to declare how excited he was about the opportunity to become their county sheriff.
He hadn’t slept in a couple of nights, and he hadn’t thought about the election in even longer. Not since he’d been distracted by everything that had happened with Charity. Throughout the whole session, Dev had done his best to answer the questions, and he even tried to muster some enthusiasm, but based on Hank’s furious glares, he wasn’t meeting expectations.
“We’ll take another question,” the mayor said, moderating from the podium off to the side of the stage. Dev had just struggled through an answer on how he would change the direction of the sheriff’s office if elected. The truth was, he hadn’t spent as much time thinking about that lately as he probably should have.
“I have a question.” A woman near the back raised her hand. Dev didn’t recognize her, but then again about half the people here were likely from other towns in the county. His friends and family took up one whole section on the right side of the audience, but he’d told them not to ask questions. God only knew what the guys would come up with. Probably something about why he was so devastatingly handsome. He still hadn’t lived that down.
“Yes, ma’am.” The mayor gestured for her to stand.
The woman appeared to be in the retired demographic, a segment Hank assured Dev he’d already won over. “Why do you want to be sheriff?” she asked politely before quickly sitting back down.
“Great question,” Hank said, turning the floor over to Dev with a wave of his hand.
“Oh. Well…” Dev sat straighter and clenched his shoulder blades tightly together. A familiar tension burned at the base of his neck. Why? Why did he want to be sheriff? Everyone else had plenty of reasons—Hank because it would be good for the town, his parents because they were so proud, Ty because he thought Dev could magically make his parking tickets disappear…
“He’s having a hard time narrowing down the many reasons,” Hank quipped. A few people chuckled. “But let me remind you, deputy, we are on a bit of a schedule here. So why don’t you pick your top three reasons?”
Three? Dev hoped no one else could see him squirm. Shit, he was having a hard time coming up with one. “I guess I’d have to say…I think being county sheriff would give me the best chance to help the most people.” Even as the words sputtered out, he questioned their credibility. His boss was hardly ever out in the field anymore. It seemed the man’s days were filled with meetings and phone calls and appearances and personnel issues.
“Great answer,” Hank said proudly. “As I’m sure you all know, Deputy Jenkins has an outstanding record for service in the community.”
That was because it had always been important to him. He liked being out there—not just on calls, but also on patrols. He liked knowing the people in town, getting to chat with them often about what was going on in their lives. He liked being part of that sense of community.
“What are your other top two reasons you’re looking forward to this opportunity?” Hank prompted, making a lingering glance at his watch.
Dev scanned the crowd. His mom gave him a sneaky double thumbs-up from the front row where she sat next to his dad, both of them beaming with pride.
“It’s really tough to pick only two more reasons,” he fibbed. “I guess I would have to say that I would look forward to being a liaison between the community and the Sheriff’s Department, and I am passionate about upholding the law.” Talk about vague. Any of the other candidates could’ve said the same thing—probably better than he had.
“Thank you for keeping it brief.” Hank’s jaw seemed to have clenched. “We have time for one more question, and then we’ll invite you all to stay for a small reception in the community room.”
“I have a question.” Betty Osterman didn’t bother to raise her hand. She simply stood up. “What’s your relationship with Charity Stone?”
His heart took a punch. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.” We’re done. Those were the words that had been keeping him up at night.
“She’s the one who took out the statue of Luis Cortez, at the fairgrounds, right?” The same woman who’d called him devastatingly handsome in an op-ed posted her hands on her hips and glared. “Rumor has it you’re romantically involved. Does that have anything to do with why she got off so easy?”
Dev opened his mouth to speak, but Hank jumped in before he got the chance. “Deputy Jenkins conducted a thorough investigation. I was there to oversee it myself. We found that it was simply a case of distracted driving, and Ms. Stone was punished to the full extent of the law. Now, it appears our time is up. Why don’t we all gather in the community room for refreshments? If anyone else has questions, Deputy Jenkins would be happy to address them then.”
Everyone stood and started to gather their things, and even though he wanted to disappear, Dev made his way to the reception along with the crowd. He hated to admit it, but Betty had a point. He had gone easy on Charity that night. Or, more accurately, on Bodie. But wasn’t that part of being a good cop? Evaluating each individual situation and blending compassion with disc
ipline?
Some people would say no. A lot of those people were probably county sheriffs. When you were in charge—always being scrutinized—there likely weren’t a lot of opportunities to exercise mercy…
“Whew, rough crowd.” Ty sidled up next to him in the hallway. People murmured around them, likely judging every word Dev had said up there. Most of them probably weren’t impressed.
“Yeah. I wasn’t exactly stellar up there tonight.” He said it quiet enough that hopefully no one else heard.
“I don’t know…” Darla appeared on his other side. “I thought you came across as real.”
“Yeah,” Ty grumbled. “Real bummed about something. Would it have killed you to smile?”
“I smiled.” At least he’d tried.
“Leave him alone.” Darla reached past Dev and whacked Ty. “He’s totally bummed out about Charity. Give the guy a break.”
Dev stopped, leaving the crowd behind them only a small space to filter past. “Wow, word travels fast.” It had been only a few days since Charity informed him she was done with him.
“I’ve talked to her,” she said. “She’s pretty pissed at you.”
“For what?” Ty was never up on the latest gossip.
And Darla never hesitated to bring anyone up to speed. “Dev implicated Melody in a robbery back in Oklahoma and now the cops are looking for her.”
“I didn’t exactly implicate her,” he clarified. “I called to talk to the detective to learn more about the robbery. And now Charity has pretty much written me off.”
“Dude.” Ty shook his head. “I warned you, man. Don’t get too attached to Charity. And what did you do? Dove right in there, didn’t ya? Well, my friend, let me tell you, life is much easier when you’re unattached.”
Solid advice from someone who clearly had an attachment to the woman currently standing next to Dev. Ty might pretend to be all autonomous, but it was common knowledge that he and Darla hooked up occasionally.
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