Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He sidestepped that and queried, “You call a friend?”
“Four of them. Two spent the night. Janie and Kay.”
“Good,” he muttered.
She looked around, suddenly avoiding his eyes, saying, “You’re probably busy. Should we get this done?”
“We should. We will. Then I’m taking you to the Double D and feeding you.”
Her gaze whipped to his.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“You eaten this morning?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Did you eat last night?”
Her lips thinned.
That meant no.
“I’m taking you to breakfast,” he announced.
“Sheriff Moran—”
“I thought we agreed I was Harry yesterday,” he pointed out.
She said nothing but at least what he said put some color in her cheeks.
“I told you I was going to get you through this,” he reminded her. “And I’m going to get you through it.”
“You’re being nice again,” she warned, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Get used to it,” he warned in return.
And then, before she could resist further, he took her hand, led her out of his office, and called for his deputy, Wade, to assist when he led her to an interview room to take the swabs.
SEVEN
Wanna Know a Secret?
Harry
He knew it was a mistake by the time they were half a block down from the station heading toward the Double D.
It wasn’t lost on Harry well before Dern’s downfall that he was a popular guy.
Whether they liked it or not, people needed police.
You had a cop you didn’t trust, you cleaved to the cop you did.
He also knew by the turnout at Winnie’s funeral.
She was well-liked, but a lot of those people were there for him.
So, years later, Harry should have known that walking down the street with a beautiful woman, when he had not done something like that since Winnie died, was going to cause a stir in a small town where people got into other people’s business like it was their job.
And he saw and felt a lot of eyes on them, most of them not trying to hide it.
But Lillian needed to eat, so he couldn’t turn back.
And part of him, a part he wasn’t quite at one with, a part he wasn’t allowing fully to surface, but a part that was still there, thought they’d have to get used to it, so they might as well start now.
Including Lillian.
Though, to give Lillian a break, when they got to the diner, he led them to a booth at the side, not easily visible from the front windows.
They’d barely settled across from each other before Heidi, their waitress, was there.
She opened her mouth, took one look at Lillian after she pulled off her sunglasses, then Heidi’s gaze shot to Harry.
Harry subtly shook his head.
Heidi’s eyes grew melancholy before she blanked it and turned back to Lillian.
“Hey, Lill,” she greeted cheerily. “The usual?”
And there it was.
Lillian lived her life, she was a part of Misted Pines, she had a usual for breakfast at the Double D, and Harry had been so out of it, he’d never noticed her.
Christ.
He wasn’t ever going to share this shit with Doc. He’d never hear the end of it.
“I think I just want coffee,” Lillian ordered.
“She’ll have a full stack of cashew granola pancakes, and a side of bacon,” Harry ordered for her.
Heidi pressed her lips together, but now her eyes were dancing.
“Harry, I can’t eat all that,” Lillian protested.
Harry worked out daily and ate healthy. He did this because his job demanded it. He did this because he represented the sheriff’s department on the whole. And he did it because he didn’t like to feel bloated, weighed down or lackadaisical, which eating shit made him feel.
His mother used to say he was Popeye; spinach gave him superpowers.
She was right.
He allowed himself to splurge seven days of the year: his birthday, the Fourth of July, Halloween (he had a weakness for candy), Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and if he was invited to a Memorial Day party (which he always was).
In the meantime, he’d have a beer, or a drink, he’d chow down on a burger or dig into a steak, and he couldn’t eat a baked potato without all the fixin’s, but other than that, Harry ate clean.
“I’ll finish what you don’t eat,” he said.
“I see you dragged in the competitor’s product to mock us,” Heidi noted, dipping her head to the Aromacobana cup he still held.
And he was glad she did, because it made Lillian emit a short chuckle.
“I got two sips left so I’ll need another,” he told Heidi.
“On it,” Heidi said and walked away.
“I have some things for you,” Lillian told him, taking his attention to her.
She was pulling an envelope out of her purse.
She slid it across the table to him. “Pictures of Mom and Dad. Just in case you need them for some reason.” She hesitated, rolling her lips together. “I’ll, um…want them back.”
He took the envelope and tucked it carefully into his breast pocket, saying, “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll make certain you get them back.”