Page 20 of Mountain Man Officer

“I have to go,” Ava said, glancing at her phone. “I told my mom I would pick up some dinner for her, and it’s getting late.”

“Thanks for listening. I got this.” I pointed to the French fries and her takeout bag.

“You sure?” Ava hesitated.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said.

Ava opened her purse and pulled out a five.

“It’s fine.” I waved her contribution away.

She stood up, slipped the five under her empty glass, took a final French fry and her sandwich, and walked away. I put my head back against the seat cushion, wondering what I was going to do.

“Lindsey?” A voice brought me down from my storm cloud. I looked up to see Macy Ford, takeout bags draped from her arms, standing beside my booth.

“Hey,” I said, sliding out of the seat so I could give her a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m picking up some dinner for the family,” she said, holding up the two white plastic bags. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” I said before I could stop myself.

“What’s wrong?” She set the bags down on the table and took a seat.

I returned to my side of the table.

Macy glanced down at the fries. “That bad, huh?”

I smiled. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to keep you.”

Macy shrugged. “It’s early for dinner anyway. I was just on my way home. Talk to me.”

“You know I told you about my cabin?” I began.

Macy nodded.

“Well, it turns out that the landlord didn’t actually sign my lease, so I have no rights to the property.” I studied the fries as if they were some sort of modern art sculpture. “He sold it out from under me to this new police officer.”

“Jason White?” Macy guessed.

My eyes shot up to meet hers. “Yes.”

Macy nodded. “He’s Dillon’s friend. They’ve been seeing a lot of each other lately. Dillon told me he bought a cabin, but I didn’t know it was your cabin.”

I paused, remembering Jason at the cabin trying to offer me a way out. Was it possible that he wasn’t a jerk? I couldn’t imagine anybody wanting to spend time with him, but I didn’t want to insult one of Macy’s friends.

“Maybe I could ask Dillon to talk to him,” Macy suggested.

My eyes shot up from the table, the first ray of hope sparkling through my rain cloud. “Would you do that?”

“Sure,” Macy agreed.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to bake her a cake or offer to babysit while she and Dillon enjoyed a night out. Instead, I tried to remain composed.

“I’d better go while our dinner is still hot,” Macy said, climbing out of the booth.

“Do you want to grab some coffee sometime?” I asked.

“That would be great.” Macy smiled. “Oh, I meant to tell you. Everyone loved my hair.”

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