Page 14 of Sheriff's City Girl

“Feel free to sit anywhere,” I greeted the two men. One of them looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Back in Austin, it was nothing to see men running around in suits, so maybe seeing them was just playing with my senses.

“Thanks,” the tallest one, a man with slicked back dark hair, said to me. His eyes were the color of the chocolate glaze I made. “I heard this is the place to eat around here.” He gave me a smile, which I returned out of courtesy. I was usually a very friendly person, but these two men didn’t bring that out of me.

“Whoever told you that is a very kind person.” I grabbed a couple of menus as they headed to the very back booth—the same one that Mason and Jackson had sat in when I first met the sheriff. I watched as they sat down, snapping myself out of my trance.

Get your shit together, Emma.

I plastered a placid smile on my face and scurried over, noting that I only had a few people in the entire place. Isabelle, a local writer, was working at one of the tables and Nathan, a college aged kid who I had no idea what he was doing, was sitting on the other side of the place next to the front windows.

“Can I get you two some coffee?” I asked the same question I always did as I sat the laminated menus down.

“Uh, yeah,” the shorter—and much older—one said to me, his pale blue eyes meeting mine. “I think coffee would be good, don’t you, Graham?”

“Sure.” Graham never looked up from his menu. “Coffee is great—as long as it’s not old.”

I raised my brow, tempted to smart off, but I didn’t. “It’s always fresh here.” Whoever Graham was, there was no doubt that he was from the city. “I’ll be right back with those while you two look over the menu.”

My white converse squeaked across the floors as I headed back behind the counter to the coffee pot. Lucky for Graham, I had just started a fresh pot of coffee, mostly for me. I filled a couple of mugs, sat them on the tray, and grabbed creamer and sugar. These guys were either the type that drank it black or added a lot of extras. I wasn’t going to be the one guessing today.

If I was wrong, they might leave a bad review.

“Here you go,” I said, setting everything down on the table for them. “Do you happen to know what you’d like?”

“Uh… I think I’ll just stick to the coffee, thanks,” Graham chuckled, handing me back the menu. “I’m not really into this style of food.”

Good to know. I’ll change the whole place up for you.

“I think I’ll just have one of these scones,” the other, much nicer, man pointed to the cinnamon oat with maple glaze. “It sounds good.”

“It’s definitely a favorite,” I said with a smile, taking his menu from him. I didn’t have to force a smile with people who actually had some manners, but then again, my head was still feeling off from last night.

I dropped the menus back into the holder and got busy readying the man’s scone for him. However, as I worked, their conversation filled my ears.

“I think we can really change this place, Jerry,” Graham said, finally giving me a name to the nicer man’s face. “Everyone is moving out of the city, and I don’t see anything wrong with giving them a good place to move to.”

“I don’t know…” Jerry’s voice trailed off. “You already said there’s no land for sale out here—and I don’t see this town being interested in what we have to offer.”

“Well, maybe the people who live here now aren’t interested, but if we build the right stores and housing, the right ones will come. This place could have chain stores before we know it. There’s some bad debt on some land, too. You know that’s some of the best deals.”

Jerry let out a chuckle, but didn’t say anything as I arrived with his scone, setting it down in front of him. “Thanks, hon.”

“No problem,” I said, before turning to Graham. “Anything I can get for you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so—just some privacy, thanks.” Graham didn’t even look up at me as he waved me off.

Asshole.

Shaking my head, I headed back to sit behind the counter. It wouldn’t be long and my afternoon help would be coming in for the lunch rush, but for now… I had a good hour to wait. I sat quietly, picking up a book and pretending to read as Jerry and Graham’s voices were suddenly much quieter than they were before. I was fairly certain they had no idea I was eavesdropping, but…

Well, who knows.

My phone vibrating in my pocket caught my attention, and I pulled it out, setting my book down on the counter beside me.

Lily.

I bit my lip as I hesitated to answer. I could just say that I was busy when she called and so I missed it… Or I could just answer. Ugh.

“Girl, where the heck have you been?” Lily’s voice thundered in my ear before I could even say hello. “You never go MIA on me. I thought you were dead.”

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