Page 15 of Sheriff's City Girl

I forced a laugh. “I was not dead, and you know that. I told you when I was leaving. I had to work this morning.”

“And I had to take Dara to school, but I still stayed longer,” she teased, her voice light. “But seriously, what the heck is up with you? You didn’t even text me and give me a rundown of what you thought of the whole thing. I was just thinking about stopping by before I ran a few errands.”

“Well, you’re more than welcome to stop by…” My eyes drifted back toward the table of the two businessmen, wondering if Lily would know what they were talking about—well, what land they were talking about. I hadn’t seen any foreclosures in the paper.

“Okay, well that’s good because I’m pulling up right now.” She hung up before I could even say anything more.

Ugh.

I braced as the door of the café swung open, and in walked my best friend, clad in a bright pink T-shirt and faded blue jeans. “Hey, Lily,” I greeted her, waving my hand up so she’d know where to find me.

“What’re you hiding back here?” She peeked her eyes up and over the register at me. “You can’t serve people like this.”

“Uh… If you haven’t noticed,” I raised an eyebrow. “There isn’t anyone to serve right now. I think it’s fine. I’m just taking a break.”

“Right, okay,” she laughed, slipping around behind the counter. “It looks like those developers are still in town.”

“Oh yeah,” I grumbled. “And one of them is a real catch.”

“Graham? The dark-headed one?” Lily glanced back toward them. “I know he’s probably the one you’re talking about. He’s been all over Drew. It’s just freaking annoying.”

“About land?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, there’s some big lot of land—Drew won’t give me details—that’s in bad shape when it comes to making the payments. Graham has been bugging the shit out of Drew to push the owner to sell…But you know how Drew is. He’s not going to pressure anyone.”

“And you don’t know who it is?”

“No idea.” She shrugged, only halfway smiling. “I think whoever it is doesn’t want anyone to know that they’re in bad shape—and they’re probably just trying to get out of the predicament. That’s my guess. And you know how it is… small towns are full of people who want to talk.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, letting out a sigh.

“Whoa…” Lily immediately narrowed her eyes at me. “What’re you talking about? Because I know for certain that no one here has anything other than amazing things to say about you…”

“Right.” I diverted my eyes from her.

“Well,” Lily huffed. “Actually, there is one thing that I would like to talk to you about. I heard it from Dara.”

That caught my attention. “Like your daughter?”

“Yep, that’s the one,” she laughed, a sly smile creeping across her face. “And the funny thing is, I believe what she said she saw.”

My stomach plummeted, growing nauseous all at the same time. “And what was that?” I choked out, suddenly feeling as though there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room.

Please don’t let her have seen Mason and I…

“She saw you and Mason head off into the horse barn—and he shut the door behind you two.” Her tone made me cringe, wishing I could disappear into the wall behind me. “And before you start to explain, no one but Jess and Dara saw, so your secret is safe.”

I blew out a sharp breath. “Okay, so… Um… It’s uh…”

“Oh my god,” she cut me off. “It’s worse than I thought. Did you… Did you kiss him?”

My eyes went wide—my best friend had no idea. “Yeah,” I sputtered out, blinking a few times. “He offered to show me the place, and I took him up on it. We had a few beers and then… Well, you know. Things got a little heated.”

She drummed her finger on her thigh. “And so… Are you going to give me any details? Or am I just supposed to come up with the two of you romping around in the hay loft?”

I tried to keep my cool. “It’s not really that exciting.”

“Hmm.” Lily’s face lost all amusement, and my heart nearly stopped. She had known me way too long—and she saw right through the act that I was putting on. “You fucked him, didn’t you?”

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