Page 30 of Sheriff's City Girl

Mason

Istared at my phone in my lap, open to a text to Emma. I had gotten her number from Drew, making up some bullshit excuse about business owners in the area—like the number for the café wasn’t good enough.

“Is there a reason we’re just sitting here?” Jackson eyed me, his face littered with confusion. “You said you wanted to grab some breakfast, and we never do that…”

“I just forgot my breakfast,” I snapped, lying. Well, sort of. I had intentionally forgotten my breakfast, forcing myself to stop in and see Emma. It’d been nearly a week since our catastrophic horseback riding date.

And I hadn’t been able to let it go.

“You know you could just hit the send button on that message,” Jackson chuckled, leaning over the console. I jerked the phone from his view, and his eyes went wide. “Whoa, someone is being sneaky today. Whatcha tryin’ to hide? Are you finally indulging in some much-needed sex? Because I feel like an asshole like you could use the softening of a good woman.”

“Why are you so damn nosey?” I shot back at him, fire in my eyes. I glanced back down at what read like an awkward attempt at making amends with Emma—for the second time.

Forget it.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and reached for the gear shift. I’d just have to starve.

“Hey now, I haven’t eaten this morning,” Jackson jumped into action, popping the door open. “We’re getting something to eat. We’ve been working nonstop on a damn case that’s not going anywhere. I’m over it.”

My stomach knotted up, thinking of facing Emma after a week of no contact. I didn’t want to bother her if she wanted to be left alone. She seemed to be very put off by everything I had said at the end of the date, and the last thing I wanted was to make her feel like I would keep trying to force something between us…

“Are you coming or are you going to just sit in here and sulk?” Jackson snapped his fingers and waved his hand to get my attention. “I don’t know why you’re so opposed to enjoying life sometimes.”

“I’m not,” I grunted, shaking my head and forcing the door open. No one knew about what had happened between Emma and me, and I knew it would have to stay that way. I never dated, and the town knew that. The last thing I wanted to do was give them something to talk about… Not to mention, I would have to talk over it with Jess—and she hadn’t ever had to deal with that when it came to our relationship.

“It’s just breakfast,” Jackson chuckled as I joined him on the sidewalk. “I know that you think it’s the biggest waste of time in the world, but really, you seemed to enjoy it the last time we were in here.” He nudged me with his elbow, shooting me a wink. “I think she liked you, too—just sayin’.”

I ignored the comment, opening the door for Jackson and letting him go first. My mouth felt like I had swallowed a shovel full of sand when I caught sight of Emma behind the counter. She had a couple girls working with her today, and I couldn’t decide if it was a relief that she wouldn’t be waiting on us or a disappointment.

“Good morning,” Emma said in a cheery voice, her eyes still on her pan of cinnamon rolls. “I have fresh…” her voice trailed off when she finally looked over, realizing who had stepped in. “Cinnamon rolls,” she finished, her voice quiet.

Jackson didn’t seem to notice. “Those look—and smell—amazing. I think I’ll have a couple of those this morning. What do you think, Sheriff?” He looked over at me, but it felt as though all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room as my eyes ran over Emma, sporting a loose black blouse and denim skirt. Bangles and necklaces added some kind of eccentric flair—one that I didn’t understand—but it still hit me.

“Mason?” Jackson looked over at me. “Are you feeling okay today? Because you look really out of it.”

“Didn’t sleep well last night,” I grumbled, considering just spinning around and leaving the café right then and there.

But that would only bring suspicion.

“Must be a recurring trend for you.” Jackson busted up in hearty laughter, heading to the back booth. I let out a sigh as I followed him, feeling Emma’s gaze on me as I walked past her.

And my intuition said she was glaring at me.

I swallowed hard as I took a seat across Jackson, leaving my back to the door. Anything to put more distance between Emma and me.

“Have you noticed that Lucas is acting strange?” Jackson began, his question drawing me out of my stupor. “It’s been a month since all that happened, and I thought maybe he was just dealing with the loss of the cattle—but I don’t know.”

“Who else has mentioned it?” I asked, unsurprised that other people were noticing the change. Time had been passing, and Lucas wasn’t showing up to his usual places. I needed to just bite the bullet and ask him about it, but the man was my best friend—and I knew he sometimes needed space—but this was pushing past that.

“Ron mentioned it, so did some of his hands. They think he’s acting suspicious. Jake told me about it at the bar last night. I think people are thinking that he was trying to commit insurance fraud or something.”

I fought the urge to come down hard on Jackson in defense of my best friend—but he was only the messenger. I kept my cool. “Nah, I don’t think so. I think if he was behind his own crime, he would be acting as normal as possible.”

“Yeah, and there’s other cattle missing.”

“But there hasn’t been any more in the county since the Lowe incident,” I added, just thinking out loud. “Maybe they were just working up to a big haul.”

“I don’t know…” Jackson’s voice trailed off as coffees were sat in front of us.

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