Page 32 of Big Daddy Sheriff

“To get ice cream. I love Big Cedar, but we don’t have a lot. As you’ve seen. There’s a place not far from here that has the best ice cream. And you can load it up with sprinkles, marshmallows, or whatever you want, sweetpea.”

“Yummy, Daddy! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

“How come we aren’t driving your police car?”

“It wouldn’t be right to drive it for a personal matter. The residents pay for the wear and tear. Not to mention the gas. I don’t want to take advantage of them.”

“You’re a good man, Quinn Hardin.”

“Well thank you, Alyssa Mills.”

She giggled, then looked out her window at the passing mountains and trees, and said, “I wish we could’ve taken your truck. I want to turn on the lights and sirens.”

He grinned. That little girl of his sure was a cutie.And to think,he mused silently,that only days ago I was praying for the woman of my dreams to come along.

How quickly life changes.

“You can go on patrol with me tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll go to a county road and you can flip ‘em on.”

“Ooh. Thank you, Daddy. Will you go fast, too?”

“If it’s safe,” he conceded.

Thirty minutes later, they were in front of a standalone ice-cream shop that was housed in an old brick building. Across the street was a newer gas station and a lot over from it was a video store.

“I didn’t know there were any video stores left,” Alyssa said. She and Daddy were sitting on the same side of a picnic table, watching the few cars that went by on the two-lane highway and the stores on the other side.

“You’d be surprised how slow we are to catch up around these parts,” Quinn said. “We have good internet in Big Cedar, but not everyone does. Streaming can be difficult. So, renting DVDs is the only way they can see movies, unless they drive into a town with a movie theater or something.”

“You said we have good internet?” she asked.

They both loved the sound of that question.

We.

“Sure do,” Quinn responded. “We requested the utility company lay fiberoptic cable last year. They obliged, and now we have top speeds.”

“Thank god.”

Quinn laughed. “Yeah. I use it a lot, too.”

They both ate their ice cream in silence for a few moments, content to simply be near each other and watch this lazy corner of the world drift by.

Quinn decided it was a good time to ask the question that had been weighing on his mind. “Honey, I need to ask you something. And I want you to be completely honest with me. Is there something you’re not telling me about Lana and everything that’s gone on in Arkansas?”

When it took her a long, heavy moment to answer, he knew that he was onto something.

Finally, she said, “I don’t want you to think less of me.”

“I won’t,” he promised. “You’re my babygirl. If you’re in some kind of trouble, we’ll face it together.”

She spooned another bite of strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and sprinkles into her mouth and swallowed the cold lump before saying, “I didn’t break the law or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not part of Lana’s… criminal activities… or whatever you’d call them.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Quinn said, looking at her and smiling genuinely. “I know my sweetpea. You’re a good person. I know you wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“Sometimes I’m not so sure about that.”

---