Page 73 of After Tonight

Nope. She really wasn’t. She had to confess to Lucy that she was a bad friend and had slept with—and fallen in love with—the guy she’d been trying to turn into a good guy for someone else. Like Lucy. “I—”

She was saved from answering by someone calling her name. She turned to find Scott coming across the town square toward her. She wasn’t sure if she felt relieved. Or like puking.

A little of both honestly.

“Hey, Scott.” Okay, that was too bright. She shouldn’t be that happy to see Scott.

“Hey, Riley. Hi, Lucy.”

“Hi, Scott.”

Scott was the town cop but he never went by “Officer”. Unless it was with Peyton. And she called him that in a flirty, hot way that made everyone around them very clear about how he used his handcuffs at home.

He looked at the path. “How’s it coming?”

“Great,” Riley told him, giving a no-big-deal-everything-is-fine shrug. “It will definitely be ready in time.”

She made herself focus on the path. She was proud of it. Not everything about being back in Sapphire Falls had gone according to plan. Like the whole falling-in-love-with-Derek thing. The work with the task force and the advocacy efforts had been a surprising addition to her life as well, but it was all good.

“It looks great,” Scott said.

The path was curved to signify that it wasn’t always a straight shot to what you wanted, but the stones that would sparkle in the sunlight and under the lights that lit the square at night were a symbol that there was beauty and light even on those curvy paths.

It was going to be awesome. And, yes, she loved that she was seeing her idea come to life and that Derek had been a part of it. He’d gone with her to talk to the mayor about digging up the square. He’d removed the grass and helped her prepare the path for the stones. He hadn’t been able to help with the stones or the sign, but she knew he loved the project.

“So, hey, I have something to ask you about,” Scott said.

She took a deep breath and lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. “Okay.”

“I think you should consider the police academy.”

If he’d told her that he’d stolen a unicorn and needed her to hide it for him, she wouldn’t have been more surprised. Or confused. “What?”

Scott was in uniform, and his badge winked at her in the sunlight as he shifted and propped his hands on his hips. “Sorry, I don’t have time to ease into it and you’re a pretty straightforward girl,” he said. “I think you should think about the police academy. Becoming a police officer. Then you should come back here and work with me. Ed is going to be retiring and I need someone. You have a really special skill set that has, obviously, been crucial to getting some big stuff done. We would absolutely have you continue working with the task force. But you could do even more. And I’ve watched you. I think you’ve really enjoyed the work, you’ve enjoyed doing something big and important and helping people, and I think you’d be great at it.”

“Wow, Scott, I don’t know what to say.” She really didn’t. But he was right about everything—she did love the work.

“Just think about it, okay?” he asked. “We can talk more later.”

“Okay. I will.” She’d probably not be able to avoid it anyway.

She watched Scott walk away. Wow. A job. One that she could really care about. Where she could use what she was good at and do something that mattered.

“Oh my God, Riley!” Lucy exclaimed.

Riley had almost forgotten she was there. In an uncharacteristic display of enthusiasm, Lucy grabbed her in a hug. “You might stay?” she asked. She pulled back. “Really? You might live here in Sapphire Falls?”

Riley processed that. Yeah, being a cop in Sapphire Falls would mean living here in Sapphire Falls. Long term. Maybe even forever.

A weird sense of panic gripped her chest, and she struggled to take a deep breath. “Oh, geez, I don’t know,” she said, forcing a smile and wondering if Lucy could hear the shakiness in her voice. “I mean, that would be pretty huge.”

“It would,” Lucy agreed, still more enthusiastic than Riley had seen her get about anything in a long time. “But hey, just because it’s huge doesn’t mean it’s bad. I’d love to have you here! Oh wow,” Lucy gushed, her smile big and bright. “I can’t believe it. I might have my best friend move back to town. I have Michael Kade living here and doing a book event at my store. I might be dating someone.” She took a deep breath. “This is all so amazing. And huge.” She gave Riley a grin. “See? Huge doesn’t mean bad.”

Dating someone. That was all Riley really heard.

Lucy was thinking about dating Derek.

And why wouldn’t she be? He was being sweet to her. It wasn’t flirting like he usually did, but then he’d been learning about what it was like to romance a nice girl. And he’d had a very good teacher.

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