Page 54 of Break My Fall

Cal did.

And when he finished, she picked up a smooth rock and tossed it into the creek. “Y’all are going to give me whiplash. ‘Don’t go to Neeson. It’s dangerous in Neeson. Stay away. You shouldn’t goto the wedding at all.’ And then you find out someone wants to be sure Gray is at the wedding and it’s all, ‘You have to go to the wedding, and you have to take Gray.’ What happened? Not worried about my safety anymore?”

Cal leaned against an ancient pine and let her vent.

“Why can’t you or Mo go with me?”

Cal pinched his lips together. Was he fighting a smile? “Which one of us do you want to go?”

She opened her mouth to say anyone would be better than Gray, but defeat warred with desperation as the complexity of the situation became crystal clear. “I don’t want either of you to go.” She pointed a finger at Cal. “And you can wipe that smirk off your face.”

“Would you prefer the smirk or for me to point out that I knew this is what you would do?”

“Neither. I want you and Mo to come up with a better plan.”

“Oh, that won’t be hard. Don’t go to the wedding.”

“I have to!”

“You don’t.”

“If I don’t go, how will Gray get in?”

“Gray is the chief of police. He has access to all sorts of people who can figure it out. You, my dear, are a dentist and a civilian. There’s no reason for you to put yourself in danger to make it easier for him to put himself in danger.”

“I’m going.”

“You’ve made that abundantly clear. And as your cousin-brother I’ve already concluded that there’s no way to talk you out of it, and as such, I want you to take Gray. I can protect you. So can Mo. But we have no legal authority to act if things go haywire.”

“Gray doesn’t have jurisdiction in Neeson.”

“He will if he’s acting as part of the task force.”

Meredith gaped at him. “He lied to me. He told me he didn’t have any authority outside Gossamer County.”

Cal frowned at her. “I’m not taking his side, but it isn’t like you to accuse someone of something like that. I don’t know what’s going on with you two. All he would tell me was that it was his fault and to stay out of it.”

He’d told Cal it was his fault?

“He didn’t lie.” Cal enunciated each word. “The way he explained it to me is that day in, day out, he has zero authority outside Gossamer Falls. But if things go south in Neeson, he has the authority to act but only on matters that are specific to the issues that fall under the task force’s purview. He can’t waltz in there and start arresting people willy-nilly.”

Meredith considered his words. “Fine. I’ll concede the point.”

“Big of you, since I’m right and you overreacted.”

“Don’t push me, Cal.”

“What happened?” Cal’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Where did my sweet, gentle, compassionate Meredith go?”

Despite the tender way the rebuke was delivered, the words stung. “She’s still here.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But not for him. He doesn’t deserve gentle, compassionate Meredith.”

“Why not?” Cal’s frustrated question split something open in her.

“Because I thought I was falling in love with him. Because he’s the only man I’ve had any interest in since the first moment I saw him. Because he’s decided that he’s cursed and can’t have any kind of romantic relationship. And because he didn’t share that fact with me until after he kissed me.” Meredith gasped in a breath. “Or maybe I kissed him and he kissed me back.” She waved a hand. “It’s a blur. The point is, we kissed, and I was so stupid that I actually thought it meant something.”

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