Page 3 of Ridin' Solo
Dad grunted at my change in subject.
“Your mother wants to know if you met any handsome men today,” Dad grumbled like he didn’t want to ask, but he feared he’d have his ass handed to him if he didn’t.
The lasagna felt like a brick in my stomach. “Tell her my love life is just fine, thank you very much.” Dad made a distressed noise. “Tell her to focus on Amelia, okay? She’s married and giving her a grandkid shortly. That should tide her over.”
Dad sighed. “You know your mom…”
“Yes, I do. And despite it all, I love her. And you. Good night, Dad.”
“Love you too. ’Night.”
I put the phone down and inhaled the rest of my lasagna, washing it down with a bottle of water. I should look into those box deliveries of dinner items and instructions. They’d have more vegetables and fresher ingredients, but I just couldn’t be bothered with it all. I didn’t exactly have the time to cook a dinner that took an hour to prepare. That time could be better spent working out or doing paperwork.
Speaking of which, I had some to do tonight. I settled into the couch, flipped on a movie I’d seen a thousand times, and got busy documenting everything I’d done today on the job.
If my night was a little repetitive and a lot lonely, I didn’t let it bother me. The job came first. Always.
And I was damn good at my job.
2
Oakley
“Lee!” barked the sheriff. “Get in here.”
“Yes, sir.” My boots squeaked on the clean linoleum floor as I changed directions and headed into the sheriff’s office. Betty, the sheriff’s long-suffering secretary, gave me a wide-eyed look which didn’t help my stomach much. When Sheriff Locke told you to do something, you dropped everything and did it. Fine by me to be a little late getting out on patrol this morning. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to seeing if the maintenance crew had sufficiently aired out my cruiser from last night’s unfortunate arrest.
“Close the door,” he growled. One would think he was angry, or that I was about to be fired, but this was just how Sheriff Locke handled everything. With privacy and a bare minimum of words.
I closed the door, sat, and clasped my hands in my lap. I could feel one particular hair tugging on my scalp and causing my eye to twitch. Wearing my hair in a tight bun every day came second nature by now, and yet I always had that one hair that wanted to torture me. Guys had it easy with their buzz cuts that looked the same whether or not they combed their hair.
The sheriff shuffled some papers on his giant desk and then made eye contact. “You’ve got a new partner starting today.”
My entire body froze as I digested this unwelcome news. “Hell no,” I stated, the first thought that came to mind.
Sheriff frowned, his gray eyes heating in a way we all feared. Don’t get me wrong, the sheriff was fierce and gruff and a little scary, but he was always fair and an all-around good boss. We felt free to talk plainly with him, but he always made it clear when he was done negotiating.
“Yes, you do,” he said, enunciating every word. “You’ve been in here three times asking about a partner and now I got you one.”
My mind instantly rebelled. “Yeah, but that was just…” I stopped, realizing telling my boss I’d only asked because my daddy asked me to would make me look juvenile. And as a short, blonde officer, I have spent my entire career so far making people take me seriously.
His eyes cleared, and I knew that he knew what I was going to say, anyway. “And he’s right.” He nodded and his expression went soft. “You need a partner out there, Lee. Every one of my officers should have one, so this is not saying anything about you personally. His name’s Wyatt Smith, and he’s a lieutenant transfer from San Jose. I trust you’ll train him right.”
He broke my gaze and started clicking around on his computer. That was that. I’d been dismissed, and I now had a new partner. Just what I wanted to do today: babysit some asshat lieutenant who thought he knew better than me because he was from a big city. I swung the door open and may have let it bang against the wall as my final thoughts on the subject. The sheriff grunted from behind me and Betty’s eyes went wide again. She hated confrontation, which always made me shake my head at her occupational choice. All we did all day long was confrontation. You’d think she would have fared better as a librarian or something.
“Smith!” I hollered to the room at large, not bothering to sort through the officers standing around and slugging coffee before they got to work. If this guy wanted to be my partner, he better be willing to work for it.
I hit the front door to the office before I heard boots squeaking behind me, trying to catch up. The door flew open at my shove and I walked through, already headed for my cruiser.
“Good morning, Captain,” came a deep voice to my right.
I glanced over out of the side of my eye, seeing a man in the same uniform I wore, but wearing it entirely different. I hated myself for it, but I did a double take, needing that second glance to take in the fine form of a heavily muscled, tall, dark-haired officer who’d forgotten to shave that morning. He wore a heavy black watch on his tanned wrist, and he had the audacity to smirk at me. Deep blue eyes sparkled in the morning sunshine, and it pissed me off.
“Something funny?” I asked, stopping at the trunk of my cruiser.
His smirk dialed back a notch, and I rejoiced at the tiny win.
“Sorry?” He leaned in, as if to catch what I’d say next from such a great height was only possible with the crouch one does with a small child.
