Page 92 of Surly Sheriff
Her breath hitched.
Bella.
A scowling Bella.
The woman’s gaze dropped to Jack, then snapped back. It wasn’t hard to read the condemnation in her erstwhile friend’s eyes. Another woman, equally displeased, joined Bella.
“Shit,” she muttered.
“That’s a bad word, Momma.”
She repeated the word in her mind. “Momma’s sorry.”
Jack gave an exaggerated sigh. “Yeah. Right.”
A loud snort sounded behind her, and Rae spun around, looking into another pair of eyes. Green ones. Non-condemning ones. “Oliver!” She placed a hand over her thumping heart. “You scared the living daylights out of me.”
“Hello, Rae.” He looked down. “Hey, little man. My name is Oliver,” he said and held out his hand. “What’s yours?”
Jack regarded him for a moment, before placing his much smaller hand in Oliver’s. “Jack Stirling.”
A beat of silence followed Jack’s reply, and Oliver’s smile stretched wider. “Well, I’m very pleased to meet you, JackStirling.”
Rae winced at the emphasis Oliver placed on Stirling. Despite his friendly demeanor, the man wasn’t as pleased to see her as he claimed. “You’re looking good, Oliver,” she noted. There was no sign of the all-encompassing grief from before.
He nodded to the window. “Married Sunny and her girls a year ago.”
“Sunny?”
“The woman beside Bella.”
“Congratulations.Andon your success as an author. I’ve read all your books.” As A. C. Strong, Oliver’s writing career had taken off, but he was a private person, and she hadn’t known about his marriage.
Oliver merely nodded.
Jack tugged on her hand. “Can we go buy my puzzle?”
Her gaze swept back to the two womenstillwatching from the window, and she couldn’t stop a sigh from escaping. “Give me a minute, Jack.”
Oliver nudged her arm. “You can do it.”
“It’s harder than I expected.”
“After you left, I wondered about your story.”
She turned and faced him full on. “Story?”
“We all have stories, Rae. For you to take off like you did … I bet you had a good reason.”
“Momma!” Jack tugged her hand again. “Come.”
Oliver moved to the door. Rae squared her shoulders and followed him. He pushed it open and stood aside, waiting. She walked through the entrance, the sound of the bell echoing around the store.
She stopped and looked at the place where Beau had first taken her in his arms and kissed her. She wanted to regret that moment, regret her need to know his kisses. Because once his mouth had touched hers, she had known magic. And it had lit her up, making her set aside her caution, her carefully craftedlife, plunging headfirst into the dizzying love spell he’d cast around her.
“Momma?”
Rae blinked and looked down at her son.
