Page 62 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

“One at a time, and only for a little while,” the nurse cautioned.

“You go in first,” Xander urged.

With a quick nod, Mom disappeared into the room across the hall.

Xander dropped his head to Kennedy’s shoulder. “Thank God.”

She ran gentle fingers through his hair. “I told you it would be okay. Power of positive thinking.”

“You’ll have to give me lessons in that.”

His father was awake. He’d survived a massive heart attack and double bypass surgery. The old bastard was tough. According to the doctors, he should make a full recovery. Relief left Xander feeling weak and exhausted. Or maybe that was the fact that he’d been up for somewhere around twenty-eight hours now.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Kennedy leaned her head against his. “Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

They sat like that for several minutes. Xander thought about what she’d said earlier. Could he really forgive his father for his own sake? He didn’t know. Probably wouldn’t until he saw him again.

The door opened and Mom slipped out. “He looks rough, but he’s going to be okay. He wants to see you.”

Kennedy squeezed his hand. “Say what you need to say.”

It would be awesome if he knew what that was.

With a bracing breath, he went inside.

His father looked smaller somehow against the crisp white sheets. His face was sickly gray and seemed ten years older than yesterday morning. But the steady, incessant beep of the heart monitor was a clear reminder that he was still kicking. Although it seemed he’d fallen back asleep.

Buck’s eyes opened. “Got things to say to you.” Even his voice sounded weaker, his words slurring. It freaked Xander out. His father had never been anything but hale and hearty.

“You shouldn’t talk, Dad. You need to rest.”

“I need to talk and you need to listen. If nearly dying didn’t grant me that right, then I don’t know what can.”

At the brash reminder of his brush with death, Xander’s own heart squeezed. “Look, Dad, I said some things yesterday—”

“You didn’t say anything that wasn’t warranted. Now shut up and listen, boy.”

With no other choice, Xander sat in the lone chair and shut up.”

“I’ve been a cop for going on forty years. I devoted my life to serving our community and keeping it safe. And somehow that night, I pushed all that aside.”

Xander didn’t need to ask which night.

“I can’t tell you what was in my head. I don’t know. It was late, and I saw an opportunity, and I acted on it. I used scare tactics on that girl that I normally reserved for hardened criminals, and I strong armed her into leaving town and walking away from you. I made threats I’d never have carried out, pressed on every weak spot I knew she had. I’m not proud of that. And I regretted it within a week when I saw what I’d done to you. But I convinced myself that it was for the best. That if she was really yours, she’d come back, and if she wasn’t, well, it wasn’t meant to be. When she didn’t come back, I figured you’d eventually get over it and move on. You didn’t. She stayed gone, and I never had a chance to fix it.”

It turned out Xander’s anger wasn’t entirely extinguished. The simmer and bubble of it had him clenching his fists, though he kept his voice level. “You could’ve gotten her contact information from Joan or Pru. Let her know it was all a lie.”

“Not without good reason. Not without admitting to what I’d done. And I—I was too much a coward for that. What I did to Kennedy is my greatest shame. And I’m sorry for it. I know that’s not worth jack shit. But maybe this will be.” Buck struggled to sit up in bed, cursing when he couldn’t. “Damn it, I’m not saying this while I’m flat on my back.”

“Wait just a minute.” Xander helped him find the remote that lifted the head of the bed and adjusted it so he was a bit more upright.

“I spent the afternoon drafting my letter of resignation.”

Xander’s mouth fell open. “You did what?”

“You were right. My behavior was a disgrace to the badge. I’m not the kind of man Stone County would want as its Sheriff.”

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