Page 45 of Awakening the Sheriff

“How so?”

“Well, she’s more…fun-loving, I guess.” He fidgeted with his fingers. “Dad can be kind of boring.”

“Ah, I see.” That part didn’t surprise me, considering what Keaton had already told me. “You don’t like Forestville much, do you?”

“I hate it.” This time, the answer came fast.

“Why?”

“It’s too small. Nothing ever happens there. Like, it’s so boring. You guys don’t even have a movie theater or a mall. What am I supposed to do for fun?”

“Mmm, I see.” I glanced over at Byron. Maybe I could test the waters a bit more. “If you had the chance to move back to Atlanta, would you?”

Byron’s face lit up for a moment before he nodded vigorously. “Yeah, definitely. I don’t feel like I belong here.”

“Even though you got in trouble there?”

His expression darkened a little, and he shifted in his seat, crossing his arms. “Those were my friends, okay? My dad never understood that. They were… I know they did some stupid stuff and all, but theygotme. But my mom, she’s on my side.”

I raised an eyebrow. Well, that was a new piece of information. “What do you mean?”

“Mom thinks we won’t stay in Forestville forever.” He looked out the window as if imagining a different world beyond it. “She says that if Dad realizes how much we all hate it here, he’ll take us back. That’s what she wants. She hates it here too.”

Hearing this confirmed my suspicions about Mandy’s involvement in the situation. It seemed she was setting her sons against Keaton, using Byron’s disdain for Forestville as leverage. What did I do with this information? I needed some time to figure that out.

“All right, we’re here.” I pulled up in front of his house.

“Thanks for the ride, Sheriff Frant.” Byron opened the passenger door and stepped out without looking at me.

“See you next time, Byron.”

“Bye,” he muttered, slamming the door shut and walking up to his front door.

As I drove back to my house, I pondered what to do. It didn’t feel like the right time to ask Byron if I could share his revelations with Keaton. We’d made progress, but there was still more trust to be built between us, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that. No, I’d better wait until Byron’s third community service session.

Guilt gnawed at me for keeping this from Keaton. I wanted to tell him, to reassure him he wasn’t making things up, that Mandy was working against him. But I couldn’t, not without betraying Byron’s confidence. And right now, my priority had to be to get him back on the right track. As hard as it was, my friendship with Keaton had to come in second place.

Friendship. That was what it still was, even though I’d never looked at any of my friends the way I did at Keaton or that I’d never wanted to spend as much time with any of them. I was happy enough when Marnin wanted to hang out, but it wasn’t something I was thinking about a lot. Maybe when we hadn’t seen each other for a while, but other than that, nope. But Keaton? I thought about him a lot, wondering when I’d see him again, if we could do something together again.

The lines between my duty as sheriff, my deepening friendship with Keaton, and my growing connection with Byron were becoming blurred, creating a tangled web of loyalty, truth, and responsibility. How did I navigate this without someone getting hurt?

16

KEATON

Istared at the crystal-blue skies as I stood outside my home, waiting for Auden to pick me up. The cold didn’t bother me, since I had bundled up in a wool sweater, down jacket, wool hat, thermal pants, and a pair of gloves, and I was holding a thermos with coffee. A little much? Maybe, but I got cold easily, and I wanted to be prepared for everything. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for a winter hike.

When Auden had texted me, inviting me, I’d been surprised. Close to shocked, more like it.

Since you said you liked walking to clear your head, I thought it might be fun to go on a hike together. I know an easy trail that offers a great view in the winter.

Now, first of all, I could appreciate a man who texted in complete, correct sentences. I’d given up on that battle with my kids, but I loved that Auden didn’t use abbreviations or skip on the punctuation. Correct grammar was sexy, and no one could convince me otherwise.

But even more importantly, the thoughtfulness behind his invitation had hit me deeply. It sure sounded as if Auden had put effort into finding something we could do together that I liked as well. And how sweet was that?

I shouldn’t read too much into that. Auden was being a thoughtful friend, that was all. Nothing more, even if my treacherous brain ran with it, dreaming once again. What a fool I was…

Auden’s truck pulled up, and my heart skipped a beat. Gosh, I needed to stop this reaction every time I saw the man. The door opened, and Auden stepped out, looking every bit the rugged outdoorsman in his winter gear. Somehow he was even hotter than in uniform—and that was no easy feat, let me tell you.

---