Page 45 of Blue-Eyed Hero

Allison spun toward him, finger out and inches from his face. “No.” She loved her parents, but there was no way in hell she would move home after seven years on her own. She liked leaving the lights on and putting the heat up to whatever temperature she wanted. She liked not having to share a bathroom or leaving a dish in the sink until the next morning if she was too tired to care.

“Allison, is that you?” Mom’s voice floated across the yard, and Allison took a deep breath before turning to the window and waving. Mom stood there with her hand over her eyes, blocking the afternoon sun. She was in her usual summer attire: a pair of capris and a matching patterned top, this one navy blue and white.

“Let’s do this,” she said and got out of the car.

“Are you okay? Why are you in a police car? Are you hurt? You didn’t get yourself in trouble again, did you?”

Reid came up beside her, and she looked at him. “Let the twenty questions begin.” She moved toward her mother and gave her a hug. “Hi Mom. You know Sheriff Reid.”

“Yes, of course.” Mom glanced between them, her eyebrows pulling toward the straight bridge of her nose. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s nice to see you, Mrs. Winters.” Reid flashed that charming smile he should let loose more often. Allison stared at him for a moment, memorized by how it transformed his entire being.

“Please call me Cynthia. Now tell me. Is Allison in trouble? I know she can get herself into situations because of her job. She’s always been a stubborn one.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Hey!” she snapped at Reid. “I am not stubborn.”

Mom and Reid laughed. Oh good. Now they were teaming up on her. She knew this was a bad idea. “I am not in trouble with the law, Mother.”

“Don’t call me Mother. You do that when you’re annoyed at me, and there will be none of that today.”

Allison went to roll her eyes and Mom snapped her finger at her as if she felt a shift in the air and knew the roll was coming. Allison settled with a sigh. “Reid is helping me with a story.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, that is all.”

“I just thought if you weren’t in trouble with the law, maybe you were bringing a man home to meet the family.”

Reid stiffened beside her, and she waved her hand in the air. “Stop trying to marry me off to every man I’m with.”

“So, you two are together.”

“No! Mom, please. We are working on a story together, nothing more.”

“Then what’s this big story that your work has to carry over to your family time?”

Allison shot Reid a look. They hadn’t exactly ironed out the details. The truth was not an option, but how the hell were they going to spin this?

“It’s for summer safety,” Reid said. “Many of the calls I get called onto in the summer are barbeque related, so I told Allison I’d tag along, as long as that is okay with you, and we can go over all the things at a barbeque that can turn out to be a call to my station and or a trip to the hospital.”

The tension that had slithered up her back and into her neck released. The lie came out of him effortlessly and was better than anything Allison would have come up with.

“Oh my.” Mom rested a hand on her chest. “Well, I hope we don’t give you too much material to go off of.”

“In all the years I’ve worked this town, I’ve never been called to your house, so I can assure you, you do everything just fine. I figured being at a barbeque will jog my memory of other cases I’ve dealt with over the years.”

“Well then, come on. Your father already has the ribs on the grill. I told him to hold off until later, but you know how they’re his favorite.”

“You never come between my dad and his ribs.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Mom said with a laugh.

Mom headed toward the backyard and Allison leaned into Reid. “Nice save.”

“You looked like you were gasping for air, so I thought I should throw you a line.”

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