Page 45 of An Unfinished Memory

I parked in front of my house and logged off for the night. I was on call, but I couldn’t wait to get inside and change and veg in front of the TV. After the late night and early wake-up last weekend, I’d helped Eliot until I went back to work on Monday. Then it’d been shifts and on-call time and disrupted sleep. I got called out for Guy’s not-missing pickup again and a bar fight between college students who were old enough to know better and who needed to go the hell back to college. Which they would, after they posted bail.

I stepped out of my patrol vehicle just as a small red convertible was driving by. Carla waved a hand with nails the same color as her classic Cadillac. “Yoo-hoo, Deputy. You off for a while?”

“I’m on call.” Despite being evening, the end of August was still summer, and the sun was high in the sky, but relief I had a valid excuse cooled me off.

She pouted. “That’s too bad. I’d love to take you for a ride.” Her purr told me she wasn’t talking about the car.

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll have to pass.”

Tapping red lacquered nails on the steering wheel, she didn’t drive away. “You’re hungry though? I can cook you a good meal.”

What Sutton said came back to me. I was also tired of sidestepping Carla, and after two-stepping and a whole lot more with Sutton, I didn’t have the energy to be evasive. A six-hour round trip each week for a booty call shouldn’t wear on me, but leaving Sutton’s bed was getting harder each time.

“I’m not interested,” I said with a tone of finality she was likely to recognize.

The sultry pout was back. “Are you sure? I make the best?—”

“Carla.” She blinked but quit talking. “I’m sorry. I’m not interested.” I held her gaze so she would know I wasn’t talking about her Cadillac or her culinary skills or small talk.

Sincere disappointment filled her eyes. “It’s been a year and a half, Wilder,” she said quietly.

“I know.” The year and a half had been obliterated in the back of my pickup. “I’m not ready, and honestly, I don’t care to complicate my life with anyone in town.” The God’s honest truth right there. If Sutton had left me but stayed in city limits, life would be hell. Life was hell with her three hours away—two and a half if I drove straight through and pushed the speed limit seven over. “Barns showed me what a mess that can be.”

After Mama left, he’d dated several women. Strung them along, had his lawyer summon them to the reading of the will, then humiliated them for doing nothing but tolerating him.

Her lips curved up. “Your daddy had a way of juggling it all. Nothing was complicated until he passed away and shamed them.”

I didn’t want to remember the night of the will reading. So much was fucked up about that night.

She let out a gusty sigh. “Well, can’t blame a woman for trying to land a Knight. I’m not going to be the one giving up on you.” She drove off with a finger wave before I could reply.

I didn’t return the wave. That’d been a clear Sutton-diss if I’d ever heard one.

I soaked up the AC and got out of my uniform. I hung my bulky vest on its hook. Locked up my sidearm. I’d grown up with rifles and shotguns proppedagainst various walls of the house, but I maintained good habits in my own home. Kids or not, I didn’t want my work piece lying around.

My utility belt got draped over my desk, and then I undressed and hung my brown uniform shirt and pants up. All my shit was in place, ready to dive into if I had to go. A couple more nights, and then I was off. I was supposed to see Sutton Sunday night. I told Eliot I’d work all day Sunday. I had Monday and Tuesday off—I didn’t tell him that. Sutton would be working, but school had started already, and my nephew, Grayson, had a football game Tuesday evening. Then I’d go home after.

I wanted to see my nephew play since I’d missed the dance performance. I’d seen countless school football games and looked forward to cheering on a relative this time.

In the bedroom, I changed into a fresh white T-shirt and gray sweats. I dropped onto the couch and flipped on the TV just as the phone rang.

Dammit, was I getting called out already?

No, it was my personal phone. Sutton’s name was on the screen. I answered before it rang again. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Wilder…”

I sat up at the hesitancy in her voice. “Something wrong?” Was she breaking it off?

“Vienne asked me to go on a double date with her,” she rushed out.

My teeth clenched together. “You said no, right?”

A moment of silence amped up my blood pressure. “I’m supposed to be the perfect person for her to ask to go on a double date, Wilder.”

She wasn’t. She wasmine. “So this is it?” I kept myvoice measured. My world couldn’t be crumpling around my ears once again. “You’re going to start dating?”

“No,” she said quickly. “But I didn’t know what to tell her. Jennings had just asked me out, and I turned him down…”

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