Page 63 of An Unfinished Memory

He tapped on his keyboard. “We can comb through budget topics all weekend and talk fundraising for your campaign next year.”

Allweekend?

His chair squeaked as he turned from his computer screen to face me.

Did we have to discuss the job this early?

“Wilder? You seem distracted.”

I pushed a hand through my hair. “Yeah, sorry. Just…thinking.”

“Can’t believe it’s real?” He grinned, pride radiating in his smile. “You’re going to be sheriff.”

“Right.” I rubbed my eyes. I’d worked the night shift, but I wasn’t ready to drop. I just wasn’t ready to deal with a day full of numbers, and the proud-papa look he was giving me wasn’t boosting me like it normally did. “It’s really happening.”

“Tell me about it. Every time I think about retirement, I panic.” He shrugged and dropped his gaze to the top of his desk. “But I’ll still be around. I’ll probably be counting down the days until I can leave the office.”

I glanced at the clock again.

“Late for a very important date?” he asked lightly. He must’ve noticed my furtive time checks.

“No,” I said quickly. “No.” I wouldn’t be surprised if he hated that I hadn’t told him why I’d come home early when I wasn’t sharing information about why I was out of town. I didn’t want my siblings on my back about Sutton, but Ray would be more disapproving. He’d think she was a detriment and not an asset to my career goals. He’d think she was a distraction.

He might be right, but I wasn’t planning to stop whatever I had going on with her.

He sat forward and put his elbows on the corner of the desk. “When’s the last time you took a whole weekend off? Didn’t you take call for Kaplan when you were supposed to have those days off?”

“Plans changed. Figured I might aswell work.”

He lifted his chin for the door. “Go. I got your call covered through the weekend.”

Shock made me question my hearing. Ray filled in when there were openings, but he rarely kicked us off the schedule to do it himself. “Sheriff?—”

“Go.” He smiled, delight entering his eyes like the thought invigorated him. “I’ll cover it. Weekends always make me antsy anyway. I can only mow my lawn once. Go on. Got yourself a three-day weekend if you don’t sleep all day.”

I was scheduled on a night shift on Monday that I’d swapped with Kaplan so he could get to an appointment Tuesday morning. I’d get almost four days off. That was enough time. “Thanks. I owe you.”

“Leaving this office knowing you’ll be the one in the seat next is all the payment I need.”

Another mason block piled onto my shoulders, weighing more than the rest. “Absolutely.”

Fourteen

Sutton

Oreo was loaded into the back seat. The RV was hooked to the back of my pickup. I ran through a mental checklist.

Flutters zinged through my stomach. How could a camping trip loom so monumental in front of me? I would only be gone until Monday. The campground was two hours from Crocus Valley. The camper was smaller than some stock trailers I’d hauled.

I’d been on my own before, towing well into the six figures of horse flesh behind me. The horse trailer itself had cost a pretty penny—but they hadn’t been my coins. Nor had they been my horses.

The pickup was mine. The camper. My time. All alone.

I shook my head and got into the driver’s seat. Being alone didn’t bother me. Getting over the fantasies I’d hadas a young married girl about all the adventures I’d go on with my husband were hard to shed.

I slid on sunglasses, checked my mirrors, and pulled away.

I lumbered to the edge of the driveway and slowed to check the highway for traffic. I was not crashing out of this vacation before I left my property.

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