Page 62 of An Unfinished Memory

I knew she’d found a place for Guy, but I didn’t realize she was also leaving. “You’re moving to Miles City?”

“Where he goes, I go.” Her smile was sad. “It’s not leaving I’m concerned about. I would’ve moved years ago, but I worried about Guy’s transition into long-term care. The church, the quilting circle, all that?” She waved her hand. “They’ll find someone new, or they won’t.” She shrugged like either option was fine. “Dillon’s taking a month off work to help me sort through everything.”

Her oldest son was about ten years older than me. “That’s nice he can take so long off.”

“Well, like he said, sometimes you don’t have a choice. Work will always put work first. It’s our job to put family first.” She opened the door. “Thank you, Deputy Knight.”

Delilah’s life was here. She was as much of a fixture of Buffalo Gully as our family ranch and oil wells. And she was leaving.

I thought about what town would be like without them. A new family would move into their house. Maybe they’d have kids I’d see at the school when I was at games or giving safety presentations. They’d be gone, but the town would be the same.

People came and went from Buffalo Gully all through the year. It was the same in all the small towns of the county. A house I might’ve responded to domestic assault calls in for years would suddenly have new owners. Land would get parceled and sold. New houses would be built.

Ray talked about the changes constantly, along with how to keep up with them.

He’d been at every game while Barns had purposely missed every one. If it wasn’t ranching, we shouldn’t have been doing it. My brothers and I had covered for each other. Aggie had tried, and we’d hardly let her do a thing, too worried about hiding our own transgressions from Barns. We couldn’t have him on her case too—more than he had been.

The oddness of having Guy and Delilah pull up stakes so suddenly stuck with me as I wove through various city departments to Ray’s office. I waved to Brenda as she chatted in the hallway with Uma from accounting.

Ray was behind his desk. His brown sheriff’s uniform was stretched over his vest and both were waging a silent war against his buttons. His thinning gray hair matched the shade of his neatly trimmed mustache. He looked like a lot of sheriffs I’d met throughout the years. But Ray was always ready to head to the field, and he might not look like it, but he could still run down a teen who thought he could escape a minor in possession at a pasture party in the middle of the night.

He’d done it to me, and I’d since seen him do the same to countless kids out drinking with friends. None had gone on to become deputies. He hadn’t worked with them like he had with me.

“Hey, Ray.”

He glanced up, his gaze sharp as ever. “Wilder, come on in.”

“You been here a while?” I was just ending my shift. He’d tacked on the meeting in the morning to keep from interfering with my schedule.

If I was still married, I would’ve missed Sutton going to work. I’d stuffed down the annoyance then, wrote the occurrence off as part of the job, but residual irritation threatened to rise. I’d missed a lot with Sutton.

“I came in early. Couldn’t sleep.” He shuffled through some papers. “I’d like to go over some of the budget details with you since we’re nearing a new fiscal year. It’d be good for you to see what rolls over and what doesn’t.” He glanced up, his mouth tight. “That way you can see the fine print of why I’ve made the decisions I have.”

Ray had never liked getting questioned. As I got more experience, my inquiries were less about curiosity and more of a challenge.

My gaze drifted to the clock on the wall. Less than four hours, Sutton would be leaving.

“We can also talk about your thoughts for a campaign.” He licked a finger and leafed through some papers. “It’s never too early to start.”

“I thought you said I was a shoo-in.”

“You should be, but politics can be dirty business, and it’s still a sheriff position. Lots of officers want the promotion.” His chuckle was dry. “I took office when you were in college. I keep thinking you were right there with me.”

He’d kept me informed, calling about college and to check in. He’d mentioned campaigning against the current sheriff in office. A significant experience for a kid who’d been little more than a ranch hand to his dad.

“Right.” I glanced at the printed spreadsheets he pushed in front of me. Rows of numbers swam in front of me, but all I could focus on was the tick of the clock.Pay attention.This was an important meeting. Raywas trying to set me up for a successful start as interim sheriff. “Have you set an end date yet?”

“April fifteen. That’ll give us almost seven months to work together.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “Look, the county board is going to vote to appoint you as my replacement. You’ve always had their full support. After that, you’ll need to win over the residents of Murphy County to nail the election. I’ll work with you on that until April too.”

He was done the fifteenth of April? Sutton was leaving the day after for her trip. A heavy sense of loss draped over my shoulders, like we’d be definitively going our separate ways.

I ran my thumb and forefinger over my lower lip. The numbers on the spreadsheet blurred together.

In addition to my normal shifts and helping Eliot, I’d also be working with Ray to get trained in. I could talk to the family lawyer about hiring someone else. I’d get a pay bump as sheriff. My ranch pay could go to someone else while I went to Crocus Valley when I could.

How long could I realistically expect to have phone sex with my ex-wife? Would we be able to strike up the same arrangement we had before but be more official?

I wanted more than real sex. To hear about her work and forget the stress of my job. I’d like to see her leave for work even if it meant rushing out right after her so I wouldn’t get busted at her place.

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