“Just doing my job, ma’am, serving and protecting and all.”
His charming grin made her stomach flutter and as their boots scraped the pavement, keeping stride with each other, she couldn’t help but feel a little less cold, a little less alone with Tatum next to her.
“So what are you doing with these?” Tate asked and she looked up at him.
“Kyle is having some of his football friends over after the game on Friday. I’m making my famous dessert.”
He looked at her with wide eyes. “You bake?”
“Oh god no.” She shook her head. “No, I’m a terrible cook. This dessert is three ingredients and only requires a spoon to stir.”
“Well now I’m intrigued.” He nudged her elbow with his and she held back a soft giggle.
“It’s a secret family recipe.”
“I see. Well, I’m glad I can at least assist in the carrying of one of the said ingredients.”
When the street light illuminated his face, Mia couldn’t help but stare for a moment. He looked so handsome and stoic. Like in another life he was the Sheriff of the old west. Fitting. Always on the lookout for criminals and damsels in distress. In that moment, she felt like that woman. The one that got the eye of the most respected man in town. But that wasn’t reality. Because though their history had been short, it was already less than spotless or easy.
They took a right onto Pine Street, and only a few blocks down was Mia’s apartment. On the corner there was a sign sticking out of the yard with Tatum’s face on it.
“A lot of people come into the café and all I hear about is you running for Sheriff.” She lifted her chin at the sign but Tatum didn’t look pleased. “How are you doing with that?”
He glanced down at her as if she asked some kind of right question.
“Fine.”
There was clearly more going on in his head, and she was interested. So she pushed a little.
“Running against the guy that has been your boss for years must be hard?”
“He was my mentor.”
“Oh,” she frowned. “Then that can’t be easy.”
He shook his head.
“Can I ask why you’re running against him? If he was your mentor then…”
“People aren’t always what you think they are,” Tate said quickly. “And I’m not running against him, he’s retiring.”
“Why do you seem so upset by this then?”
He looked at her almost in shock. “Upset?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Typically someone in your shoes would be excited about the job promotion.”
He shrugged. “I have always wanted to be Sheriff, but I guess I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.” There was a finality in his voice that told Mia he didn’t want to talk anymore about it.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I know how that goes.”
Though they both kept walking, Tate scooted a little closer. “You mean when your mom died? I can’t imagine that was easy.”
Easy? Nothing about her relationship with her mother had ever been easy. Especially because Mia didn’t know for certain if she hated her or loved her. She absently ran a finger over her locket. There was no way to know now, and
it made the hollow place in her chest ache.
“It was unexpected,” Mia finally said. “It was like I was living a certain kind of life, a life I was comfortable with even though it wasn’t perfect. Then woke up with this new, intense responsibility. Suddenly I was in charge of someone else’s future and happiness.” She glanced at Tate. He was staring at her with such intensity it made her chest clench. “I can’t let Kyle down. He’s counting on me.” She laughed but nothing was funny other than her rambling. “I’m sure I’m not making any sense.”