Sweet Hill Homecoming (Sweet Hill 1)

Malcom patted Tate’s back. “The coats aren’t coming in. I guess the paperwork got mixed up and Mia was supposed to get all that squared away. Now my Abby is scrambling and upset and said that in the past you two were the ones who headed this up. You all used to work so well together I thought?”

“The event hasn’t been much to speak of until this year, Captain. It’s on a totally different scale and Mia is heading this all up. I’m sure she can—”

“All I know is that there are no coats. Which is the whole reason this charity started in the first place. And the only difference this year is Mia.”

A fact Tate was sure Abby was pointing out to her father often.

“She didn’t file the paperwork,” Malcom said, hammering his point home that the blame for lack of coats needed to fall somewhere, and Mia was where he wanted it to land.

“That can’t be right,” Tate said.

His mind raced to figure out how to fix this. Mia was on top of things. Hell, she rarely went anywhere without that damn clipboard since she got this job. Yes, in the past he and Abby worked on this event but it wasn’t anything close to the caliber of what Mia was trying to pull off. Which was why he’d gone along with this whole thing.

“Maybe you’re focusing too much on your love life when you should be thinking about the town.”

Tate’s jaw hurt from the force he used to keep it closed. Obviously, Malcom had heard his share of gossip or was just pissed on behalf of his daughter, but either way, “My love life is my business, sir.” Tate said firmly. “But I assure you that I’ll handle this coat situation.”

“Be sure you do, and Deputy, this wouldn’t sit well with potential voters.” Tate looked at the chief and knew that his endorsement was on the line, right along with the faith he was trying to get from half the town.

“Good luck to you, Deputy.”

~

Mia opened the front door, surprised anyone was knocking because Kyle should be at football practice.

“Hey!” She smiled when she saw Tate on her stoop. “How did today go? Kyle okay?”

“Fine,” he said but it sounded more like he bit the air than spoke. “The coats aren’t coming, Mia. You didn’t send in the papers in time to the coat factory and they’ve donated to another organization now.”

“What?” Her eyebrows shot up. “No coats? But we have people already signed up who need them and—”

“No shit,” he snapped. “This is why I asked you to take a step back and let me handle this.”

“I wasn’t the one who was in charge of that. Abby said she was going to turn the paperwork in.”

“You’re the coordinator, Mia. You’re in charge of all of this. That’s the job description. And I talked to Abby and she said you were going to do it.”

Mia shook her head. Would Abby really throw her under the bus like this? All because she forgot and wanted Mia to take the blame. She couldn’t possibly make these families go without the coats they were counting on because of a personal beef she had with Mia, could she? Whatever the reason didn’t matter. The paperwork wasn’t filed and the coats weren’t coming.

“Do you believe Abby over me?”

Tate looked at her for a long moment and she could almost see him try to reason out logic.

“Abby and I have overseen this event for the past three years and this has never happened before.”

“I see,” Mia said. It wasn’t a direct answer, but it answered her question enough. “So naturally it must be my fault.”

“This is a fucking mess, Mia.” Tate ran a palm over his mouth and scowled so hard, she almost didn’t recognize him. “You know how much I have riding on this event. I need it to go well. And the damn fire chief came to me to give me shit about this. I may have lost his endorsement.”

“God forbid,” she snapped back.

She knew Tate was fighting for something bigger. To help the community. And get the majority of the town behind him as Sheriff. But damn it, he was being a jerk right now and Mia was tired of getting the crap end of the deal. This one time, she could defend herself.

“I’m sorry that my daddy isn’t fire chief and that I don’t have a fancy degree or wear pearls but the paperwork was Abby’s responsibility. I specifically asked her about that and she told me she’d take care of it.”

“But the point is that the coats aren’t coming and this is falling apart.”

“You’re right.” Mia threw her hands in the air. “But blaming me isn’t helping your cause.”